You can’t connect to customers with a disconnected organization

Reading time: 4 minutes

Every day, clients from nearly every sector come to us with similar challenges. They want to build personal and direct customer relationships that drive growth and loyalty. They want to collect data that enables hyper-personalization. They want advanced marketing technology and strategies to make marketing efforts more effective. But often, they’re surprised to learn that the biggest challenge they face is within their own walls. I’ll explain why siloed thinking causes missed opportunities.

Breaking down the silos

In our 2024 Customer Loyalty Guide, we cite a statistic from Forbes that gets to the heart of the issue. A remarkable two-thirds of consumers are willing to switch brands if they feel a competitor offers a better experience. And yet, when VML first engages with a client, we find that the organizational structure is not set up to achieve customer loyalty. Why? Because they’re managing each step of the customer journey in separate silos.

At a Glance

66%

of consumers will switch brands if a competitor offers a better experience.

The brick-and-mortar stores often have no idea what’s going on in online commerce. Customer Service keeps its own data about customer requests and complaints. Digital media is focused on acquiring new customers. A retention team runs earn-and-burn loyalty programs in isolation. Various marketing teams run individual campaigns without considering their impact on other divisions. And each one of them may be running different technology to manage customer relationships. The problem is often compounded by different markets, each with their own local approaches to being customer-centric. The overall strategies and activities are fractured.

Thinking like a customer

Think about how this siloed thinking affects customers. Although 94% of companies use an omnichannel approach, customers don’t differentiate. They see you as a single brand, whether they interact with you in person, online, at a purchase moment, or with a problem. Whether it’s their first interaction with you or their 100th, they want an experience they can count on. So, imagine how they feel when they receive a marketing email the day after they’ve lodged a complaint with you. Or a ‘we miss you’ email the week after they’ve made a large purchase from you. Or a discount code that doesn’t work in two of your four channels. We already know how they’ll react. Two-thirds of them will simply walk away.

At a Glance

94%

of companies use an omnichannel approach. But how many of those channels are talking to each other?

Imagine how customers feel if they get a ‘we miss you’ email the day after they’ve spent hundreds in your brick-and-mortar store.

Eppo Luiken

Senior Business Consultant at VML Netherlands

Taking the first step

The way to create true connections with your customers requires a new mindset and a new organizational approach. Often for the first time, companies need to gather all these siloed teams together and work together toward a singular, customer-centric objective. And VML can show you how. In my next article, I’ll explain how we can help you shift from fragmented efforts to a unified view that drives success.