Customers vs Prospects: Can you tell?

It should be easy, right?

Surely with ever-smarter web analytics, listening tools, and cloud solutions, large enterprises should be able to consistently tell the difference between an existing customer and a prospective customer, wherever they are.

Unfortunately not.
 

THE PROBLEM: RECOGNITION ACROSS CONTEXTS

As the number of channels people use to interact with a business increases, and changes, the ability to know who’s who across every channel and touchpoint gets tougher and tougher. What does that mean? Lost opportunity and frustration. Think loyal customers getting annoyed by irrelevant ads for offers they aren’t eligible for – like ‘discount on your first month’ or ‘exclusive offer for new customers’.

Not ideal.

Every channel is an island, after all – especially offline systems such as CRM, and digital bidding channels like Display. Then, there’s Amazon Echo, smart cars, and Digital Out of Home screens.

But there is a sustainable solution that links all of those channels up together and orchestrates the customer journey from a single source of truth.  It's a flexible, adaptable and responsive technology, which is not only smart, but has zero lock-in with systems, channels and touchpoints.
 

STARTING SIMPLE: SEGMENT BY CUSTOMER AND PROSPECT

Sometimes, activating the most basic of user insights can make a huge difference to your business performance.

Even with a first incremental stage in using your data wisely, you can minimize waste, maximize efficiency and optimize marketing budgets across all channels.

By integrating your CRM with your online channels, you can identify those who are already customers, versus prospects who have just started interacting with your business via any of the online channels.
 

THE OUTCOME

Take an energy or telecommunications provider, for instance. By segmenting customers and prospects via single customer profiles, built up through smart identity management which has the ability to recognize people across different technologies and touchpoints, a utilities or telecom company could retain their existing customer base with a special contract renewal offer across their own Website and perhaps Display – at that critical ‘switch’ moment.

Then, for acquiring new customers, show a custom creative in real-time – a message which matches their status as a prospect: and then, once they convert, stop chasing them. Know their next-best-channel; to prepare for next time they need you.

A MORE INTELLIGENT WAY TO BUILD CUSTOMER JOURNEYS

This simple act of recognition can mean much more than a one-time positive interaction with your business. It can be a starting point for a truly personalized, cross-channel customer journey that is beneficial to both your customer and your business.