Sales Over Night, Brand Over Time
CMO Confidential
The Marketing Podcast for those looking to navigate the ever-changing waters of marketing the C-Suite and the board room
CMO Confidential Newsletter: Week of Sept 23rd
5 Key Insights from Matt Carey on the Intersection of Marketing and Technology
In the latest episode of CMO Confidential, Matt Carey, EVP and Advisor to the CEO at Home Depot, shared his expertise on the integration of technology, customer experience, and marketing. With his background in IT at major retailers like eBay and Walmart, Matt brings valuable insights on how marketing and technology teams can collaborate to improve customer experience. Here are the top five takeaways from his conversation with Mike Linton.
1. Customer Experience is Fueled by Technology
Matt highlights that technology is often in the foundation of customer experience and almost always at or near the front end of the customer interaction. Whether it’s through apps, self-checkout, or delivery services, customers often interact with a brand solely through technology. He explains that dynamic works best when companies take the customer point of view and work backward to identify friction points in the customer journey. This uncovers hidden issues that customers face (often driven by the drive for cost savings), allowing for a smoother and more efficient experience.
2. Practicality First with AI Implementation
According to Matt, applying AI to customer experience problems isn’t a magic fix. He advises companies to be practical and methodical. One of the main challenges lies in ensuring the underlying data is aligned and robust. For example, before using AI to handle customer inquiries, companies must ensure they have clean, accurate data that can anticipate customer needs and support AI-driven automation. Jumping straight to AI without a strong foundation can lead to ineffective solutions. He provides a great example of the evolution of tech, customer and the interface which is the evolution of the airline check-in system.
3. Align Efficiency with Customer Needs
One of the key insights Matt shares is the potential misalignment between company efficiency and customer satisfaction. While businesses often pursue technological solutions to increase operational efficiency, they can inadvertently degrade the customer experience. He warns against assuming that internal efficiency equates to customer happiness. Companies should focus on eliminating friction in the customer journey before prioritizing cost-saving measures that could alienate customers. He cited the need to take a broad look at the customer impact of any change as many systems and functions are interrelated. Citing his example of limiting customer friction on returns directly to FedEx/UPS also brings risk into the customer experience by eliminating direct customer service.
4. Measure with Care: It’s Not Just About Efficiency
Matt emphasizes the importance of measuring the right aspects of customer experience. Companies often focus on efficiency metrics without considering the unintended consequences on customer satisfaction. For instance, automating returns might reduce staff workload, but without proper fraud prevention measures, it could create new problems. Effective measurement should go beyond just efficiency and encompass customer behavior, experience, and long-term loyalty. Can we pull the example he used with packaging/visits?
5. Focus on Specific Problems - Don’t try to fix everything at once
Matt's advice to marketers and tech teams is to start by solving specific, practical problems rather than trying to overhaul everything at once. He shares a helpful example from Home Depot (did he share the example?), where they mapped out the customer purchase journey into minute details. By identifying pain points and prioritizing the most pressing issues, companies can make incremental improvements that significantly enhance the customer experience. This focused approach prevents overwhelming both the team and the customers.
WHAT YOU SHOULD READ OVER THE WEEKEND:
Meta Orion Makes it’s debut
Altman To Get A Huge Equity Stake?
BlackRock and Microsoft Combine For AI Infrastructure Fund
Next On the Show
Seth Matlins -?Managing Director, Forbes CMO Network
WANT TO DIG DEEPER ON A TOPIC?
Sponsor The Show
Interested in reaching our highly curated audience of CMO’s, C-Suite Execs, Board Members and Founder?? Reach out to the team: [email protected] for more information.
Global Marketing Executive │ Driving clarity through transformation │ Anchoring brands in customer truth │ CMO │ SVP of Marketing
1 个月I like the push on practicality first with AI, which seems obvious, however given the hype companies are focusing on solving for AI first without taking a step back and thinking through the problems it can solve and whether or not the data that aligns is robust enough to get the desired results. AI is a tool to solve problems not the other way around.