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Why Prioritize Data Protection BY KAL IRANI

etail is looking different this year, with more consumers turning to online shopping platforms. According to Statistics Canada, over the years retail eCommerce sales have become more prominent, reaching a record $3.9 billion in May 2020 alone, a 2.3 percent increase since February, and a whopping 110.8 percent increase compared to May 2019. While a rise in online commerce brings convenience for consumers, it also holds risks for consumer and company data. In fact, recent research conducted by Shred-it indicates many Canadian organizations are inadvertently letting client and company data protection fall to the wayside. Despite most consumers reporting physical and digital security as a top priority when choosing who to do business with, more than half (56 percent) of C-suites and 29 percent of small business owners report that their organization is likely to suffer a data breach within the next five years. As we look back on months of drastic and unprecedented change in 2020, and ahead to a new year filled with uncertainty, it has never been more important for businesses to strengthen consumer loyalty by prioritizing data protection. Data protection key trust element When consumers provide their personal information to a company such as payment/credit card details, email addresses and physical addresses, they expect it to be kept safe. But when it is not, it can fall into the hands of those with nefarious intentions, potentially damaging trust, the company’s reputation and the bottom line. In fact, as many as one in three consumers affected by a data breach would tell others about it or lose trust and demand to know what is being done to prevent future breaches. While nearly one in four consumers would seek ❱ DMN.CA

compensation or stop doing business with an affected company altogether, data breaches, no matter the severity, are catalysts for diminishing consumer trust and a potential revenue hit. Employee training, policies critical With human error reported as the most common cause of a data breach, and a decline in employee training, Canadian businesses should re-evaluate their current training practices to identify areas of improvement to protect their information. This lack of employee training on information security is particularly prominent for small businesses, where only 34 percent have regular training on digital and cyber threats. Larger organizations are better but far from perfect. While the majority have some form of training, only 35 percent offer frequent staff training (at least twice per year). To mitigate the risk of experiencing a data breach and to maintain a favourable relationship with consumers, businesses of all sizes should reassess their current data security practices or they could experience a loss of consumer trust. What companies can do The good news is that businesses large and small can strengthen consumer trust and reassure them and employees by implementing a few key information security strategies. 1. Regularly update workplace policies. Ensure all company policies are up-to-date and that employees are aware of these policies and adhere to them. This includes both computer security measures (passwords, encryption, firewalls, anti-virus software, event monitoring tools, etc.) and physical security measures (such as a Clean Desk Policy). 2. Offer frequent employee training. Employees can be a company’s greatest strength but

also its greatest weakness when it comes to information security. When provided with the right training, employees can protect the company from data breaches by alerting IT departments of phishing scams or by properly storing and disposing of confidential information on physical documents and end-oflife devices. Continual employee training is crucial for building and maintaining a culture of information security and privacy compliance within an organization. 3. Continue to prioritize physical and digital data security. Physical and digital document security are equally important, and businesses should continue to prioritize both to reduce the risk of data breaches. Only 7 percent of C-suites report their businesses operate in a paperless environment, yet alarmingly, leaders have decreased their policies around storing and disposing of confidential information by 13 percent this year, creating a greater threat for physical information theft. Overall, it’s best to work with a National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) professional, such as Shred-it, to properly dispose of sensitive, confidential information. Professional document shredding has become the unofficial industry standard for safely destroying confidential data. 4. Proactively plan for the worstcase scenario. Data breaches happen, and it is better to have a plan for managing them than to be caught without one. Embrace risk planning and compliance while ensuring all employee training policies are up-todate and frequently reviewed. Technology moves quickly, so

staying ahead of the curve is a best practice for keeping confidential consumer data secure. 5. Be as transparent as possible. Ensure consumers are aware of what data is collected and retained, how it is stored and protected, for how long it is kept available, and how it is eventually destroyed once no longer needed. Providing transparency up front will help consumers feel more at ease knowing exactly what is being done to protect their data and how committed the organization is to security. 6. Honesty is the best policy. When a data breach happens, be ready to notify all at-risk and/ or affected parties immediately. Be open, honest and transparent about what happened and give impacted consumers clear options for what happens next. Make sure to explain what steps your organization is taking to ensure a data breach does not happen again. Not investing the proper time and resources toward better policies for safely storing and disposing of confidential information puts your organization at risk. With threats including data breaches, irreparable loss of consumer trust, and a hit to the bottom line, every business should have a reliable and well-developed data protection policy in place. KAL IRANI is vice president of go-to-market at Stericycle, provider of Shred-it information security solutions. Shred-it is an information security service provided by Stericycle, Inc. Shred-it’s leading information destruction solutions ensure the security and integrity of private and confidential information, protecting global, national, and local businesses across 14 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit www.shredit.com. DECEMBER 2020

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LOYALTY

What’s Important to Your Buyer? BY LEE FREDERIKSEN

ew, if any, direct marketers haven’t shifted strategy over the past nine months. Uncertainty and change are the order of the day, and this change affects everyone: you and your buyers. You need to anticipate and respond to buyers’ need to assess products, services and providers in an environment that’s quite different than it was last year. In short, what’s going on inside the buyer’s brain today? Hinge Research Institute has just released Inside the Buyers Brain, a study that details the perspectives of over 1,900 buyers and over 1,600 sellers of professional services. And although it focuses on the professional services marketplace, the insights are relevant to any business looking to grow faster, carve an advantage and seize upon opportunities. Our study takes an unprecedented look at both sides of the buyer-seller relationship so that sellers can understand what their buyers’ key business challenges are, how clients feel about their providers and how buyers search for and evaluate providers. By aligning with their clients’ needs and methods, they and their clients can turn setbacks into successes even in a down economy. Here are the key takeaways from our research. 1. The rise of relevance. “Relevance,” defined as how important providers are for clients to address their challenges, continues to grow as a key driver of buyer behaviour. Figure 1 shows a 33 percent surge since 2018 in the number of clients who see their providers as very important to addressing challenges. It’s no surprise that buyers seek out, are loyal to and refer firms that can drive their success. What’s now important is the role of digital search in identifying the right provider. It’s become increasingly easier to search online and find a firm whose expertise matches your needs. As referrals ebb and events ❱ DMN.CA

Figure 1: The Rising Importance of Providers’ Services to Addressing Client Challenges

remain on hold, the provider with specialized expertise and deep industry knowledge will be well-positioned to win business. In fact, such expertise rose 56 percent in importance in just two years as buyers’ top selection criteria. (See Figure 2.) When a provider connects their service offering and the challenges their target market is trying to solve, they establish relevance. Our findings suggest that buyers view their providers as more relevant to their success today than they did a few years ago. 2. Sellers are missing opportunities. These are around strategy and planning, technology/ data issues and responding to regulatory requirements. Buyers report that sellers often overvalue their services and misjudge buyers’ needs, a miscalculation that leads to tone-deaf marketing messages and missed opportunities. Moreover, sellers have also underestimated the importance buyers place on competitive terms and pricing, the

provider team’s talent and skills and whether a provider aligns with the buyer’s culture and values. Now’s the time to pulse-check your assumptions about buyer pain points and probe to understand how needs have evolved. Leverage your research findings to improve client relations, marketing, and business development programs. 3. Talent management is a business development concern. Talent remains the top selection criteria, far outweighing relevant experience and past performance. Existing relationships and generalized experience are less important factors in the buying decision. The task is clear: build your go-to-market strategy around showcasing your team’s industry insight and expertise. This is what prospects are seeking and what converts them into clients. 4. Buyers have shifted how they seek resources to address their challenges. Our survey respondents indicated that

while they still turn to peers and colleagues as key information sources, their reliance on web search, online articles and social media is growing. (See Figure 3.) In fact, social media surged from 12th to third most popular source since 2018. As digital communications continue to take over, you’ll need to understand the changes in how buyers find insights and assistance. Build a web presence so you’ll be visible wherever your target audience look for help. Whether that is in digital or traditional channels, you need to show up so you can educate prospects on how your expertise can help address their issues. 5. Digital marketing capability is paramount. Buyers across all industries increasingly rely on online platforms to find answers in today’s uncertain environment. They are looking for value-adding insight from providers who know —and can help them overcome — their challenges. This year’s study tracks the DECEMBER 2020

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// 7 extraordinary rise of digital communications. It’s not a stretch to suggest that if you aren’t all in with digital marketing, your firm’s days are numbered. In today’s marketplace, digital is how business is won and kept. The COVID-19 pandemic has made digital interactions routine. For this reason, Klohn Crippen Berger, an engineering firm headquartered in Vancouver, BC., decided to revamp their website. “We need to be at the forefront of the key issues of our day, including clean energy, the environmental and sustainable disposal of waste from a world hungry for resources, clean and sustainable water supply and a safe and resilient infrastructure,” said president and CEO Len Murray. “We have adapted to these challenges and changing market conditions for over 70 years, and part of our evolution is to invest in a new website to show our people and our work. By showing who we are, we want to attract talented people to our company and to remind our clients why they chose us in the first place.”

Figure 2: Buyer’s Top 5 Most Used Criteria of Evaluating Providers

6. Traditional marketing is eroding. Client loyalty, satisfaction and referrals have been spiraling down even before 2020. Buyers can more quickly do a web search than seek a friend or colleague’s advice or referral. Loyalty suffers clients see no clear link between your offerings and their challenges. Simply put, the old techniques won’t cut it anymore. In today’s marketplace, a digitalfueled content marketing approach offers a platform to establish — and reinforce — your company’s relevance and creates opportunities to showcase expertise. Your commitment to building a valueadding online presence will pay dividends; layer that presence with educational social media participation and you’ll rise above the competitive fray. LEE W. FREDERIKSEN, Ph.D., is managing partner

Figure 3: How Buyers Find the Solutions to Challenges

DECEMBER 2020

at Hinge, the leading research-based branding and marketing firm for the professional services. Hinge conducts groundbreaking research into high-growth firms and offers a complete suite of services for firms that want to become more visible and grow. DMN.CA ❰

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LOYALTY

Customer Loyalty Analytics during COVID-19 BY RICHARD BOIRE

uring these difficult times as businesses strive to stay afloat, thoughts of analytics and their impact have become a lower priority for many organizations. Yet, it is during these times that analytics is even more important. The ability to use data for more effective decisionmaking has fundamentally always been about ROI optimization. One would think that during these difficult times as cash flow and costs become even more paramount, there requires an even more laser-liked approach towards the use of data. Loyalty programs which have always been at the forefront of using data and pioneers in this area such as Loyalty One (Air Miles) have demonstrated how they use data to essentially achieve marketing’s overarching goal of targeting the right consumer with the right offer at the right time. Predictive analytics and other advanced analytical techniques have been used rigorously in their efforts to achieve this goal. But recognizing the increased value of analytics in these times, we also recognize that data is at the core of all analytical exercises. But does COVID-19 change our analytics exercises and what does this mean for loyalty marketers. Let’s explore this more closely. When we talk about change because of COVID-19, the marketer’s first reaction is whether consumer behaviour has changed. But marketers and businesses in general understand this to be the reality. For the loyalty analytics practitioner, the initial reaction is whether or not the data has changed. In other words, how does the data impact the analysis such that different business decisions are made. These decisions can arise from two areas: ❯❯ Reporting ❯❯ Targeting of customers In reporting, the analyst is often asked to produce information that ❱ DMN.CA

Chart 1 conveys a visual narrative about a theme that is relevant for that organization. For example, let’s look at the average loyalty customer spend by region in the last 12 months. We are already aware that the data consists of spend prior to COVID-19 spend and spend during COVID-19. It is not a great intellectual leap to surmise that different regions are being impacted differently by COVID-19. For example, let’s look at two different regions such as Quebec and the Maritimes. We already know that COVID-19 has had a much more deleterious Chart 2 impact in Quebec than the Maritimes. Looking at a 12-month report, we might observe the following: From Chart 1, we might conclude here that customer spend is higher in the Maritimes, but let’s look at an even more granular breakdown of these numbers overtime. Chart 2 reveals a different story in that the pandemic (March-November) has significantly altered loyalty behaviour. Looking at the numbers prepandemic and during pandemic, we observe that loyalty behaviour in normal times seems to be higher in Quebec but then Chart 3 lowers significantly because of the pandemic. But let’s more closely observe and see what is happening during the entire pandemic period. Chart 3 is even more revealing in that the most recent months of the pandemic have seen a rise in customer spend in the Maritimes while the opposite is occurring in Quebec. One could conclude that loyalty behaviour is on the rise in the Maritimes while Quebec loyalty behaviour continues to erode. DECEMBER 2020

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LOYALTY The point of these above examples and charts is to demonstrate the sensitivity of looking at historical behaviour during these most unusual times. This customer behaviour instability is further amplified when we look at tools to target customers. Let’s look at the most basic tool which is RFM. Targeting of customers represents the capability of rank ordering or differentiating of customers based on a desired behaviour. Tools exist which consist of the most basic such as RFM (recency of purchase, frequency of purchases, and monetary value of purchase) towards the more advanced ones such as deep learning or artificial intelligence. But if the end objective is ranking of customers, then does this ranking change with significant environmental changes such as a pandemic. In order to understand this concept, one must explore migration behaviour with regards to their RFM rank. Let’s say we rank customers into 5 overall groups based on RFM with 5 being the best and 1 being the worst. Let’s look at the chart below:

Chart 5

Here the above chart indicates no stability in terms of RFM migration behaviour. As expressed above, these migration reports would indicate that we would need to identify periods in time (period 1 and period 2) where the migration behaviour is stable as we saw in Chart 4. Once again, the purpose of these charts is to lock in on periods of time when we are observing stable consumer spend behaviour. To put this in a practical perspective, suppose two consumers were in the top RFM rank of 5 before the pandemic. Yet, consumer A is still rank 5 after the pandemic while consumer B is now rank 1. Essentially, what we want to do is find periods of time where

data. This would suggest that the use of deep learning tools (AI) which are the most advanced would be subject to inaccurate weights particularly if we are looking at the last 12 months. The problem here is that we are assuming that these variable weights as determined from the recent past reflect what will happen in the future which is a very false assumption in such a highly dynamic data environment. But one idea worth exploring is to use the notion of RFM ranks as seen above to determine a stable period of time and then build the more advanced analytics tools

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Chart 4

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within this defined stable period of time. These are challenging times in conducting analytics as it relates to consumer and loyalty behaviour and increased cost sensitivity just reinforces the need for analytics. More vigilant practices in reviewing the data is key to success in working in this type of environment. More pragmatic approaches to data analytics should be emphasized such as RFM. The use of more advanced tools such as deep learning must recognize the issue of data instability as their ability to predict behaviour in this type of environment can be a recipe for failure. Prudent review of the data by data scientists can provide the direction for when these more advanced tools will be most applicable. As with all data analytics exercises, they begin and end with the data. RICHARD BOIRE is the President of Boire Analytics in Pickering, Ontario and is one of Canada’s premier experts on data analytics.

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Assume that average customer spend in period 1 is $100 but then drops to $50 in period 2. In the chart above, we can see that the RFM ranks are stable in that the customer maintains the same ranking and very few customers migrate to completely different ranks. So even though overall customer spend has declined in period 2, the RFM ranking has remained consistent between both periods. But now let’s take another example where significant change is occurring in terms of migration. DECEMBER 2020

consumer A and consumer B remain in rank 5 for both periods. As one can see, even basic tools such as RFM can produce unstable results depending on the period of time. What about the more advanced tools, such as predictive models, which include deep learning? Let’s explore this in more detail. With models, we are attaching weight to various variables in a given model and the more advanced these tools are, the more sensitive the weights are to the

In addition, Foundation Magazine readers will be able to download a digital copy of the Guide to keep on their computer or mobile device, which means added exposure to an ongoing audience of potential new corporate sponsors, donors and high net worth individuals.

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The Giving the the publication publication Guide’s Guide’s their as a year-long as a year-long their impact and impact and grow tool to expand tool to expand grow their role their role in social as high-net-worth as high-net-worth in social responsibility responsibility philanthropists philanthropists and and with the with more to give. with the most with more to give. most willing and willing and able Connect Connect able supporters. supporters. 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B2B

The Customer-Driven Changes to Manufacturing BY MICHAEL BRASSEA

Managing the variances But in meeting these demands manufacturers have been struggling with understanding and managing variances in their product offerings. They also have been saddled with slow, error-prone manual quoting processes and thick communication silos between the sales and engineering teams. These companies have additionally been faced with hiring and retaining a talented sales staff to sell sophisticated product portfolios. The impacts are operational deficiencies and costly inefficiencies, slow sales cycles and a disjointed CX. And, consequently, lost deals and revenues. In today’s highly competitive market, manufacturers must address these challenges to avoid losing business DECEMBER 2020

to competitors. Digitalization in the manufacturing industry has been a long and sometimes slow journey. Motivated by changing customer expectations for new products, manufacturers must find new ways to use digital formats to compete in a crowded field. Industry 4.0 is driving digital transformation and creating a race to reimagine the B2B buying experience in manufacturing.

of data streamlines once manual process for improved results across all channels. Companies across the world use CPQ for different reasons from finance to manufacturing. One Canadian manufacturer using Tacton CPQ is Husky Hot Runners & Controllers based in Bolton, Ontario. By connecting their existing systems to Tacton CPQ, Husky was able to reduce solution time by 75 percent.

What is CPQ? Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solutions offer a way forward for manufacturers. The software improves operations and enable sales teams to quote faster and speed up the sales process by improving operational efficiencies and enhancing the CX. CPQ enables 100 percent accurate quotes, thereby ensuring delivery of the right product, at the right price and at the right time, every time. By doing so it also reduces customer complaints and delivery hold-ups.

Creating new opportunities Understanding that the online customer revolution has arrived is an important aspect of digitalizing manufacturing operations. For manufacturers to succeed in the coming years they must better understand the behaviours of their buyers. According to Gartner, 77 percent of buyers state their last purchase was very complex or difficult. With such inherent difficulty purchasing it’s critical to understand the buying process to make the decision as easy as possible. That big of a percentage makes it clear that in every stage of the B2B buying journey manufacturers must be ready to embrace new strategies to enhance the CX. Manufacturers must then create a seamless omnichannel experience in order to interact with customers, and for them to buy products across multiple channels at any time, which allows for businesses to be in touch with them throughout the buying journeys. The omnichannel approach enables Marketing to reach out to customers and prospects, and Sales COURTESY HUSKY INJECTION MOLDING SYSTEMS

ustomers, businesses, and ultimately end customers, continually seek sophisticated and value-rich, yet affordable products, often customized to their needs and available when they want it. For example, many goods have been infused with electronics, like the Internet of Things, for precise, realtime control and management. Moreover, customers’ buying behaviour has fundamentally changed. Customers insist on connecting with companies on any channel they please, with a good customer experience (CX) from each channel. Customers’ demands are extending challenges beyond traditional manufacturing obstacles by asking for an online presence that mirrors a typical business-to-business (B2B) buying journey. That means implementing a basic solution is no longer enough. But at the same time new technologies, like visualization and methods like omnichannel customer contact, open the doors to new opportunities to market products and create customer loyalty.

Hot Runner Ultra Advantage Header

CPQ aligns organizations with a single source of data, so that sales, engineering and all other departments, like shipping and receiving, supply chain partners and yes customers have the same information. This single source

to connect with them, consistently and effectively over multiple touchpoints. It also permits Customer Service, Support, other departments and channel partners to be in and stay in contact with customers. But that also means simplifying the sales process to create that experience, which CPQ software enables. Improving the CX with visualization Visual configurators are a great new tool that enable sales and customers to see products as they are being changed on screen before they are approved, built and customized. And customers are more likely to purchase products if they can visualize it. With over 57 percent of the buying journey completed before a prospect speaks to sales reps, according to Gartner, it's critical to give a visual way to interact with products, online in their real-time environments. But setting up and maintaining visual configurators has been a challenging proposition for many manufacturers because of the time it takes to create matching digital assets to the product portfolio. Using a visual configurator that is fully integrated with CPQ solution can put manufacturers ahead of their competition quickly and provide solid leads. Your first marketing pitch can come from a visual configurator embedded into your website. With this on your website your customer can create products on their own before they even reach out to your sales team. This fully immersive experience will not only capture the imagination of buyers but also help Marketing improve the reach of products. They can get the message out that the buyer can now be control at every step of the way, from design to pricing and quoting and delivery, with visualization combined with CPQ. The build in configurator enables customers, CONTINUED ON page 20 DMN.CA ❰

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B2B

Leveraging 3D/360 Product Images for Successful Mobile Marketing BY BILL BLOOM

Going 3D to bring spending back The inability to engage customers in a physical environment has pushed some retailers to experiment with ways to recreate the in-store experience online. And interactive product images will play a major role because 3D 360 product images placed within ❱ DMN.CA

a virtual shopping experiences can more closely emulate the in-store experience. Clearly interactive 3D 360 product images offer customers a more intimate examination of the product. Retailers and brands that have implemented interactive 3D 360 product images have consistently reported significant increases in online engagement and sales. Why 3D 360? As retailers flock to immersive commerce using augmented reality, 3D imaging should be treated as a crucial standalone asset that can communicate vital product information at a glance. 3D imaging can help shoppers resolve key questions about product size, style and dimensions. The ability to zoom in and examine products from any angle is especially crucial for mobile users, given that one in five smartphone shoppers hesitate to buy because they can't see item details clearly. While displaying multiple two-dimensional images can show a product’s back and sides, only 3D visual assets allow shoppers to tilt, flip and rotate items for a full view from every angle. And unlike 360-degree still photos, 3D images can be zoomed to show fine product details, such as buckles and zips on a handbag or ports on a computer, leading to a better shopping experience. Some of the key benefits of interactive 3D 360 shopping as stated in 2020 McKinsey & Gartner studies, include: ❯❯ Reduction in purchase anxiety. 3D has the power to give shoppers certainty and eliminate that anxiety that might have kept the shopper from hitting “buy”; ❯❯ Increase in confidence. Today’s buyers face a crisis in confidence in their ability to make good

❯❯

online buying decisions; and Bridging the online-offline shopping continuum. Brands that maintain an on-and offline presence often struggle to create a cohesive customer experience across channels. 3D product images can make that process easier by enabling an online shopping experience that includes more tactile elements of in-store shopping.

The importance of testing With many leading brands beginning to implement interactive 3D 360, the ability to market test interactive images in a simulated eCommerce environment is a significant competitive advantage. Recognizing the opportunity for marketers, in Q3 2020 we launched a software testing enhancement that enables brands to display and measure the impact of industry standard interactive 3D 360 image files. The test environment we created closely mimics the desktop and mobile eCommerce experience. In step one study respondents are given a choice of competing product designs to vote for by spending virtually currency (tokens). Prior to investing virtual currency, the respondent can pop up the 3D model and spin it 360 degrees, closely mimicking the shopping experience. Survey respondents not only respond to the visual design but also to the quality of the interactive experience, which is an essential component to predicting eCommerce behaviours: click, buy or pass. By using virtual currency and scarcity to mimic a real consumer experience, respondents must carefully weigh the pros and cons of each idea in relation to each other. Scarcity is key as it enables analytics to predict what

COURTESY FASTFOCUS

OVID-19 has radically altered the consumer shopping game. From a shopping perspective we are seeing the rise of what McKinsey & Company has labeled the “homebody economy.” In a recent study they found that more than 70 percent of survey respondents don’t yet feel comfortable resuming “normal” out-of-home activities. For more than three-quarters of consumers who adjusted their behaviours due to the health crisis, the easing of government restrictions won’t be enough. Physical distancing and stayat-home orders have forced whole consumer segments to shop online. Although pundits may disagree on exactly how this will all unfold, they all agree that digital shopping is accelerating, and that the online shopping experience needs become more engaging, personal and intimate. In this the “next normal” retail environment, market dynamics are also shifting fast and furiously to mobile shopping, thus increasingly challenging brands to engage the ever-evolving consumer. This striking behavioural change has also been reflected in a shattering of brand loyalties, with 36 percent of consumers trying a new product brand and 25 percent (McKinsey & Co.) incorporating a new privatelabel brand in their carts. In the next normal retailers and consumer-packaged-goods companies need to rethink consumer-decision journeys.

Four illustrations of a spaceman toy scene from various angles.

consumers will do, not just learn what they say they will do. Once the respondent spends all of their tokens they are asked why the spent them. Doing so enables research analysts to correlate the behavioural token investments CONTINUED ON page 20 DECEMBER 2020

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FEATURES

Employing Appointment-Based Videoconferencing

BY SCOTT WILSON AND DR. RICHARD TYTUS

2 Founded in 2020 by SCOTT WILSON (R) and DR. RICHARD TYTUS (L), Banty is a patientcentric video conferencing platform created to empower physicians to integrate virtual medical appointments into their clinics.

DECEMBER 2020

020 has been a challenging year for Canadians across the country. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to change the way we work, socialize and connect with others resulting in a demand for video conferencing services and accessible digital platforms. As more and more Canadians seek virtual platforms as a means of engagement, providing positive customer service is more important than ever for service providers. While videoconferencing has become the norm in work from home settings for team calls and client meetings, it is yet to be fully employed for its many potential applications. Only a handful of companies have virtual customer service down pat and the majority have yet to utilize video conferencing to its full potential. Virtual customer service, specifically for eCommerce platforms, has a long way to go. It is common for websites to have a chat box feature, generally giving automated responses from bots rather than connecting customers to actual customer service representatives. And while some chats do have actual humans on the other side of the computers, discrepancies in written communication can lead to information being taken out of context, and eventually, unsuccessful customer engagements. When a chat box isn’t an option, email inquiries can take several days to resolve, with a lot of back and forth that take up a large amount of time for both the customer and the service provider. Calling a general phone number can mean hours on hold, only to be met with a representative that transfers your call to 10 other people. This often leads to frustration on the consumer side, leaving an ingenuine impression of the brand and a sour taste in their mouth. Most companies who have taken advantage of this virtual offering and adopted videoconferencing as a part of their business practice are still working out some kinks. Oftentimes, a client or customer opens their meeting invite, only to be met with an alert to download the platform. This can not only create a bottleneck in operations, but also leads to confusion

and frustration. Complicated invitations and long meeting URLs also pose issues, potentially leading to missed meetings and client needs not being met. It is simply an ineffective system, but one that Banty can solve. Banty is a virtual appointment-based patientfocused video platform. It features include screen sharing, polling, YouTube sharing, recording, and group chatting. And it has a dedicated web address to maintain guests’ privacy. While Banty was originally created with a healthcare focus in mind, there are a number of potential customer service applications for the platform, especially with the changing needs of consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. eCommerce platforms can connect with customers on a personal level while real estate agents can meet with potential buyers and host virtual showings. There are endless opportunities to incorporate videoconferencing into customer service practices to connect with consumers and meet their needs. Virtual communication is only going to increase as our world continues to evolve, so becoming a leader in this sector is something companies should, and need, to take advantage of to create a positive brand presence. Giving consumers the option to chat face-to-face not only saves time answering lengthy email enquiries and trying to explain a simple concept over a chat box, but also allows for trust and connection to be built with customers. It fills the gap of in-person interactions that Canadians are craving. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that videoconferencing has the ability to fill a gap in the way businesses operate and fulfill the needs of clientele, allowing tasks to get accomplished just as effectively as they would in-person. Even after the world goes back to a new “normal”, remote working is a reality that many businesses will adopt for the long-term. And with this new reality, comes the need to offer a platform that will allow businesses in all industries to work as effectively and efficiently as possible. DMN.CA ❰

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What a Complex Time to be a Marketer BY LIVIA ZUFFERLI

nd I would have said that even before the COVID-19 crisis emerged as a once in a century calamity that would bring the biggest nations and economies to their knees. Or even before the social uprisings resulting from an untenable reality of systemic racism and disadvantage. Companies began 2020 with their strategies and business plans in place and growth objectives ratified. Brands had their marketing plans largely blessed by finance and properly socialized throughout their organizations. Marketing, media, creative and technology partners had a sense of their mandates for the year from their clients, large and small, and resourced accordingly. And then, the world seemed to hit the pause button. And insights into existing consumer motivation, behaviour and intent captured pre-March 2020 seemed to lose all meaning. Brands scrambled first to ask, “should we be marketing? If so, how do we do so in an appropriate way for the world we now find ourselves in?” As I said at the beginning of this, it was already a complex time to DECEMBER 2020

be a marketer prior to COVID-19 hitting. Why do I say that? I have met with several marketing executives over that past year or so, discussing the evolution of their roles, particularly that of the CMO. When once — years ago — the CMO may have been principally known as the Brand Steward and Chief Storyteller of the organization, driving brand affinity and that ever-elusive unicorn of ‘achieving brand love’. Today’s marketer is being called upon to be all of those, and a mix of Chief Growth Officer / Data Guru / Customer Experience Champion and more. This is a tall order, even before we throw in a global pandemic. Global trends Earlier this fall, Deloitte published our 2021 Global Marketing Trends Report to acknowledge this massive consideration set that marketers must now concern themselves with to best support their brands and organizations. And perhaps surprising to some, the seven trends outlined in the trends report (Purpose, Trust, Agility, Human Experience, Participation, Talent and Fusion) remained the same as those from the year-earlier — but now from a

different vantage point. Purpose was no longer a nice to have; it’s now a must-have. Customers are demanding to know the values that govern a particular brand or organization. Trust: where to start on this topic? It’s wavering, it’s more important than ever, and it’s hard work for a brand to cultivate and it will take far more than just a clever spot or advertising campaign. You get the point…the trends were real before, but they are even more critical to consider now if you are a marketer wearing the multiple hats that your organization requires. The one question that I receive every time I present the Trends Report is whether there are differences between Canada and the U.S. or the study’s global findings. That’s why we wrote the Canadian perspective to sit as an accompanying piece on the main report. And while I would say there aren’t significant differences, given we are all facing so much of this unprecedented turmoil, at the same time I would say there are ways of framing the insights in a way we’ve found helpful and think that Canadian businesses could benefit from. In the Canadian perspective

document, we introduce the Respond, Adapt and Connect model. It suggests that while the crisis raised as the first priority, the need to react and respond in a way that was true to our brands, but which was also in the best interests of society, customers and our employees. That there are also other higher order needs we as marketers can address. ❯❯ Respond. More than threequarters of a year into a global pandemic, we’re realizing that it’s not the initial reaction to the pandemic, it’s the ongoing response amid enormous unknowns. Of the Global Marketing Trends, three address the ability to respond: agility, talent and trust. Being able to move, support and enable people, and the trust built by walking the walk all ladder: up to a successful response. This second wave has created more significant uncertainty, but the opportunity has been realized in how Canadian businesses have responded. Brands that have responded well to the crisis — those who have invested in proactive listening, trend CONTINUED ON page 20 DMN.CA ❰

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NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN BY STEPHEN SHAW

The pandemic has triggered many unexpected shifts in consumer behaviour that are here to stay. Now is the time for marketers to look past this crisis and get ahead of change instead of continuously chasing it.

othing shakes up complacency like a global pandemic. This once-in-alifetime crisis has us questioning everything: our priorities — our assumptions — our values. That’s what prolonged confinement does: forces us to slow down and reflect. We take stock of our lives. Our normal rhythms are disrupted. Our perception of time is warped. Parts of our lives are on hold — for how long, nobody knows exactly. The prospect of a vaccine coming soon offers a glimmer of hope, maybe even a return to some kind of normalcy by the fall of next year. In the meantime, we have to connect with the world through our screens. We feel detached. We miss the collegiality of office life — spontaneous meet-ups with ❱ DMN.CA

neighbours — hanging out with friends. We are impatient for our lives to resume where they left off. But we also suspect that nothing will ever be the same again. A questioning population spells trouble for marketers. Because ingrained habits are bound to change, along with our attitudes too. How dramatically? That’s the question. And that might depend on the speed of recovery. If the economy remains stuck in low gear, people may begin to look at their lives through a different lens. Certainly, the initial evidence would suggest that this pandemic, like others preceding it, has already left its mark on society. We had grown used to excessively scheduled lives — the constant juggling of our time — caught up in the merry-go-round of commitments that left us overwhelmed at times, craving for time alone. Momentarily freed from that daily grind, we finally have more time for ourselves — time to think about the meaning of our lives - time we may never want to give back. We miss the comfort of our old routines, but we

also welcome the respite from the constant demands on our time. We also have renewed faith in humanity for the compassion shown by people throughout this unpleasantness. Conversely, we are indignant at the wilful defiance by scofflaws of public health warnings. Most people feel it is our civic duty to be socially responsible and we expect those around us, including the businesses we know, to share the same spirit of solidarity. A Shopping Apocalypse The possibility also exists that we may even stop defining ourselves by what we buy, bringing an end to the consumer society that began 75 years ago, following the Second World War. At the time people were happy to see the end of rationing after years of deprivation. As factories reverted back to producing consumer goods, the economy boomed. Confidence grew as jobs became plentiful and wages rose. In that euphoric post-war period households were eager to make up for lost time, going on a spending

spree. Our entire society began to structure itself around the urge to shop. Consumer credit was easier to get. Shopping centres and malls suddenly sprang up everywhere. Department stores became retail meccas, showing off the latest in modern fashion and conveniences. Mass advertising celebrated easy living, subliminally urging everyone to “keep up with the Joneses”. Then in the early 1960s big box stores came along offering endless aisles of discounted merchandise. Shopping trips turned into day-long family expeditions. By the 1970s shopping had become a pastime. Finding the best deal became a game. Even when the economy periodically contracted, people just borrowed more to keep on shopping. That is, until now. Our confidence in the future has been badly shaken. Worried that in the aftermath of this crisis, the economy could stall, people have curtailed their discretionary spending — the nice-to-have frills that make everyday living more DECEMBER 2020

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FEATURES enjoyable. Spare money is going into savings, as a hedge against job loss. And the longer people suppress that itch to shop — the longer they practice abstinence — the more they may wonder: “Did I ever really need any of that stuff to begin with?”. As the marketing sage Seth Godin recently observed, “In small doses, for many people, shopping can produce happiness. But it doesn’t usually scale. More stuff might not be the substitute for the things that we truly want.” The end of excess may be near. A new era of frugality — of asceticism — may dawn. For marketers, that would be a shopping apocalypse. The possibility that people might stop treating shopping as a way of life is unthinkable. If that happens, shops and restaurants won’t be the only casualties of this pandemic. The role of marketing — a profession that came of age in the 1950s and 60s by promoting the mass consumption of material goods — may come under scrutiny, as business makes the painful transition to a less materialist, more sustainable, possibly fairer society.

Change happens “gradually, then suddenly” “Mass Due Diligence” During this entire crisis, marketers have been sheltering in place, watching revenues sink and their budgets slashed. Name brand loyalty has been tested as never before, with greater numbers of shoppers opting for generic substitutes when they load up on basic supplies. And while certain types of considered purchases have increased — anything that makes home life more cozy, easier, safer, fun, more tolerable — just about every non-essential product has been crossed off the shopping list. What caught most businesses by surprise was the sudden migration to online shopping. It was as if someone had lowered the eCommerce drawbridge. The holdouts saw everybody else ordering online and rushed to do the same. There was a surprising DECEMBER 2020

leap in the number of people buying groceries online along with a stuck-at-home spike in demand for home improvement products, interior furnishings, exercise equipment, and consumer electronics (accounting for half of the top 100 product searches on Amazon). Ecommerce sales in Canada jumped 113% over last year. Two years of forecasted eCommerce growth took place in just the first two months of the pandemic. Like that Hemingway quip about bankruptcy, change happens “gradually, then suddenly”. Many of these unforeseen shifts in spending were actually nascent trends that simply accelerated under the duress of the pandemic. Everybody now expects these new shopping patterns and preferences to become habitual. And that is sure to pave the way for faster adoption of related technology and services like mobile payments, “shoppable media”, and clickto-door subscriptions, just for starters. Other less obvious trends are gathering steam — subtle shifts in people’s lifestyle orientation and values that are signals of even greater change to come. People may become more conscious of the product choices they make, preferring brands strongly committed to fairness, transparency, ethics and social justice. They may no longer put up with being constantly harassed by digital ads. And they may become more particular in their shopping habits: careful to read the fine print on labels (to find how and where products are made); insistent on a more unified experience across devices; more attentive to brand reputation and integrity (holding brands accountable for their conduct); and more likely to choose brands which share their world view. Brand perception will no longer be shaped by “share of voice” but by “affairs of the heart”: a belief that a brand cares more about them than the bottom line. Conditioned to start their purchase journey online, people will be exposed to a wider range of brand choices, taking the time to vet them through peer reviews and rankings, as well as seeking the recommendations of “nano-

influencers” (what marketing provocateur Scott Galloway calls the post-brand era of “mass due diligence”). The gravest uncertainty is the likely duration of this pandemicinduced economic slump. The investor class may be exuberant at the prospect of a vaccine-led recovery, counting on a big consumer rebound, but the truth on the ground points to a much grimmer outlook. Wealth disparity has gotten much worse due to wage stagnation — and it was unconscionable to begin with. Tragically, the people at the bottom of the income ladder have suffered the most. One third of the population is now struggling to pay bills and put food on the table. Nearly half the population lives paycheque to paycheque, their meager savings whittled away, leaving them hardly anything for emergencies. Even the middle class has seen their income continue to shrink. This widely felt pocketbook pain may trigger a doomsday scenario where people finally reject the very narcotic that has powered the domestic economy for so long: consumer debt. If the majority of people stop taking on debt to buy stuff, not much is left to prop up the economy, which is so dependent on vigorous spending by all social strata, not just the more affluent. Given the epic scale of change, the current health scare might soon give way to a crippling financial crisis that hobbles recovery for a long time to come and may even eclipse the last recession in magnitude. Most marketers are totally unprepared for that dismal scenario. Zombie Marketing The problem is that most marketers are inherently shortsighted. They simply cannot see past the next fiscal year. Robotic in their approach to planning, they tinker with the mix of tactics, spending a bit more here, a little less there, never asking themselves the adult question: What would we do if it was our personal money we were spending? The popular U.K. marketing pundit Mark Ritson once ridiculed the profession for its shallowness: “I used to battle against the executives from finance and

If the majority of people stop taking on debt to buy stuff, not much is left to prop up the economy. accounting who sneeringly referred to marketing as the ‘colouring-in department’. As time goes on, I fear they might have a point.” Marketing’s worst weakness — the soft underbelly of an undisciplined discipline — is a lack of gravitas. Marketers are tacticians. Call it “zombie marketing”. They like to stick to the same go-to-market formula, certain that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow (never one to mince words, Ritson calls their tactics “technical mish-mash and “creative hoo-haa”). Yet now marketers find themselves needing to think differently about what happens next — and not just what might happen in the next year or two, but three to ten years from now, when many developing trends will gain critical mass and erupt into view, catching everyone off guard. All of that explains why CMOs have the shortest tenure of any executive (less than three years!). And why they are rarely invited to board meetings. They are looked at as the brand commissars, in charge of paid messaging, whose sole job is to drive demand. Very few board members even have a marketing background — so any mumbo jumbo about building brand equity is lost on them. They fail to make the connection between what the CMO brags about and what the CFO gripes about, which is why marketing is seen as nothing more than a cost of doing business. Marketers are foot soldiers — there to take orders. The CMO is viewed by the rest of the C-suite as a lightweight who speaks in tongues —an easy scapegoat when things don’t go according to plan. DMN.CA ❰

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Innovation tracks use trend-based scenarios to imagine the future. To earn the right to influence strategic direction, marketing needs to bring the voice of customer into the boardroom — explain, as plainly as possible, that what’s good for customers is good for the business. “Help them help you”, should be the call to arms, imploring the board to put the priorities of customers ahead of the shareholders. Marketing needs a bolder mandate, one that gives it license to take the company where customers are going. If marketing can broaden its perspective — think “from the future” instead of litigating the past — recognizing that we are on the brink of a whole new commercial era - the board will be far more anxious to hear what they have to say. The rest of the C-Suite will start to see marketers as equals. For marketing to reinvent itself, it has to learn to ask more thought-provoking questions that start with the customer: How can the brand be more useful to people? Play a more integral role in their lives? Create continuous value? Be seen as a good corporate citizen? The answers set the stage for a more coherent business strategy revolving around making the customer experience exceptional. Alex Weller, the Marketing Director for Patagonia, explains the modern marketing approach this way: “Everyone’s casting ❱ DMN.CA

The CMO is viewed by the rest of the C-suite as a lightweight who speaks in tongues – an easy scapegoat when things don’t go according to plan their mind forward and thinking about how to change the things that they’ve wanted to change for some time. That doesn’t mean changing our brand, it means just reaffirming why we’re doing this, and challenging ourselves to think about how we can engage our customers even more effectively and get people motivated and rallying around our common goals”. From Preservation to Innovation The job of reinvention involves more than just asking existential questions. How marketing organizes itself, its planning model, its culture, its capabilities — all of that needs to be reconstructed. Marketing needs to be more agile. Give up paintby-numbers planning. Pay more attention to formative trends than to emerging channels. Experiment. Learn from, not punish, failure. After all, great ideas aren’t born on

spreadsheets. They emerge out of a deep understanding of customers: knowing what makes life hard for them. And then coming up with a solution before anyone else. Maybe the most important contribution marketing can make is to be the chief catalyst for change. That means challenging stale assumptions; mastering “first principles thinking”; and making the case for transformation based on putting customers first. Early on in the planning process, before the corporate decrees are unfurled, marketing should paint a vivid picture of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead based on everything they know about consumer behaviour and trends. Otherwise marketers will get stuck as always with unattainable goals based on rosy assumptions and an idyllic view of the market. Predicting the future is like spinning a roulette wheel — even futurists get their prognostications

wrong much of the time — but going through the mental exercise forces everyone to follow a different set of footprints — where customers are going rather than where the business thinks it ought to go. And at the very least it awakens everyone to the implications of the latest trends — pulls the near future into sharper focus even if the view beyond that remains blurry. When the biggest threat to any business is being surprised by unexpected events, the best approach is to get ahead of change, not keep chasing it. Typically, the corporate planning process flows from a grandiose statement of ambition handed down by the CEO (intended to excite shareholders) to executive marching orders (often greeted with a cynical roll-of-the-eyes by middle management) to fuzzy strategic imperatives (usually open to interpretation) to a hope-for-the best battle plan (modeled on past glories). That traditional planning pyramid needs to be inverted: a bottom up process that starts with an estimate of the current and untapped value within the existing customer portfolio and works backward to a reality-based revenue projection. The baseline is the current customer growth rate — now how do we tip the trajectory? How can we capture a bigger slice of customer spending DECEMBER 2020

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Innovation ideas are evaluated and ranked before being sanctioned for development. in the categories we excel in? How can we leverage our brand equity in adjacent markets to grow faster? How can we get more people to love our brand? How can we futureproof our business? This is where marketing can take strategic command. By staging visioning workshops, designed to stimulate new thinking, marketing can change the mindset of the business from preservation to innovation. There is no right formula other than a willingness to debate and ideate. For those sessions to work, however, homework must be done. Trends must be analyzed — scenarios imagined and scripted. These are used as logs on the fire in the visioning work to follow. Visioning Matrix To come up with a set of working scenarios, a Visioning Matrix is created, one axis divided into a range of probabilities, from high to low, the other into varying time horizons, from near to far. Current trends are then mapped to the matrix. As Jeff Bezos has said, “If you want to focus on your customer, think five to seven years ahead, not five to seven months”. A near term scenario — say, the existence of an unserved segment in a ripe-for-disruption category — might be given greater weight than hypothetical ones based on emerging technologies or channels DECEMBER 2020

(such as the “5G Home”, the “Storeless Future”, or the “Cashless Society”). Those scenarios, once agreed upon, become the focus of three types of innovation tracks: the first is dedicated to enhancing the customer experience; the second to diversifying the value proposition; the third (and most revolutionary) to rethinking the business model.

then put through a more subjective filter to avoid stacking the deck in favour of “quick win” initiatives. A balance of short and long-term bets on the future offers the best chance of immunity against change. Once start-up funding is approved, the basket of sanctioned initiatives is baked into a transformation roadmap and

When the biggest threat to any business is being surprised by unexpected events, the best approach is to get ahead of change, not chase it from far behind. The function of each track is to come up with innovative ideas relating to the different scenarios, using gamestorming techniques in workshop settings. The workshops should involve a cross-section of free-thinkers from across the company, led by marketing strategists fluent in customer first thinking. Once the most promising ideas are brought forward, they are assessed and ranked according to their feasibility, desirability and impact. The top ranked ideas are

handed over to cross-functional teams for proof-of-concept development. In the case of sprint initiatives, where first mover advantage is critical, “war rooms” might be set up to bring them to market as quickly as possible, using agile planning methods. Less pressing initiatives, which require more time to clear the internal business hurdles, can move at a pace dictated by the size of the opportunity. A marathon initiative, which is more of a long-term gamble, is usually allowed to

germinate in an incubation lab until the market is deemed to be ready. The future always arrives faster than people expect, as this pandemic has shown. The world is bound to look quite different a year from now — dramatically different a few years beyond that — and barely recognizable in another decade or so as the next wave of technology reshapes society. As the group closest to customers, marketing has the best chance to figure out just what that world will look like. The future of marketing itself may very well depend on minimizing any future surprises in order to improve the odds of survival. STEPHEN SHAW is the chief strategy officer of Kenna, a marketing solutions provider specializing in delivering more unified customer experiences. Stephen can be reached via e-mail at sshaw@kenna.ca.

FORMATIVE TRENDS ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯ ❯❯

Brand apathy Butterfly loyalty Ethical consumption Yearning for simplicity Search for meaning Hyper-rational buying Ad intolerance Consumer frugality Homebody economy Civic mindedness Consumer activism Social consciousness DMN.CA ❰

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CONTINUED The CustomerDriven Changes to Manufacturing CONTINUED FROM page 11

even those with non-technical staff, to configure products. With an emotional attachment to the product they created the customer is more likely to purchase it. Empowerment with CPQ integrations Creating a frictionless experience isn’t just for customers, it’s also for businesses like manufacturers. Instead of passing a messy spreadsheet it is easier than ever to connect, with integrations, CPQ to customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Pairing CRM and ERP systems with integration to CPQ can help reduce order errors by keeping data centralized to one spot. That even includes updates to product portfolios and new pricing. Removing human error can ensure sales team confidence that they are using the right data, every time. Unlocking data with CPQ analytics Many businesses view CPQ as a means to accelerate the sales and quoting processes for their customers. While this is very true, CPQ gives a wealth of data that is often overlooked by businesses. This data can change how operations does business by utilizing CPQ analytics. From customer insight data to improving and optimizing discounting and pricing structures CPQ analytics can give manufacturers data their competition isn’t thinking of. Today’s B2B customers, regardless of product complexity, increasingly expect a personalized, fast buying experience. To meet these customer expectations, manufacturers’ teams need to be in sync: by using the same platforms and tools to create an omnichannel experience that enhances the CX at every touchpoint. MICHAEL BRASSEA is senior CPQ and

Leveraging 3D/360 Product Images for Successful Mobile Marketing

What a Complex Time to be a Marketer CONTINUED FROM page 15

CONTINUED FROM page 12

with respondents’ purchase rationales. Altogether the entire session takes only a few minutes so respondents remain engaged and do not suffer survey fatigue. (why is this very important?) The Passion Score Once the data is collected a proprietary metric, optimized to closely predict purchase intent, which we call a Passion Score, is calculated. This metric is created by exclusively focusing on those consumers who are most passionate about purchasing or who have the strongest belief in the idea. Additional metrics, such as Affinity and Controversiality, assist in adding colour and providing direction for decisions based on consumer insights. By employing a scarcity design model, combined with deep scoring metrics, brand stewards have a powerful new way to optimize the interactive 3D eCommerce experience, enabling them to attain significant sales lift and sustain a competitive advantage. BILL BLOOM - Over the last 20 years Bill Bloom, CEO and founder, Fast Focus, has established himself as an innovator and business builder: disrupting long established industries, driving growth and profitability through innovation operational, creative, and sales excellence. Bill’s innovations include award-winning 3D digital games for Disney, launching the first digital brand for Unilever and the development of AI powered talent mining systems for the FBI. In 2016, Bill started on his mission to reinvent the market research industry. Frustrated with traditional market research’s slow, expensive and outdated methods, Bill and his team launched FastFocus in February 2018. FastFocus delivers qualitative and quantitative research, faster and cheaper than traditional solutions, positioning FastFocus to play a major role in disrupting the $20 billion market global market research industry.

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analysis, and been open to agile ways of working and delivering — have proven resilient. Adapt. We, as marketers, can work with our customers and create new ways of addressing evolving needs. The political, social and health crises of 2020 have accelerated change from a customer behaviour standpoint. A push from our comfort zone that, in the end, will ideally better meet the dynamic needs of our customers. Participation and fusion are the Global Trends necessary for adaptation. Participation is the new currency, exchanging value between brand and consumer. Brands that have adapted are starting to see new business models with finance around flexible funding. We see these companies overinvesting in martech and eCommerce to become more proactive in their messaging and respond in realtime. CMOs have the unique position to set the tone for that exchange, using fusion as the springboard for incorporating and adapting what value means for consumers. And lastly, Connect — what I like to call the silver lining of this crisis. Core, fundamental values of a brand are on full display and humanity’s role is unquestioned. It’s also where brands can get stopped up. Consumers are paying attention to how brands are responding and adapting. An August 2020 Deloitte survey showed that 37 percent of Canadian respondents would purchase more from brands that have responded well to the crisis

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(largely defined by taking care of their talent, customers and community). Connecting isn’t about adding the word “human” to ads or making commercials that highlight “we’re all in this together”. Connecting is about tailoring the message to the customer’s needs you’re targeting and thinking about content that can support their broader context or relationship with your brand. This is where the two Global Trends of purpose and human experience create meaningful and enduring connections. Purpose-based companies show empathy in a time where consumers seek to feel understood. Human experience satisfies expectations and addresses needs beyond just the purchase journey. These are both realities that marketers must look to deepen relationships and solidify connections. If it’s done intentionally, the connection will last. I’m so excited for all of you marketers out there and this expanded role that you play in a customer/consumer/citizen’s life. Hopefully, our reports provide the space to elevate beyond the tactical, everyday demands of your roles and consider the broader impact you can have on your brand, employees, customers, and societyat-large. LIVIA ZUFFERLI is a senior marketing executive

with more than 20 years of experience in retail and consumer goods. A leader in Deloitte’s Customer and Marketing practice, Livia’s areas of focus include brand strategy, marketing strategy and an integrated marketing planning, communication strategy, and creative/content development. Livia has an innate ability to build brilliant teams. Her current team includes Lauren Bradeen who contributed her expertise to this piece.

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DECEMBER 2020

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BY KEVIN DEVEAU

KEVIN DEVEAU is the vice president and managing director of FICO Canada.

he COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted wide swaths of the world economy, and Canada’s financial services industry is no different. As more Canadians than ever find themselves working from home, more of them are accessing money online, CIBC, for example, saw a 250 percent increase in clients ages 65 and older signing up for digital banking services back in April 2020. But greater use of online services hasn’t automatically translated into greater customer satisfaction. J.D. Power’s “2020 Canada Retail Banking Satisfaction Study” found that the 33 percent of Canadian banking customers defined as digital-only reported lower levels of satisfaction with the financial services they received than their branch-dependent and branch-only counterparts. Fortunately, tools that would have been out of reach to any bank outside of the country’s major metropolitan centres even a few years ago are now affordable and ready for adoption by financial services institutions across Canada. Bank and credit union marketing teams can use any one of them to ensure their employers are providing optimal customer experiences: the need to minimize attrition during a pandemic that, for better or worse, is forcing them to digitally transform.

Adopt a cloud-based platform If there’s an overriding lesson to be learned from the way financial institutions have responded to COVID19, it’s that they cannot respond to emergencies in isolation. Employees in every department – many of whom, even call center agents, are now forced to work from home – need to collaborate at every stage to provide an optimal customer experience. This requires adopting a cloud-based platform with centralized analysis and decision-making capabilities. One that provides executives, marketers and front-line employees alike with real-time, 360-degree insight into the experience of every customer, on every channel, whether they’re an individual, small business owner or large corporation. Between relocating their operations and supporting customers affected by COVID-19, many financial services marketers have found themselves with hours, rather than days or months, to put out their largest fires during the pandemic. It’s likely the ones who did so fastest were the ones who could register, serve, and support customers and update their products using a single cloud-based solution. Tapping AI-driven analytics Attrition is a challenge for marketing teams in every industry, financial services included. While many employ tactics such as reward programs or promotional pricing to keep existing customers or entice new ones, they can only go so far. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. By adopting the right AI-powered analytics platform for ❱ DMN.CA

their customer origination and retention strategies, marketing teams can go from relying on a one-sizefits-all approach to drawing from a deep well of personalized promotional offers that intelligently target customers based on a variety of factors. Receiving an offer that feels tailored to their geography, age, life stage and bank relationship helps customers feel valued and can later create new revenue opportunities. More importantly, analytics platforms are capable of building, testing and predicting the results of a wide range of campaign scenarios at a much faster speed than real-world A/B testing, and are easy enough to deploy that marketers can take advantage without relying on the IT department. And since they’re based on algorithms capable of learning and improving themselves with each transaction, the teams using them don’t have to worry about their strategies going out of date; the models behind them simply adjust to updated consumer behaviour patterns. Optimizing digital channels “Digital transformation” was a buzzword in the financial services industry well before the pandemic, with Canada’s banks spending more than $100 billion on technology between 2009 and 2019, according to the Canadian Bankers Association. COVID-19 simply accelerated the process, limiting in-person customer service and transforming digital platforms from an alternative to the main communication channel for many financial companies. Fortunately, as those companies’ marketing teams have quickly discovered, those platforms come with scale, speed and efficiency advantages. They allow them to use not only banking apps but autonomous services such as chatbots, web forms, inbound IVRs, online payment channels and even social media to connect with users. Even at the best of times, customer needs are dynamic. During a crisis, financial institutions need their systems to be more flexible than ever, delivering new products, meeting user expectations and testing new services as quickly as customers have come to expect from the likes of Amazon and Netflix. A single, static design cannot meet the needs of today’s financial services companies for more personalized, customerfocused, multi-faceted strategies. And any institution that doesn’t accept that reality will lose customers to a rival that will. Don’t wait! The worst thing any business can do in response to COVID-19 is wait for it to pass. While the pandemic will end, many of its impacts on consumer habits are likely permanent. The longer financial services companies and their marketing teams wait to digitally transform their services and retention strategies, the further behind they will be when the “new normal” finally arrives. DECEMBER 2020