A truly sensory Experian experience
21 Apr 2017
The overarching message of speakers at the local launch of Experian's Mosaic customer segmentation tool? As the casualty list of digital disruption grows ever longer, it's time to focus on your specific customers and improve their overall experience of your brand or get left in the dust.
Mark Wells, who leads sales for Experian, hosted the broader presentation of Mosaic, their next-generation consumer lifestyle segmentation tool after the exclusive media roundtable at Media24’s ‘Nasdak’ on 16 March.
Image © Monnas Photography.
We entered a true Alice in Wonderland world of pink flamingo table decorations and pink drinks labelled ‘drink me’ as Wells explained that tasting and moving into the marketing space is important. The afternoon’s theme of ‘through the looking glass’ tied in with the way Mosaic augments marketers’ ability to see the SA consumer market as something more individualistic with customers that are unique, transformative and likely to look different in a few years' time.
For example, you may be in a certain interest group now but change later – and that's fine, as the tool lets you track where consumers are moving, interest-wise.
Speaking of moving with consumer tastes, the sensory experience on the day included food related to specific Mosaic segments. For example, we sampled ‘moving on up’ fresh Asian crystal wraps with rich peanut sauce; good old-fashioned beef bobotie balls with mango achar; village-baked goat’s cheese, thyme, cream and onion tart; homegrown, cold-roasted tomato soup with basil cream and lemon pepper; traditional beetroot and butternut coconut curry with fresh coriander and toasted sunflower seeds; a street-baked lasagne pot; township cuisine of baked beef fillet with salted caramelised apple and red cabbage; ‘larney’ hot smoked salmon with cucumber shards and pink radish; and lastly the ‘worker’s dessert’ of mini phyllo milk tart. This assisted attendees in identifying with different consumer segments by sampling a 'taste of their tastes', if you will, as the days’ speakers led us through a number of informative sessions.
Bring online efficiency to offline customer experience
These included Experian SA MD Simon Russell on 'Winning in the customer era: connect the new digital world with the customer experience imperative' and Experian’s head of marketing solutions Riona Naidoo on using Mosaic for next-generation consumer classification as well as an overview of the Popi Act and its implications on consumer insight from legal and compliance expert Francis Cronje.
Dave Duarte, CEO of Treeshake digital marketing and communications consultancy spoke on the changing consumer and technology landscape and how to capitalise on the digital disruption, with Sarina de Beer, MD at Ask Africa, speaking on how to effectively deliver on consumers' expectations.
Image © Monnas Photography.
She said it’s as simple as putting on your consumer hat and understanding that as a consumer, I expect you to align your offering with me and be sure you do see me. In today's digital space we want to do more but don't have the time to do so. We connect with many people via social media but we are increasingly lonely. Digitisation is also changing the concept of speed and gratification enormously. With everything happening so fast, consumers think about time differently, which links to the psychology of queuing – we just don't know how to wait. This has driven innovation like Amazon’s drone delivery, at your door just 30 minutes from ordering.
De Beer added that today, as consumers we can also choose our identity from gender to religion and even race as the social psyche and social media means we can play with what we show people of ourselves. The challenge here is that everything we experience online and digitally is what we expect to see in bricks-and-mortar stores. It’s a people issue and a process issue. This is why it’s important that consumer research looks at more than just the demographics on the outside but also who we are on the inside, incorporating attitudes, lifestyles and preferences. That’s important as our brand experience is largely internal too, and that overall CX can make or break your brand.
If you’re not transforming your traditional customer-centric strategies you run the risk of being left behind when the next wave of digital disruption hits.
Click here for more on Experian’s Mosaic, and follow Experian on Twitter.
About Leigh Andrews
Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of diversity, inclusion and equality, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! She can be reached on Twitter at @Leigh_Andrews.
