by Giselle Abramovich, CMO

Brian Solis weighs in on the fundamentals of CX innovation in this fascinating article from CMO. As Solis puts it, marketers ‘must have a digital foundation that allows them to study the customer journey.’

From the article:

Marketers must have a digital foundation that allows them to study the customer journey, where it hums, where there’s friction, and where it’s completely broken down, said Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group, and author of “X: The Experience When Business Meets Design.” “This is the low-hanging fruit to iteration,” he told CMO.com. “Innovation comes later.”

Additionally, companies must be able to identify their traditional customers, connected customers, and desired customers, and organize them by behaviors, preferences, and values—not demographics, Solis said. Take note of what they value and why and how they spend their hard-earned money, he suggested. This will set the foundation to modernize the brand for a new generation of customers.

Building out a strong digital foundation, Solis added, also means bringing in social scientists to humanize today’s—and tomorrow’s—customers to the business, and to explain what it takes to be culturally and technologically relevant in their world