Is Humanizing Connect? A subject pending from companies

Creating an ecosystem that drives human connection is technologically and strategically complex, but the benefit is great: humanizing is connecting.

Businesses can leverage this complex environment to build lasting relationships. How? With a customer-oriented mindset and a technological platform that drives more human branding (human branding) that the current one.

Here I list five ways to help marketing and IT professionals on their way to building a solid human foundation with its customers:

Humanizing is connecting, don't treat the customer as one more

The Great Publicist David Ogilvy Said “the client is not dumb, she's my wife“. Too many brands treat us like on a first date, asking us the same cloned questions to get to know each other better. Personalization doesn't mean we're harassed online with random recommendations based on our shopping and search history. It's frankly tired. Even after you've bought a smartphone, the damned Remarketing you'll be showing us your ads until you're done with our patience and making us erase the Cookies.

Brands must find a way to find our uniqueness, as if they were a personal assistant. This particular view of the client means extracting information from each online and offline system, and integrate that into a database. Are we different on and off the grid? Probably not in our attitude, but yes in our behavior.

A commitment to simplicity

Why I like Apple products and services? Because, despite his rapid obsolescence, are simple to use, are faster and give less trouble. Brands need a clear view of the experience their customers need. And then apply the technology to enable and improve it. It may seem that focusing on the customer is obvious, but many companies start with technology first and end up investing in services that are not provided. Humanizing is connecting, let's not forget it.

The co-creation, For example, helps generate experiences that reduce sophistication and facilitate customer interaction. I advise you to read this post by the expert Montse Peñarroya Entitled Do you really know what your client wants? Ask! with excellent examples of Lego co-creation, Alain Affelou or Banco Sabadell.

Omnichannel

As defined Mercedes Fuster from José Facchín's blog, omnichannel is not working in multi-channel environments, but do it simultaneously.

The same article highlights three key advantages of omnichannel:

• Online sales complement those made in a physical store
• Omnichannel trade encourages cross-border sales
• Omnichannel strategy is key to reaching "super buyers"

In this Hubspot article we can be inspired by examples of omnichannel from companies like Disney, Starbucks…

Security, stability and reliability

Let's not kid ourselves, exposure of multiple personal data can pose a significant risk to customers if security is not foolproof. We've seen recent cases of information leaks:

• Equifax: 145,5 millions of hacked accounts
• Facebook: 50 millions of hacked accounts
• Dow Jones & Compay: 2,2 millions of hacked accounts

Successful brands seamlessly link platforms to create an ecosystem that enables a complete customer experience. For it to thrive you need a design that is scalable. The strength of scalability and security deliver the reliability expected by consumers.

Integrated technology

CDRs (Customer Data Platform) facilitate how to connect with a customer, because you can implement that strategy immediately without a complex technological transformation. Marketing and IT professionals can no longer work separately with incomplete and isolated data.

This is, I think, the most complex part, that professionals with such disparate skills can come to be understood without friction. Complex but not impossible, you just have to take that thing seriously humanizing is connecting.

Sources consulted: AdWeek, Hubspot, Blog by José Facchín, Cyberclick, Blog by Montse Peñarroya

Girls photo by gpoinstudio on Shutterstock.com