from the desk of MAX KENKEL

During lockdown periods the past few years, Gartner found that brands committed as much as 80% of their marketing spend on digital. Customers shopped and worked from home, limiting the avenues to reach them.

Now, we’re seeing a need and a desire by organizations to readjust their marketing mix to go beyond only digital. Brands have a big opportunity to grab customers’ attention with unexpected, personalized experiences that center on connecting with their customers.

In most cases, this connection is built through excellent customer service and high-quality products. Brands that do it well have turned their interactions, or their product, into part of the holistic customer experience.

Even among competitive brands that produce comparable goods or services, customers have varied expectations and relationships with each one. The organizations that pair unexpected value with their brand promise create a unique opportunity to win over customers, new and old. Here’s a real-world example. ITA Group worked with a mortgage lender that experienced historic numbers of refinances and couldn’t process the mortgages promptly. To save their customer relationships—and strengthen them—we personalized a customer service experience no one saw coming. The communication campaign recognized the service gap, reinforced customers’ value by thanking them for their patience and sent them a gift for their trouble.

In this case, a package of Omaha Steaks with a sincere message of “dinner on us.” The solution was a hit, reinforcing the brand with almost 100,000 homeowners. It also garnered positive earned media for our client with a blurb in the Financial Times.

These customer relationship trends led us to reimagine our solutions for how customers connect with brands on an emotional level.

Our Breakthrough Touchpoint solution helps organizations pinpoint specific moments that matter in the customer journey, which leads to more positive outcomes. It also shows how going beyond digital marketing can meet customers’ demands for personalized, memorable and meaningful interactions.

According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020, around 80% of customers are willing to leave a brand after a lackluster performance. That means organizations must play the long game—where each new interaction with customers is the most important yet.

At ITA Group, we help inspire emotional connection for our brands, and create equity in the customer's minds, boosting the brand's odds of increasing customer lifetime value.

Max Kenkel ITA Group Solution Line Leader, Customer Solutions