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Industry Insights

Behavioral Analytics for a Structured Approach to Storytelling – Understanding Customer Journeys in a Hyperconnected World

By OSG Team on May 21, 2019

Today’s dynamic, digital age demands that business metrics should be strongly linked with customer satisfaction metrics. When customers are not just connected but hyperconnected through a multitude of devices such as wearables, phones, laptops, desktops and much more, it is difficult for brand to differentiate themselves over competitors. Personalization is the need of the hour. So, what can organizations do to effectively connect with their customers over competition throughout the customer journey?

 

One of the most impactful ways to engage customers at every step of their purchase journey would be through stories that resonate with them. However, it can’t be a cliched, one-size-fits-all story. It must be storytelling that dives into the collective customer mindset/choice pattern to determine how best to influence their purchase behavior. This is where behavioral analytics comes into play.

Let’s take the example of Storytelling Inc., a fictitious company. Storytelling Inc.’s marketing department was trying to develop effective marketing to acquire new customers for one of their product offerings. The team put together a plan to run campaigns with the goal of increasing acquisition numbers.

At the monthly marketing meeting where numbers were reviewed, it was reported that while branding outreach improved slightly, and a few clients were acquired, overall customer acquisition numbers were much less than expected. However, in an unrelated departmental meeting, an analyst specializing in customer behavior noticed a significant increase in customer retention. The analyst reached out to the sales team to determine if there had been any strategy change to drive this trend and found that wasn’t the case. After some digging, it was determined that the campaigns which Storytelling Inc.’s marketing team ran to acquire new users ended up informing existing clients instead. With existing customers now aware of new product features, Storytelling Inc. inadvertently ended up upselling their product. This win would very nearly have been missed because Storytelling Inc. was so focused on their acquisition goals rather than the bigger story – they missed out on the advantage of anecdotal analytics.

What is anecdotal analytics?

Every successful business is constantly trying to learn more about their customers. They sit on vast quantities of customer data, and often predict how they will react accurately throughout the customer journey. However, they don’t use this data to weave stories for customers that might influence their purchase choices. Why? When will we include the power of storytelling to our business growth narrative? In today’s world where customers don’t need to reach out to businesses before purchasing products, all businesses can do is tell stories through data to influence customer choice. If data-driven stories or anecdotal analytics are included at every stage of the customer journey process, it may be possible to connect more with your customers in this hypercompetitive world.

Imagine if we could tell data-driven stories, powered by behavioral analytics, at every stage of the customer journey:

  1. Awareness

As your audience knows nothing about your brand or product at this stage, your story should be around your previous successes. By letting potential customers know the tangible impact you have had on other customers, you are drawing attention to the power of your brand and your customers’ faith in you.

  1. Consideration

As your audience already knows of your existence at this stage, your stories should be focused on how you are doing better than your competitors. By drawing focus to your strengths over competition, you enable customers to consider you for their purchases.

  1. Purchase and Use

At this stage, your customers have already chosen you over competition. Your story should emphasize your latest product offerings and feature updates, so that customers know how to use your offerings to the maximum extent possible. Enable them with handy tips and tricks, to use your product better.

  1. Advocacy

Now that your customers have used and liked your product, it is time for them to recommend it to friends and family. Don’t hesitate to ask for their help when it comes to your brand or product advocacy. After all, you need their voice and their stories to build your narrative. Create content that asks for their support to spread the word and say something positive about you.

Let us take the case of Storytelling Inc. once again. Only this time, they are aware of the power of anecdotal analytics in customer journeys. Storytelling Inc. already has a vast quantity of customer data available. When the behavioral analyst looks at this data, he comes across a gap in the market for upselling the product to existing customers. By collaborating with the marketing team, a different plan is put together to create campaigns targeted at these existing customers. These campaigns run content in the form of stories interspersed with facts, to inform customers about new features, handy tips and tricks, and much more. Customers who are already using Storytelling Inc.’s product now have a chance to try out these updates, thus increasing product sales more effectively. Now, the monthly review meeting has a different story to tell – that of success and improved customer satisfaction metrics.

Ultimately, don’t let your business goals take away focus from what is truly vital – customer centricity. Your business and your stories are only as important as your customer connect.

 

How can OSG help on your anecdotal analytics journey?

OSG Dynamo™, OSG’s AI-driven, big data analytics platform can be your partner on the journey towards creating data-driven stories. With its bespoke behavioral and cognitive analytics platform, Dynamo can identify needs gaps in your customers’ journeys and provide robust recommendations on how to connect with them better. You can then weave better stories to improve brand outreach and business growth.

We hope this information has been valuable and interesting to you. Please do feel free to share it with colleagues and others in your network. We welcome discussing this topic further with you and understanding your specific challenges.