Connected customers may not be connected

In today's business climate the connected customers are seen as people who are highly educated and technologically social and mobile. A study was commissioned by Kitewheel and was conducted by the independent research firm Strategic Marketing Research, Inc. in 2014 to study ongoing efforts by companies to reach their connected customers individually.  The respondents to the study included 382 US-based connected consumers and 209 US-based senior level marketing executives. 72% of the marketing executives focused on B2C and B2B while 28% of the marketing executives focused exclusively on B2C.  63% of the marketing decision-makers were from companies with more than 1000 employees.

There were four key findings of disconnect between the companies and their connected customers.

The first disconnect was in the area of real-time commerce. The study found that 91% of consumers feel an “in the moment" offer might influence their purchase whereas only 32% of the marketers indicated they have the ability to deliver on this “real-time” promise in practice.

The second disconnect related to mobile devices that are used by connected customers. The study showed that 76% of consumers use their mobile devices to compare prices and read reviews while shopping. However, 51% of marketers do not manage their mobile apps as a consumer touch point. As a secondary issue 55% of the consumers are frustrated by finding that the company app offered no functional difference from the business’ website.

The third disconnect with related to tweets between the connected customer and the company. Approximately one in three connected customers expect a response to their tweets within 24 hours. Unfortunately, 45% of marketers indicate that it's unlikely that their company can respond to every one of the social media opportunities.

The last major disconnect has to do with the customer loyalty programs themselves. 73% of the connected customers believe that companies should show the connected customer how loyal they are to the customer but 66% of the companies see it the other way around.

The bottom line is companies do not yet appear ready to deal effectively with the connected customer who uses today's technology as a primary tool for connecting with the company.  This data should provide a wake-up call to companies who are in the world of technology and think that they are using their technology effectively. The magnitude of the differences between the perceptions of the company and the perceptions of the connected customer dramatically make the case that these companies have a long way to go before they are truly able to support connected customers.