Merkle, a leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company, has unveiled its 2022 Customer Experience Imperatives.

The executive guide is designed to help brands identify the key strategic considerations that will shape the year ahead and provide business leaders with actionable insights to create competitive advantage through marketing. This year, the Imperatives explore three themes, including data, measurement, and commerce’s impact on loyalty, and discuss how brands can approach each of these to stay ahead of the curve within their industries.

“At Merkle, we are dedicated to helping brand leaders understand the role customer experience plays in driving their business forward. In the coming year, establishing deeper and more rewarding relationships with its customers will be a necessity for any business to achieve its goals,” said Michael Komasinski, global chief executive officer at Merkle/CXM. “The 2022 Customer Experience Imperatives push brand leaders to think differently about their business approach. Through a strong customer experience strategy built around data, measurement, and loyalty, brands can take steps to maximise the depth of their customer relationships and, as a result, advance their business to new levels.”

For more than a decade, the Customer Experience Imperatives have provided business leaders with insight into what outputs and metrics matter most as organisations continue to build out their capabilities and data platforms. The key themes outlined in the 2022 Imperatives, which are critical to helping marketers maximise customer experience and loyalty, are:

Expand the vision for consumer data

Data is the core asset underpinning the way brands connect with their customers. It’s time to think about data differently; it’s imperative to ditch the strategy of collecting vast amounts of product-and-purchase- cycle-related data. Approaching data through a customer experience mindset will encourage a different type of collection, interpretation, and activation. To make customer experiences more valuable, brands should practice funnel fluidity, activate media communications, expand content strategies beyond the website ecosystem, and implement new technologies for customer experiences.

Use measurement as a catalyst for change

In a fiercely competitive customer experience economy, adjusting a measurement framework from focusing on what can be measured to what should be measured can make a world of difference. An effective measurement framework gauges all departments’ activities in relation to their impact on the business.

Deliver commerce experiences that drive next-generation loyalty

The first 20+ years of the world’s digital transformation have largely been focused on convenience: harnessing technology to make everyday tasks faster, easier, more intuitive, more personalised. While these principles are fair, there is a shift occurring within the industry – focusing more on relationship building. The industry is entering a new age of loyalty that is about more than just points and rewards. It’s about longer-term affinity, advocacy.

“The events of the past few years have introduced many challenges to brands irrespective of size or industry” said Margaret Wagner, president Merkle EMEA. “Consumer sentiment has changed considerably, and brands are looking for new ways to reach their audiences and give them more immersive and meaningful experiences.

“By approaching data activation through the perspective of the customer, having clearly defined success measures in place and prioritising customer loyalty, brands can engage with their audiences better than ever before and create closer long-lasting customer relationships.”

The 2022 Imperatives are available in a downloadable ebook and are supported by a webinar hosted by Merkle. Visit here to download and register.