The million-dollar question is: am I giving an answer with my marketing strategy y technology to the new behavior of my customers? This is the question many people ask themselves every day. CMOs of companies in all sectors and, if they don't, they should. 

In this chapter we will answer this question, but to do so, we must begin by asking ourselves another question: are my marketing technology tools (data, segments, campaigns, channels, channels, martech infrastructure, etc.) sufficient for manage the customer experience according to the new "standards" of knowledge (speed, ubiquity and relevance)?  

The current context

According to Forrester Research, a market research company, since 2010 we have begun to enter the Era of the Customerleaving behind the Product Era. To make a simile, this implies that the "new" customer is driving in sixth gear, while our "new" customers are driving in sixth gear. segmentationscommunications, KPIs and everything that arises around the customer experience are circulating in third gear. They are correct, but they are no longer sufficient, and this causes the customer to distance himself from those companies that do not evolve with him.  

In recent years, the brand-customer relationship has shifted towards a strategy customer centric where companies have to managing customer expectations more empowered, informed and influential than ever before, who are looking for personalized and real-time experiences. We call this the "increased customer". 

While the companies are dealing with the digital transformationthe omni-channel and the big data in order to try to catch up with that customer who has overtaken us on the left. It is difficult to predict the success of such efforts, and the return of such investmentsas long as they are not focused on generate more value for the customer. 

Those companies that are capable of transforming themselves to serve a customer increasingly influenced by by their peers in social networks, more immune to the advertising out of context, permanently dissatisfied and not given to the fidelityare the ones that will have the best chance of survival. 

The cotton test

Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, AirBnB or BlaBlaCarhave made a disruptive impact on their respective industries and, in turn, have raised the bar in terms of customer experience is concerned. We can talk about the emergence of a new "intolerance" on the part of the users waiting, lack of response, irrelevant content or inconsistency in the processes, among others. 

 To identify whether our brand is heading towards entering, or at least approaching, the top of the industry, or if it is becoming obsolete, we suggest you to perform the "cotton test". 

 Instructions: 

1. We define five dimensions to evaluate our past and current situation. These are: Omni-channel, Immediate, Personalized, Experiential, and Loyal. 
2. For each of these we establish a scale from 0 to 5 and score these indicators in the past (e.g., pre-COVID) and at present. 

As a guide to the test I detail this fictitious example which could be similar: 

Diagnosis

Once the table is filled inwe transfer the score to an Excel table, orThe following graph is thus obtained comparative: 

If you notice that there is a important difference between the previous silhouette and the new one, either in one or several dimensions, this means that it's time to review Customer ActivationThe company's strategy, customer knowledge, speed of response, consistent activation across channels and touch points, segmentation by customer and customer segmentation by behavior, personalization and/or loyaltyas well as its marketing technology platform.