A Fool-Proof Formula for Easy Customer Experience Management

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In this episode, Nielsen’s Tina Wilson talks about the shifting sands of consumer behavior and measuring ROI as power shifts to consumers. She shares her perspective on how consumer behavior and marketing tactics have changed since 2000, avoiding overwhelming consumers, the differences and commonalities between B2B and B2C buyers’ journeys, what technologies marketers are using right now to help them make decisions, and much more.

About the Guest

Tina Wilson is the global head of product, outcomes at Nielsen. A 25-year Nielsen veteran, Wilson leads teams that are the epicenter of media consulting, leveraging Nielsen’s world-class data assets to inform clients’ decisioning on reaching audiences, acquiring and distributing content, and understanding media outcomes. Wilson has held progressive leadership roles at Nielsen in the United States, Canada, and Europe and is an active member of the Marketing Advisory Board at PLNU, a Steering Committee member for the World Economic Forum’s Media, Entertainment and Culture initiative, and a Member of Paley’s LA Board of Governors.

Connect with Tina Wilson

Key takeaways

There has always been an ever-present need to focus on and understand consumers, their motivations, their preferences, how they make decisions, etc. Though, the challenge today is effectively connecting with the consumer and keeping up with them and their buying decisions.
To avoid consumer overwhelm, marketers need to mindfully plan media investments without annoying customers and get feedback from customers about that. They also need to match where they make their products available online and offline relative to consumer preferences, anticipating where the consumer preference is going to be.
We need to work with the data, stay ahead of it, and use it for anticipating and predicting the future.
What B2B and B2C brands now have in common is being tech-enabled. Every operational process has been improved or impacted by technology, which changes the speed at which markets move, giving rise to challenger brands.
Today, marketers are using marketing optimization software for channel allocation, attribution, and bridging the gap between the brand and media touchpoints.
Ultimately, Nielsen’s goal is to have buyers and sellers able to have a common language to communicate and transact about the value of content, the place of the advertisement within that content, and the actions that happen from consumers.

Quotes

“It’s really this fascinating shift of going from the consumer having to seek out what they want and finding it and then paying for it or having some value transaction for it to the reverse of that, where consumers are being sought after. Now, you’re like pushing away choices and options coming at you versus being the one to initiate to go get that need fulfilled.”

Highlights from the episode

How has consumer behavior changed since 2000?

One thing that has stayed consistent in our field, even before 2000, is the need to focus on and understand consumers, their motivations, their preferences, how they make decisions, etc. Now, those factors have evolved and are more complicated than they used to be. In 2000, there was digital experimentation in the market. Now, that’s still happening, but the challenge is effectively connecting with the consumer and keeping up with them and their buying decisions.

How can brands market through the noise and consumer overwhelm?

A lot of it is about marketers continually staying focused on the consumer and understanding them. Marketers have to match where they make their products available online and offline relative to consumer preferences, anticipating where the consumer preference is going to be. They have to mindfully plan media investments without annoying customers and get feedback from customers about that.

Why are marketers still sending out thousands of emails? Why can’t we get away from the volume approach to marketing?

The job is so much harder than it used to be, and there’s so much more data. It’s overwhelming to know which signals to pay attention to and which not to. There are some marketers that do what they believe they need to do to checkboxes versus doing what’s actually valuable and optimized. We need to work with the data, stay ahead of it, and use it for predictions.

Then and Now: How do you measure what marketing tactics are actually producing ROI?

I don’t think what we’re trying to measure has changed so much as how we need to measure it. 10-20 years ago, we had static views of the consumer. So, what’s different now is we have more relevant metrics and customer touchpoints, more refined audiences, and more continuous relationships with end clients.

What are the differences and commonalities between B2B and B2C buyer’s journeys?

There are blurring lines between B2B and B2C. The entire direct-to-consumer movement in categories where the middle distributor layer has been taken out has changed the dynamic. What they have in common is being tech-enabled. Every operational process has been improved or impacted by technology, which changes the speed at which markets move, giving rise to challenger brands.

How are humans going to be replaced in the customer journey?

From a data-driven perspective, you can automate things that only used to be construed as creative things that only people could do. There are opportunities to blend machines and humans, too.

How does Nielsen’s technology help marketers today?

Nielsen offers measurement and outcome measurement components under the same umbrella. We’re able to connect the reach size of an audience and its composition with what outcomes happen next in certain scenarios. Ultimately, our goal is to have buyers and sellers be able to have a common language to communicate and transact on about the value of content, place of the advertisement within that content, and the actions that happen from consumers.