• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 17, 2019

Content comes in all shapes and sizes, but only 1% of the 1,668 U.S. enterprise decision makers who participated in a recent Adobe study said voice interfaces will contribute to designing a better customer experience. In the next three years, most respondents said they will rely on real-time interactive campaigns.

“I feel like there’s been a lot of buzz around voice,” said Kristin Naragon, director of product marketing for Adobe Campaign, although she noted that the “use case is fairly nascent and they’re still trying to crack that nut.”

Voice ranked lowest in the United States in the survey when it came to citing the most “exciting” technology to create a better customer experience. Programmatic buying and optimization ranked at 2%, and customer scoring and predictive marketing ranked at 5%.

Search engine marketing in the U.S. scored in the mid-range in the study at 11%. Ecommerce also ranked in the mid-range at 11%. Targeting and personalization scored the second-highest at 25%, and social media engagement and analytics took top honors with 26%.

Data has become the biggest asset for marketers who want to use technology to improve the customer experience, but too many still do not have the tools to manage it properly. The findings from Adobe’s study seem to underscore the need for its newest technology, Experience Platform -- a real-time data management platform announced Monday -- is aimed at improving the customer experience. Early adopters include Best Buy, DXC Technology, The Home Depot, Verizon, and Sony.

While the survey data does not clarify why voice and programmatic ranked lowest, survey participants told Adobe that a mature customer experience strategy has a high correlation to strong business performance based on their business goals.

Voice may not be a top priority for some companies, but those that have an advanced customer experience strategy note that it is 3.5 times more likely to exceed their top business goals, compared with those that lack maturity in their strategy.

Some 25% of companies cite customer experience as the primary way the organization will differentiate itself in the next five years. Other significant tools include product quality, mobile, innovation and price.

About 65% of companies said they will make better use of data to achieve a better experience for consumers, and 52% said they would integrate marketing tools for improved efficiencies and workflow. Most will use it for audience segmentation and targeting.

Some 51% of those participating in the study cite the difficulty in tracking marketing effectiveness and media spend, and 47% said they feel challenged when it comes to ensuring a consistent experience through the customer lifecycle. Some 42% have identified the need to improve customer intelligence, and 40% cite feeling challenged gaining that one view.

Adobe also launched Triggered Journeys, a platform that allows marketers  to set up targeted messages  initiated  by  a consumer's action based  on  past  transactions, searches and more. Certain hotels are now using the feature, where they're adding a geo-fence around the city. The platform knows when the hotel guest arrives at their airport on their flight and sends a message as to whether the room is ready for check-in. If it's not, the message might contain other options for the guest to do while they wait for their room.

Naragon said the message might include recommendations and details to pass the time before check-in to improve the customer experience.