Better Engagement Using CIAM
It can’t be said enough: data drives marketing. Time and again, we’ve found that what we think we know about customer behavior and their individual journey – what they want, where they go to get it, how they interact with brands, etc. – is not what we initially thought because we lacked the data to back up our assumptions. And by overlooking those valuable insights, organizations risk losing their customers, their brand stickiness and of course, revenue. However, there is a way to take the guesswork out of maximizing customer engagement … customer identity and access management (CIAM).
CIAM is a simple, safe and scalable way to provide a unified customer identity solution to connect fragmented dots of the omnichannel consumer as they interact with brands across a variety of websites, mobile applications, loyalty programs, partner programs and more.
How CIAM leads to better engagement
Using CIAM as your unified customer identity solution can improve website conversion, create meaningful points of interaction, and collect intelligence to build a more complete picture of each customer to present personalized experiences, content and offers. In addition, whereas traditional IAM deals with employees and closed networks, CIAM solutions may facilitate millions of users and billions of identities, allowing for seamless navigation across various networks and systems.
By removing hurdles to customer touch points, brands can more readily engage with consumers and, because accounts are typically linked with existing customer profiles, easily gather data on their preferences and activity.
Of course, better customer engagement starts with better data. By digging deeper into your user profiles, you can pull out more granular nuggets of information beyond broad demographics. You can also be ready to capture user data from different touchpoints to fully map the customer journey and experience. Beyond the acquisition of data, brands interested in data-driven customer engagement strategies must have a framework in place to facilitate data access, dissemination and analysis.
As your identity hub of demographic, psychographic and behavioral data, with CIAM, you can leverage consumer data to drastically improve your brand’s outreach efforts by gaining more insight into buyer behavior and the customer journey.
Your CIAM strategy roadmap
Don’t worry, we can help. TechVision Research recently released a study on the ever-growing demand for CIAM solutions and included advice on how to get the ball rolling. By following these eight steps, you can put your CIAM strategy on the path to success:
- Business Case Strategy: A good CIAM strategy starts with corporate buy-in. At the outset, focus on defining what success looks like
- Requirements Gathering: Reach out to other decision-makers who may not be immediately impacted by a CIAM strategy, but who nonetheless have a stake in its success, to understand potential benefits and challenges.
- System Review: Take a look at your existing CRM and customer database systems. Will they support your CIAM vision?
- Design: Begin designing your CIAM system.. Start with nailing down your identity profiles, as they will be essential to success.
- Technology Choices: Consider your CIAM vendor options. Your best bet is to find a provider with dedicated CIAM solutions. Retro-fitted IAM or EIAM tools are unlikely to give you the full breadth of functionality you need.
- Education & Awareness: Keeping all stakeholders up-to-date on the latest developments is a constant priority, but even more so when you’re prepping the launch of your CIAM solution. You can’t afford to let anything fall through the cracks at this juncture.
- Rollout: This is it! Now that you’ve consolidated feedback and hashed out any lingering concerns, it’s time to actually roll out your CIAM platform.
- Awareness: An effective CIAM strategy is never “finished.” With your CIAM system firmly in place, this is where the rubber hits the road, and customer engagement can truly begin.
