5 Key Takeaways From Our Seattle Digital Engagement Forum with Alaska Airlines, REI & Zillow

Here’s a recap of the highlights from our Seattle Digital Engagement Forum — join us at the next one: see where we’re headed next and register today!

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Marketing leaders from Alaska Airlines, REI, Zillow, mParticle and Urban Airship joined the crowd at our Seattle Digital Engagement Forum on Tuesday to have candid conversations about what’s working in digital engagement for their brands. Here are five of the key takeaways from the event:

1) Tie Your Martech Investments to Key Outcomes to Stay Focused

Mike Lorengo, Director Architecture and Strategy at Alaska Airlines talked through how much the industry — and customer expectations — have changed since he helped launch the first Alaska Airlines app in 2010, and the ways that the brand is evolving to better serve both guests and employees using mobile. With so many ways to connect, Mike’s core piece of advice for brands is to tie technology to key outcomes so that you’re focused on delivering value — not just chasing the next new thing.

2) Connect With Customers to Differentiate Your Brand — and Create Value and Loyalty

Fielding a question from the audience about how REI competes with Amazon, Carleigh Felker, Senior Product Manager at REI said that creating an overarching, cross-departmental view of (and vision for) how they connect with customers is critical, as is connecting customers with the unique mission and vision of their company. Carleigh also shared that REI is focused on meeting customers where they’re at – and leveraging the distinctions in each channel that can make that channel and interaction more powerful.

3) Create a Customer Journey Map to Help Bring Siloed Teams Together to Focus on Customer Experience

Chris Bettin, Group Manager, Product Manager at Zillow talked about the various teams in the organization that serve and message customers —  and the increasing awareness within the company that those teams need to be well coordinated to create an optimal customer experience. As Zillow connects more of their messaging systems to make sure their messaging strategy is well coordinated, they also want to make it even more customer centric, creating automated ways to take each individual’s messaging preferences into consideration.  

4) Plan & Prioritize Data Needs to Create Better Customer Experiences

Jillian Burnett, VP Customer Success at event sponsor mParticle emphasized the importance of starting with a goal when it comes to mapping out your data strategy. Once you know what you want to achieve, you can more easily understand which data you really need to create the experiences you want. In other words, design your data strategy to help you create the right customer experience — and collect the right amount of data.

5) Build True Relationships With Customers To Win

Today’s consumers have constantly increasing expectations about how they want to engage with your business — and 66% of them prefer a self-directed shopping journey, according to research cited by Mike Stone, VP Marketing at Urban Airship. Brands need to define the moments that matter most to their customers — and then be there to deliver what customers need in that exact moment.

That’s what Urban Airship’s Digital Growth Platform is all about. Get in touch anytime to learn more about how we can help you achieve your customer engagement goals, set up a strategy session to create a roadmap for great customer engagement or to see a demo. We’re here to help and would love to connect!

Don’t miss out on our upcoming Digital Engagement Forums, coming to cities near you! See the cities and register to attend here!