#customer-obsession

#customer-obsession

Regulators are paying more attention to data privacy because their constituents consider it a 'kitchen table' issue, highlighting its importance in everyday life.

The convenience of sourcing online is fraught with more pitfalls than most of us want to admit. Try finding adequate photos of a vintage piece's condition-close-ups of the fabric, video of damaged areas, any images of a piece's rear or underside!

The study surveyed 1,226 marketing decision-makers who work for businesses of different sizes and industries throughout the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada.

AI now promises better judgment at scale. Each step has delivered progress. Yet most CX failures haven't stemmed from a lack of tools or technology. They usually result from fragmented incentives, unclear definitions of customer value and inconsistent execution across teams.

Today's marketers operate in an environment shaped by algorithms that surface signals in real time, showing us what resonates, what converts and where attention is moving. Data is no longer a support function. It is the foundation of modern marketing.

Performance has always been the foundation of commerce media because it tied spend to measurable behavior. From sponsored search to sponsored products, the category scaled by delivering outcomes that could be directly attributed to transactions. Automation, AI-driven optimization and closed-loop measurement accelerated that model and made outcomes-based buying the norm. Outcomes still matter. But as AI reduces friction and increases competition, outcomes alone no longer create separation.

The traditional customer funnel is quickly giving way to a more fragmented, dynamic and self-directed journey. Today's buyers move fluidly across platforms, channels and touchpoints-often gathering information, building trust and forming preferences long before brands realize they're in the picture. As AI, creator influence and real-time intent signals reshape how decisions are made, brands must rethink where trust is built and conversion truly happens.

Mike Pastore is the Head of Content & Media at Third Door Media, the publisher of the Martech and Search Engine Land websites and the producer of the SMX and MarTech Conferences. In nearly three decades in B2B marketing, Mike has worked as an editor, writer, and marketer. He first wrote about marketing in 1998 for internet.com (later Jupitermedia). He then worked with marketers at some of the best-known brands in B2B tech, creating content for marketing campaigns at both Jupitermedia and QuinStreet.

As the market grows increasingly saturated with traditional digital content, brands are exploring new ways to stand out by engaging more than just sight and sound. Advances in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), spatial audio and other immersive technologies are opening the door to richer, more memorable brand experiences that feel interactive rather than interruptive. The challenge is knowing how to experiment thoughtfully and how to use these tools to deepen connection without novelty overshadowing their purpose.

Beyond their spending, high-value clients typically engage regularly, remain loyal over time, and align with the company's core offerings. For example, a high-value client that engages regularly could be a regular shopper who purchases often but also always likes and comments on the business's social media posts. These comments and likes on social media can have a positive impact on the business, showing other potential consumers that the business is reputable and valued by others.

B2B buyers now enter the purchasing process already considering at least one vendor. Increasingly, AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Microsoft 365 Copilot inform their choices. These tools are becoming one of the first places buyers turn for vendor insights. If a company doesn't appear in these AI-generated answers, it risks being excluded from buyer shortlists. To improve visibility, companies must strengthen their answer engine optimization strategies by leveraging their customers.