Last year saw the continued heightening of customer expectations for simple, memorable, and consistent experiences. In 2020, businesses will apply a lot more operational rigor in pursuit of connected customer experiences in 2020, and this will play out across five main trends.

Somewhere between jack-o’-lanterns and Christmas trees, our industry takes stock of the year past and looks to the year ahead. Last year saw the continued heightening of customer expectations for simple, memorable, and consistent experiences, increasing performance pressure across all aspects of business. In fact, in a recent study by Saleforce, 80% of customers report that the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.

As we look to 2020, be honest with yourself. Were you proactive or reactive to customers’ demands? Were you bold and decisive, or did you take a haphazard approach?

If 2019 was a scramble to compete on customer experience, I foresee businesses applying a lot more operational rigor in pursuit of connected customer experiences in 2020, playing out across five main trends.

Achieving marketing and sales alignment is tough. Sales reps are on the hunt for better leads, while marketers seek more effective ways for evaluating their impact. Instead, imagine a unified approach, where marketing and sales teams work hand-in-hand to pinpoint the most qualified prospects, and market to them accordingly.

According to MarketingProfs, by aligning sales and marketing teams, companies experience a 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales win rates. End the sales and marketing tug of war, send your ROI soaring, and reach your revenue goals with Account-Based Marketing (ABM).

We’re diving into the ABCs of ABM: what it’s all about, benefits you can’t ignore, and a crash course on creating a winning campaign.

While social media marketing has come a long way over the last decade, its goal remains the same: to foster interactive platforms for individuals to share, discuss, and co-create content.

When done the right way, social media has big-time potential to build your community, grow your customer reach, boost engagement, and drive traffic to your website (and conversions too!). In fact, according to Sprout Social, when consumers follow a brand on social, 87% say they’re likely to visit that brand’s site or app.

Social media is no longer just a “nice-to-have” for enhancing your online presence. After all, it’s where your existing and potential customers and buyers hang out the most. But sometimes, your social media efforts can do more harm than good if you’re not sending the right message, participating on the channels in a meaningful way, or are failing to collect and track data effectively.

Do any of these not-so-rare social media cardinal sins sound like you?

Are you:

• … guilty of throwing content out into the universe without a clue of who you’re talking to? You might be a Community Crapshooter.
• …employing a “more is more” strategy (or lack thereof), by posting as much as possible in an attempt to stay relevant? You might be an Over Sharer.
• …using social channels as a soapbox for your brand and failing to truly engage your followers? You might be an Anti-Social Ghost.

If so, you may have fallen into an impersonal social media vortex that many brands find themselves in. Fortunately, we have some tips for how to break the cycle and put the “social” back in your social media.

It’s no secret that personalizing your customers’ experience boosts satisfaction, loyalty, and sales.

Successful personalization delivers a consistent and seamless customer journey across channels (email, website, social, etc.). In fact, according to Salesforce, 75% of consumers expect consistent experiences across multiple channels, with 73% likely to switch brands if they don’t.

To help you get started, we’re sharing three tips for connecting your website and email personalization strategy so you can deliver relevant, memorable experiences that build brand loyalty, motivate action, and increase sales.