New channels, new markets and changes in device usage make today's marketing environment more complex than ever, and that means delivering the right message to the consumer is increasingly vital.
But according to an IBM/eConsultancy study in April, only 35 percent of consumers say the communications they receive from their favorite brands are relevant and four out of five consumers believe that brands fail to understand them as individuals.
Last week IBM announced it was partnering with Facebook to offer more tailored marketing, now it's adding further design and analytics capabilities as part of its Marketing Cloud to offer businesses an integrated solution.
The new features include IBM Journey Designer, a virtual whiteboard where staff on multiple teams within an organization can collaborate with a single overview of a customer's interactions to make more informed decisions.
IBM Journey Analytics allows marketers to sift through valuable insights about the customer, making it easier for marketers to visualize the journey of the customer then map and design a campaign to help deliver more relevant experiences with greater precision.
IBM Customer Experience Analytics offers a single platform that unifies IBM's Journey Analytics, Digital Analytics, and customer behavior analytics capabilities to give brands a complete overview. Finally, IBM Commerce Insights provides business executives a view into the performance, operation and growth of their digital business.
"Marketers are the gatekeepers to the customer and have the opportunity to understand each individual and guide them on the path through a mix of campaigns designed to nurture brand loyalists. To succeed, however, marketers must embrace technologies that offer them the opportunity to build two way engagements with each customer and deliver a meaningful and relevant experience," says Deepak Advani, General Manager, IBM Commerce. "IBM is providing innovations such as journey analytics to allow marketers to gain insights into customers at depths they could never have imagined just a few years ago. Teams can then turn these insights into campaigns to deliver powerful experiences that engage customers in-context and ultimately build advocacy".
More information on IBM eCommerce solutions is available on the company's website.