• by Chick Foxgrover , Op-Ed Contributor, December 9, 2020

2020 is officially the year of Customer Experience. 

Havas CX is creating a global offering for CX services; Grey is working under the AKQA brand; Forrester hosted a successful 3-day conference on CX+Brand this past summer… the list goes on.  

The convergence of CX, ecommerce, experience design and marketing is not a new concept. Customer services and digital advertising of all kinds have gained an increased focus throughout the past decade as shopping online becomes more user friendly. Of course, with this year’s massive shift to e-commerce thanks to COVID-19 confining customers to their homes, first-party customer data and other customer-centered strategies have transformed all agencies into digital agencies as businesses look to optimize end-to-end customer journeys and deliver value throughout.  

Because every brand needed to replace physical contact with online opportunities to connect, interact and transact, marketers and advertisers are now seeing new digital initiatives and new digital behavioral trends. The overwhelming assumption is that CX, digital experience, digital design, and ecommerce are now one and the same. Now what?  

Here are 3 key takeaways agencies and brands should consider to thrive in the Experience Age:  

1. Data, Data, Data: With everyone living and working online, there is an exponential rise in customer data available to clients and agencies. Integrating and interpreting this data can produce the kind of insights that will inform decisions on behalf of customers. Now, data can do so much more than identifying target audiences. It can deliver insight that informs sales, customer receptivity, marketing effectiveness, and more - all of which feed into honing a brand’s CX. 
2. Delivering Creativity: Service and messaging creativity are currently seen as two separate entities. Instead of relying on mass media alone, service and creativity must merge to deliver in a variety of sales contexts without coming across as disjointed. From email alerts, to call centers, to curbside pickup and more, the entire customer journey needs to be understood from a holistic perspective.  
3. Build X-Functional Teams: A consequence of the increased focus on CX? Agencies now need to build cross functional teams. The 4A’s has seen a number of agencies working to extend creative capabilities into digital areas as well as others. To successfully merge CX, digital experience, digital design, and e-commerce into one, teams need to include talent from each discipline to work together at each stage of the marketing process.  

In response to the industry’s increased need to focus on CX, the 4A's launched the multi-industry CX Council earlier this year to provide a forum for those involved in the convergence of marketing, human-centered experience design and digital transformation. Our mission is to provide an industry body to expand the reach of creativity to create business value and help grow the business of CX for agencies and all stakeholders. Here are just a few opportunities from the ecosystem of CX + Marketing that a number of agencies have already seized: 

• Develop sophisticated data analytics practices and provide consulting services for client's in-house system design. 
• Extend creative and strategic design skills into more areas of client’s customer journeys. Positive user experience can bring client properties and service interactions to the level customers have learned to expect from some of the most admired brands on the planet like Apple and Facebook.  
• Pivot to provide consulting in inclusive team building to meet digital integration needs. 

Before lockdown, there had already been signals that the convergence of CX and marketing has terrific momentum. These forces have gathered even more strength. Agencies have a great opportunity to develop new services to meet the new needs of customers and clients alike.