Most companies today are undergoing a transformation process toward a digitized business model. Everything has to become faster and more efficient, and also better aligned to customer requirements. After all, it's not just a matter of being a little more or less competitive, but rather a matter of survival.

If the study "Accelerating the Pace and Impact of Digital Transformation" published in the Harvard Review (2016) is to be believed, only one in five companies succeed in getting their digital strategy off the ground. A good 40 percent of executives say they have problems with change management. The same number of bosses see departmental silos and risk aversion as insurmountable obstacles. Not even half are able to quickly launch digital experimentation projects. Not surprisingly, the central factor that has been shown to have a negative impact on the success of market development is complexity.

 

As is well known, complexity can be caused by many different circumstances, for example by the organization, processes or products. Complexity is not negative per se. The challenge is rather to find the right degree of complexity. In market development - i.e. in sales, marketing, communication and service - it is above all the inflation of the various touchpoints that generates complexity. New opportunities to interact with (potential) customers arise almost weekly. Being present at every conceivable contact point with an "as much as possible" strategy is not effective. This is well known. It's also a fact that companies are rapidly managing over 200 touchpoints around the customer journey. That's too much and overwhelms any organization. 

Effective change management is geared towards holistic recording, control and reduction of complexity. Central points for a successful outcome are: 

• Corporate culture before technology: For a long time, the focus of digitization projects was predominantly on technology. In the meantime, it has been recognized that a successful change process depends to a large extent on the involvement of employees. Change comes through cultural rethinking and the discarding of old thought patterns.
• Clear goals and measurability: Successful change management begins with the formulation of clear and verifiable goals. Accordingly, reliable decision-making bases are a prerequisite for efficient target and success management.
• Customer as a point of reference: A concrete point of orientation is extremely helpful for all those involved: What or whom do we want to focus on? Processes, costs or the customer? In market-oriented corporate management, this point of orientation should be the customer. Looking through the customer's glasses helps to better understand how products or even communication are received by the customer. Since the process is primarily about directional decisions, it is only advantageous that this perspective provides a holistic picture and is validated by means of customer research. Working from such a customer perspective is also extremely inspiring and many fresh ideas with potential can be generated quickly.
• Mutual coordination or alignment describes the consistent orientation of the actions of the individual departments and employees to a common customer image. Persona, target groups and market segments are proven management tools in this context. As central bases for decision-making, these tools should also be underpinned by empirical customer research.
• Entrepreneurship: We live in times of upheaval, radical change and many new opportunities. Changing is only possible if justifiable risks are taken and there is courage to take gaps. Entrepreneurship should be widely promoted.
• Simplicity as the key to implementation success: Complicated strategies and campaigns with many touchpoints and messages have a difficult starting point. The famous Einstein saying sums it up: "You should make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." 

Managing complexity and shaping change are permanent tasks. Companies can be much more successful if employees are closely involved in the process and the customer voice is heard without distortion.

The well-known saying "50 percent of the budget is just thrown out the window - I just don't know which half." has survived the greatest innovations of the last 100 years, even the Internet. Depending on the situation or source, the bon mot is sometimes attributed to the automobile magnate Henry Ford, sometimes to the department store king John Wanamaker. The fact that such a sentence still appears after dozens of years could indicate that the question is still red-hot and still unanswered.

Communication without wastage

It is a well-known fact that communication and coverage loss belong together like light and shadow. Statements such as "online advertising has no wastage" are therefore rather nonsense. It is all the more astonishing that wastage is almost exclusively associated with paid media and that owned and earned media are usually completely ignored.

Not surprisingly, a completely different understanding of the terms by the players involved also frequently leads to confusion. Ultimately, the crucial question is whether contemporary and relevant evaluation criteria are used at all to assess the loss of scatter.

One of the most widespread definitions on the Internet clarifies the problem: "Spreading loss is when a campaign does not exclusively reach the target group, but is also seen by people who do not belong to the target group." Just thinking out loud: How is this to be called if exactly those outside the defined target group demonstrably still buy in the end? Scattering profit? That is not possible at all! Two key words in the definition of scatter gain also at least make you think:

1. see

We all know that "seeing" (from the customer's perspective) or "being seen" (from the company's perspective) alone is not decisive for market success. In the customer journey, successful market cultivation still requires further steps such as customer activation, which leads to a purchase.

2. target group

Of course, you have to know your target group. However, the focus on socio-demographic target groups in marketing dates back to a time when, for example, age, gender and income could be equated with concrete buying and consumption habits. Nowadays, even millionaires enjoy "Schnäpplis." And so it is not surprising that socio-demographic characteristics are of little help in defining target groups.

How to avoid wastage

Companies try to keep expensive wastage to a minimum. The resulting minimization and optimization of strategies and campaigns harbors the danger that the advertising pressure quickly drops below the effectiveness threshold. The distribution of meager budgets over many individual measures or budget pots leads more and more frequently to total failure: Even advised target groups do not "see" the measures. Especially with classic offline media, too little advertising pressure is often generated due to underinvestment. In other words: the entire budget flies out the window, 100 percent. It is problematic when the wrong conclusions are drawn from this during the performance evaluation.

The main causes of this phenomenon are currently: unclear objectives, imprecise target group descriptions, use of too many media, inappropriate touchpoint combinations, campaign duration that is too short, and budgets that are too small. In order to ensure communication success even in times of declining reach, one can start at different points. On the one hand, budgets should be regularly reconsidered. On the other hand, it is necessary to focus on a few selected measures and to evaluate them cross-medially.

Establish impact transparency

In an ever more rapidly changing communications world, this is not as simple as it sounds, because as a rule there is simply a lack of key figures for efficient and effective management of market cultivation across the entire customer journey. Empirical measurement is therefore needed to generate the relevant key figures. This creates holistic impact transparency for owned, paid and earned touchpoints, which makes it possible to systematically and measurably tap the 50 percent potential of the esteemed Mr. Ford and Mr. Wanamaker.

The Author: Christoph Spengler is the founder and Managing Director of Accelerom, an internationally active consulting and research company based in Zurich. For more than ten years, Accelerom has been combining management practice and innovative research and supporting clients from analysis to implementation. Everything revolves around the customer's perspective and his customer journey in marketing, sales, communication and services - always holistic, always measurable, always with impact and profitability in focus. Christoph Spengler writes regularly in the print edition of Werbewoche. This article was already published in Werbewoche 15/2018, September 21, 2018.

Admittedly, there are more titillating topics than "reach". But the performance indicator is omnipresent among advertisers, agencies and media. Reach is used as a currency when measures are designed and the bulk of budgets are planned. The key figure is used diligently above all for classic media such as newspapers, TV or radio as well as online media.

Knowing the composition and origins of the reach number better is worthwhile, if only because the currency has a significant influence on the implementation success of strategies and campaigns.

1. reach is not equal to reach

In essence, reach provides information about the number of people who are reached. However, reach values are collected and defined differently depending on the type of media (press, radio, television, posters, cinema, etc.). Therefore, not all reach is the same. This leads to a real range salad. The result is a corresponding lack of clarity.

2. most different people

Which people are really being reached, you might ask. In the case of paid media, the majority are users, or more precisely media users. And these users differ understandably according to the type of media, e.g. newspaper readers, Internet surfers, TV viewers or moviegoers. Complex! What is essential is that the reach of media users cannot be equated with the reach of customers, non-customers or (potential) buyers. These values are much lower than media user reach.

3. final station Intermedia comparison

The two-page fact sheet "Definition of the Narrower User Group" from WEMF (2017) provides very specific information on this topic: "For an intermedia comparison, a common denominator is necessary with regard to the use of the various media types. Reach values are not suitable for this purpose, as these are collected and defined differently for each media genre."

The questionnaire used to collect the values provides clarity. E.g. for the media genre press: "How many out of six consecutive issues of a certain title are normally read or leafed through? Answer options: six out of six OR five out of six OR four out of six OR three out of six." The attentive reader will notice the "read or flipped through " assessment criteria.

Success control with fictitious accuracy

As is well known, (almost) every key figure is subject to a certain degree of uncertainty. It goes without saying that advertisers consider the aspects of effectiveness (doing the right things) and efficiency (doing things right) in media planning. Optimal use of the budget should generate sufficient advertising pressure to achieve success in terms of image and sales. In order to achieve visibility and perception of one's own advertising, the impact threshold must be exceeded. The measure for the control of advertising pressure is the well-known Gross Rating Point (GRP). The composition: reach in percent multiplied by average contacts. The basis - how could it be otherwise - is the reach.

Recommendations from research and consulting practice

The fact is that planning and managing paid media strategies and campaigns is becoming not only more challenging, but also more risky. Increasingly, there are total failures: Expensive campaigns are insufficiently perceived by the target groups or not perceived at all, because success-critical thresholds are not exceeded. Our experience shows: Those who consciously correct the blurring in the omnichannel reality and focus on a few selected touchpoints have much more success. Further success criteria are:

• Measure reach values for the (potential) customers;
• Align advertising pressure with (potential) customers: if in doubt, increase advertising pressure and budgets;
• In addition to the purely quantitative performance indicator "reach," also use qualitative criteria - such as relevance of the interaction as well as affinity of the target group to a mix of measures;
• Implement end-to-end integration of paid media with owned and earned across the entire customer journey, both online and offline;
• Measure campaign success to continuously optimize activities.

The author: Christoph Spengler is founder and managing director of Accelerom, an internationally active consulting and research company based in Zurich. For more than ten years, Accelerom has been combining management practice and innovative research and supporting clients from analysis to implementation. Everything revolves around the customer's perspective and his customer journey in marketing, sales, communication and services - always holistic, always measurable, always with impact and profitability in focus. Christoph Spengler writes regularly in the print edition of Werbewoche. This article was already published in the current Werbewoche 10/2018 of June 1, 2018.

When it comes to customer centricity, customer journeys are the melting pot of all disciplines and perspectives. It is striking that initiatives around the customer journey in everyday business are initiated and managed mainly by individual departments such as marketing, sales, IT or service. For example, the aim is to create positive customer experiences or generate more new customers. Despite considerable initial successes, such inadequately supported projects often come to a standstill. How can they be prevented?

1. promote cross-divisional cooperation

In order to create positive customer experiences, companies must design the customer journey holistically. In addition to purely technical elements, content-related, process-related, and organizational elements must also be coordinated. This diversity of topics can easily result in an extensive change project. However, customer journey management can only really succeed if employees work together across all departments and hierarchical levels. Silo thinking stands in the way of success. Active engagement of senior management accelerates the entire process and motivates employees.

2. define organizational framework

Does everyone have the same understanding? Often, the confusion already starts with the terminology within the company. Different perspectives on the topics of customers, touchpoints, and customer journeys reveal an almost Babylonian state of affairs. IT works with personas for the digital journey, marketing addresses different types of advertising target groups, and product development works with industry association segmentation.

Each department pursues different purposes with its approach, such as customer experience management or marketing automation. It is easy to forget that all departments actually interact with the same customers - or at least try to. Tasks, competencies and responsibilities must be regulated within the company. For the development of customer journeys, for example, it must be clarified in advance:

• For which market development processes and/or target groups should customer journeys be created?
• Where do customer journeys begin and where do they end?
• Which off- and online touchpoints are included?

3. provide basis for decision

It is a well-known fact that only what is measured can be managed and improved. Measurable touchpoint management with a 360-degree view of (potential) customers objectifies and provides decision-making certainty. At the same time, it increases the approval for directional decisions. Accordingly, it should be clarified, among other things: - who is responsible for a valid, holistic mapping of the customer journeys in the company; - with which performance targets, performance indicators and methods the success control is implemented.

4. develop a common understanding of the customer

Inside view is not equal to customer view! "What do you think: What are the ten most important touchpoints in the customer journey for your customers when they buy your or a comparable product?" We have been asking our customers the top 10 question for years as part of our touchpoint management process to capture the operational view. From the many surveys and workshops we have conducted, we have now amassed a considerable collection of inside-out perspectives. Invariably, managing directors, specialists in marketing, sales, media, communications or service have responded to this and created a list of the most important touchpoints, with more or less gut feeling and expertise.

To put it in a nutshell: The comparison of the operational view with the customer view (outside-in) is often sobering. On average, only six out of ten touchpoints that are most important to customers are guessed correctly. The order has never been right. The perceptions differ greatly depending on the area or specialist department. The following activities, among others, are helpful:

• Create a uniform understanding of customers within the company based on validated customer journeys;
• determine which touchpoints should be used to optimally cover the customer journey;
• Identify Pleasure Points (Positive Customer Interactions) and Pain Points;
• Define and prioritize specific areas for action.

The author: Christoph Spengler is founder and managing director of Accelerom, an internationally active consulting and research company based in Zurich. For more than ten years, Accelerom has been combining management practice and innovative research and supporting clients from analysis to implementation. Everything revolves around the customer's perspective and his customer journey in marketing, sales, communication and services - always holistic, always measurable, always with impact and profitability in focus. Christoph Spengler writes regularly in the print edition of Werbewoche. This article was already published in the current Werbewoche 12/2018.

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Better than best practice

In contrast to conventional methods, the entirety of the contact points examined by the algorithm is not limited to advertising media or online activities, but up to 100 marketing and sales measures can be included in the analysis. In this way, the algorithm delivers verifiably better results compared to best practice. Accelerom has already been able to prove this with existing customer projects.

The algorithm's multi-layered simulations are made possible by combining various measurement methods from artificial intelligence, machine learning and metaheuristics. Accelerom developed the algorithm over several years in collaboration with NZZ and the multidisciplinary "Institute for 4-D Technologies (i4Ds)". The development research project was funded by the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) of the Swiss Confederation.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich

"The output of the machine is better than best practice".

Werbewoche spoke with Christoph Spengler, CEO of Accelerom, about the background of the new 360° Touchpoint algorithm.

WW: How long did you work on the new algorithm?
Christoph Spengler: We launched the first CTI-funded project in 2011. The main focus was on the topic of total audience in the multi-channel world. There are already almost too many analyses on this, but we wanted to look at it holistically, i.e. bring together online interaction points owned, paid and earned as well as offline in a single currency. In 2013, we won another research project that focused on artificial intelligence. And this ultimately gave rise to the new algorithm. 

What requirement did you start with?
We wanted to develop a tool that compiles the best mix from the entire potpourri of interaction points - ad, billboard, TV spot, website, etc. - as a recommendation in the decision-making process. This requires a huge database from which the best multi-channel mix is calculated with the help of several algorithms, and this across all categories, on- and offline, owned, paid and earned. And after several validations in practice, we can say that the output of the machine is better than best practice.

What information do you have to enter and what information do you get? Can you demonstrate this with an example?
Gladly: You want to develop a multi-channel mix, a strategy or a campaign with the target group of young people in the beverage sector that generates attention, promotes engagement and boosts sales. We have about 100 touchpoints to choose from, spread across advertising media, POS, social media, etc. Furthermore, we still choose that we don't want a mix with 30 instruments, but one with a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 15 instruments. After this input, the machine starts to calculate. The output is the mix with the 13 most effective media for attention, the best social media combination for engagement, and the mix of measures for sales at the POS. The tools that the algorithm identifies are the ones that are most effective for achieving the defined goals, not just for generating attention, but for carrying the consumer from attention generation to transaction. We call this the top conversion path.

Is there always just one?
No, the output is three top conversion paths with different online and offline interaction options - because target groups do not always behave the same way, of course.

But I still have to decide for myself what measures I take ...?
You're right, things can get a little scary. But of course, the top conversion paths are primarily an orientation aid for us to subsequently develop a campaign or other strategies. That's an extreme help, but it's still a long way from implementation. For that, you need creativity and a lot of other things that a machine can't do. In addition, there is another dimension: the cost. We judge the top three conversion paths by cost, and of course there are cases where our customer says: Top 1 I can't afford at all. But our algorithm makes certain calculations possible in the first place: a customer operates in three countries or markets, has two target groups, six product categories - that quickly becomes confusing. And since everything can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively, the results are also verifiable.

How long does the algorithm take to calculate the top conversion paths? 
Depending on the task, this can take a few minutes or even longer. It depends on how many calculations have to be made.

But how exactly does the algorithm calculate which is the most effective marketing mix?
For each touchpoint, for each instrument, we collect performance values from our customers, for example, reach, attractiveness, performance information. This information is collated in the algorithm, assessed, additional values are added, what does not offer added value is excluded, values are added again, and so on.

How do the results of the new algorithm differ from best practice?
In best practice, of course, you don't have combined values, you can't compare a website with an ad. Because of this information gap, you can't make a clear assessment in multi-channel communication. So in Total Audience, there is a relatively large amount of information missing today.

So the previous planning of the marketing mix went out into the blue?
Yes. Even if I don't make many friends now: It's a patchwork. Everyone is measuring something somewhere. But the question is: Where is the measuring point? Our measuring point is the actual buyer of products, not the TV viewer, not the newspaper reader, and not the Internet surfer. For that reason alone, we have a much higher degree of precision. It's like a racing bike: What kind of gears do you have, what kind of fork do you have, what kind of frame do you have? That ultimately determines how well and how fast you ride.

Sounds like an egg-laying jack-in-the-box ...
At the present time, this statement can be left as it is. Of course, the algorithm does not answer all questions, because we are moving at a certain altitude. But it offers the best prerequisites for strategic control of the marketing mix.

What questions remain unanswered?
With certain topics, there are indications where you have to go more in depth. For example, if you ask me why a certain target group is not satisfied with an interaction, then you have to look more closely there. But there you would also reach a limit with other instruments. Often it's enough to draw cross-connections. For example, the contact form is very important for a target group - but the customer doesn't have one. Problem solved.

Have you already been able to verify in practice whether the mix combinations suggested by the algorithm are more effective than classic success methods?
We tested the algorithm on data from old and current customer projects and on strategies that have been implemented. And we came to the conclusion that we get better results this way than with best practice.

How can the algorithm assess measures that have not yet been used, e.g. social media or online sales?
We don't just measure what our customer does, we look at what is being done in the entire target group. And in this way, we also see what the qualitative and quantitative benefits would be if the customer were to implement a measure that he has not yet used. For example, if a customer doesn't have an online store, we can tell them very specifically how many people they would reach if they had one. And we can also tell our customer how best to market his store to this target group.

You claim that you can indicate quite precisely which are the optimal marketing and media measures. Can your customer ONLINE can you be one hundred percent sure that the measures you recommend will have the desired effect?
Yes, our touchpoint analysis has a high degree of precision. In recent years, social media measures have been in vogue. We were now able to use the algorithm to precisely predict what has developed in this area, both positively and negatively. We got tangible information out of it, for example that a target group cannot be activated with certain means used or that engagement will be very weak. So we can make quite precise statements about the potential of measures and channels. There is also the case that customers want to reduce and focus their measures. Then, of course, they can eliminate one or more instruments. We can determine which ones would be best. Impact thresholds and advertising pressure are also becoming more and more of an issue. Some clients therefore have us check their media plan.

How much does the new service cost?
Prices vary depending on the consulting project. However, the costs are roughly comparable with investments for market research. The projects with 360° Touchpoint all have a positive ROI per se, because the various measures can be reduced, bundled and thus more budget remains for the individual measure. Accordingly, their impact improves.

Compared to other countries, is your development state of the art or a revolution from Switzerland for international marketing and media planning?
We have held talks with many protagonists from the media world, including internationally, and all of them have confirmed to us that they have never seen a planning tool like this before. We think we can use it to gain a foothold internationally as well. There is already a lot of interest.

Interview: Anne-Friederike Heinrich