• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 20, 2015

When it comes to the impact of the Internet of Things on customer engagement, the marketers leading the charge see a totally different picture than those behind.

And the leaders are looking to leverage new connections with customers, who expects highly personalized engagements, based on a new report.

The study, Brand Attraction from Enriched Interaction, was conducted by the CMO Council for IBM and comprised interviews with 268 senior marketing executives.

The study was aimed at better understanding how digital content has become pivotal to the way brands attract attention, entice engagement, acquire and grow relationships and encourage purchase.

The study separated best practice leaders and laggards based on how good they were at creating interactions and digital experiences for customers.

The contrast in viewpoint of the impact of the IoT between the leaders and laggards could not be starker.

The large majority (89%) of marketing leaders say the Internet of Things will very significantly impact customer engagement. Fewer than a third (28%) of laggards hold the same view.

The leading marketers are not only looking at the opportunity to send out new and more personalized interactions at scale through new connected points of experience but also seek to harness the data, intelligence and insights that the new connections offer, according to the study.

They also are looking for IoT technology to converge around the connected customer, along with the digital enterprise and the so-called API economy.

The report notes that the connected customer will be fully immersed in the IoT and expect personalized engagements to be delivered.

“Marketers need to embrace new digital channels and content management technologies to realize the full value of rich media engagement, crowd-sourced content and mass-customized commerce through higher levels of personalization and tailored interaction,” states the report. “Failure to act could lead to obsolescence.”

Effectively dealing with the IoT connected customer will be a challenge.