Customer orientation in dialog marketing: gap between aspiration and reality

According to the results, only 40 percent of companies practice customer orientation. Similarly, the industry experts participating in the study deny 40 percent of advertisers a holistic understanding of the user.

This has consequences, as users are also aware of these shortcomings: according to a parallel consumer survey, one in three participants has the impression that brands and companies do not know much about their expectations, needs and wishes, nor do they take these properly into account when displaying their advertising. Just as many users think that companies do not give much thought to whether the advertising is well received or that they invest little time in designing the advertising.

Customer focus: experts continue to see major challenges

As part of the Digital Dialog Insights, which is a cooperation between Stuttgart Media University and United Internet Media, over 120 dialog marketing experts from various sectors and around 1000 users of Web.de and GMX were surveyed. In addition to the importance of customer centricity for dialog marketing, the experts also identified the willingness to invest and challenges. The latter lie above all in overcoming the difference between existing demands and reality.

"It's time for a change of perspective," says Rasmus Giese, CEO of United Internet Media and initiator of Digital Dialog Insights. "Customer orientation on the corporate side must not be just lip service. A deep understanding of the customer as a user of the digital world is required: user centricity is the basis for correct customer orientation and therefore for successful dialog marketing. It is particularly important to address the user consistently across all channels and touchpoints. To achieve this, tools and data must be used intensively, taking data protection regulations into account."

Willingness to invest in data quality and user centricity

The conditions for a paradigm shift are good - given the high and growing importance of customer centricity, the expected investments are correspondingly high. The focus is on several topics at once: Data quality and user orientation are being promoted, as are personalized advertising content and messages that are packaged in stories and aligned with the customer journey.

In principle, there is a high level of understanding of customer centricity: four out of five of the dialog marketing experts surveyed are convinced that user centricity is a prerequisite for customer centricity. At the same time, one in two of them criticized the lack of valid data. Unclear legal framework conditions also hinder the development of a clear customer centricity strategy.

"Customer centricity has been known as a corporate guiding principle for decades. With the availability of data and technology, companies are now increasingly launching investment initiatives," says Professor Harald Eichsteller, publisher of Digital Dialog Insights. His co-editor Jürgen Seitz adds: "The increasing market pressure from radically customer-centric companies is accelerating investment in personalization and service."

Consumers demand individualization and personalization

Users are demanding more individualization and personalization of communication: 75% want to be addressed personally. Just under half (46%) want personal relevance when advertising on the Internet and at the same time complain that companies do not take this sufficiently into account (45%). Companies that create this added value through personalization and do not lose the necessary sensitivity in dealing with users are rewarded by consumers.

Digital Dialog Insights examine trends in dialog marketing for the sixth time

This is the sixth edition of Digital Dialog Insights. In previous editions, the Stuttgart Media University, together with United Internet Media, examined the trend topics of native advertising, small screens and big data as well as storytelling and multi-screen advertising. The study can be downloaded free of charge at Digital-dialog-insights.com can be downloaded. The study will also be published in print for the first time in 2017 by Bundesanzeiger Verlag.

Study Profile

• Name of the study: Digital Dialog Insights
• Publication date: June 2017
• Editors: Prof. Harald Eichsteller and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Seitz, Stuttgart Media University
• Initiator: Rasmus Giese, United Internet Media
• Sample: 125 experts from the manufacturing, retail and service sectors and 961 Web.de and GMX users
• Survey period: 05.04.2017 - 24.04.2017
• Purchase: free download
• Key facts:
  • Experts attest that only 40 percent of companies are customer-oriented
  • Users criticize the lack of understanding of expectations, needs and wishes in advertising
  • Companies must invest: Focus on data quality and user orientation