1. Data-driven decisions

We expect to see significant developments in the way data is used to formulate marketing and customer experience strategies. Quantitative data rather than qualitative insights and supposed ‘best practice’ will be used to validate decisions and provide valuable insight. Marketers will require a stronger proof of ROI for technology solutions that collate data; it will need to be easier to demonstrate the positive impact data-driven campaigns can have on the bottom line.

2. Customer-centric roles

In 2015 we saw an announcement by HSBC’s global head of marketing anticipating the end of traditional marketing department roles as the organization becomes more customer-centric, and the need for ‘customer journey engineers’ increases. This trend will ramp up in 2016 for all brands impacting multiple departments across a business. User experience teams will become customer experience teams, and this new role will be key in utilizing quantitative data to improve and manage the customer experience.

3. Global commerce calendar

With the success of Black Friday growing year-on-year globally, we anticipate other ‘local’ eCommerce days going global. China Singles Day, for example, is hugely successful in China and as UK and US retailers aim to crack this market in 2016, we could see it becoming a huge global event. Whilst such events can hamper the traditional local sales cycle, we can expect to see eCommerce moving to an international calendar of key dates changing the dynamic of previous purchasing trends.

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4. It’s getting personal

Brands will become savvier in the way they personalize the customer experience. Customers will receive offers intelligently tailored to them in real time. We can even expect to see personalized videos as brands develop more creative ways to use the data insight they have garnered, and bring to life in a dynamic way that truly engages the customer and improves their overall experience.

5. M-commerce momentum

Browsing on a mobile device has become commonplace but purchases via a mobile have been slower to take off. We anticipate seeing an increase in mobile device purchases in 2016, specifically from mobile websites rather than apps. Brands need to ensure their mobile website offerings deliver the experience a customer expects, and provides the appropriate payment mechanisms that are attractive on a mobile device. With the shipment of tablets on the decline and more people turning to hybrid devices, brands need to ensure they can identify and quantify struggles that customers are having on each device.

Ultimately customer insight will drive a number of key trends in 2016 further proving the value of real time insight of the customer journey. 2016 is set to be an exciting year not only for brands who will understand their customer better but the customer themselves. Here’s to a great year!