With retailers trying to differentiate themselves in a crowded and fiercely competitive marketplace being able to deal an engaging customer experience has never been more important. Our colleagues at Modern Marketing Today caught up with the experts at Alterian to find out how journey orchestration technology can help brands succeed. Here’s what you need to know:

Marketers today know that consumers are demanding an omnichannel experience that is unique and engaging. We often talk about how we can engage customers and what their preferences are, but we haven’t taken a deeper look into what goes into making a successful customer experience possible – specifically the real-time customer experience technology that drives real-time journey orchestration.

Journey orchestration is all about personalizing the experience of a customer to keep them engaged in real-time across multiple channels. This can become very complex very quickly: the number of channels, options, the types of customers result in a huge proliferation in the number of decisions that need to be optimized. “Machine learning manages a level of complexity that the human brain can’t fathom. Plus, they can keep computing and analyzing 24×7 and don’t get fatigued,” said Chris Nolan, CTO of Alterian.

With marketing budgets shrinking and the responsibilities of customer experience teams growing, marketers are becoming more dependent on technology like real-time CX platforms according to a recent Forrester study. Customer experience teams are often a mix of marketing, sales, and design specialists. With this responsibility crossing multiple business lines, journey orchestration technology can help the team deliver personalization that is consistent across multiple channels. According to the study, only 54% of those surveyed think they have executive backing and 45 percent find cross-organizational cooperation the biggest barrier.

“To be successful in improving customer experience (CX) you want to start small and with a specific goal that can be measured,” said Nolan. “Being able to demonstrate ROI-driven success is the best way to overcome the obstacles that most organizations face; it’s amazing how quickly a coalition can be built when there’s clear evidence of a positive impact on the bottom line or on customer retention and lifetime value.”

On average, these teams dedicate $100,000 to $500,000 a year to customer experience efforts and 53% cited improved retention as the biggest benefit. As these teams grow, they said they are hoping to add members with backgrounds in data analytics, design thinking, and customer experience measurement, but what if they didn’t have to add more employees to get these skills?

With the right tools, like Alterian’s real-time journey orchestration technology, customer experience teams can gain insights on their customers like never before. “Alterian helps customer experience professionals create one brain,” said Nolan. “Being able to drop-in a real-time customer experience platform without the need to rip and replace entire systems or spend countless hours on integration helps an organization orchestrate the customer journey and achieve their business goals much more quickly.”

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