Blog | Maria Michael

"He who lives by the crystal ball soon learns to eat ground glass" – wise words from the late American economist Edgar R. Fiedler. Forecasting about the future is a perilous game and business success depends much more on the ability to adapt and respond to changing circumstances.

It’s been widely acknowledged that the pandemic has amplified many existing consumer behaviours and this is certainly true of the way people have responded to mail. Physical mail’s ability to engage people and drive behaviour has increased noticeably and marketers and agencies have taken note.  

Have you ever been browsing in a store, and run your hand over a jumper and had to double back, amazed at its softness? Enjoyed the satisfying rip of opening the envelope just as much as reading the birthday card inside? Or tried on a pair of sunglasses as you pass them, only to realise that unlike other glasses, they don’t make your face look like a giant square? Maybe that last one is just me… 

Delivering a great Customer Experience (CX) is fundamental to achieving a competitive advantage. To ensure brands are meeting customer expectations, marketers’ attention needs to turn towards data analysis and benchmarking their CX.

Customer Experience (CX) is expected to overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator by next year, according to experience consultancy Walker. More than two-thirds of marketers responsible for delivery say their companies now mainly compete based on CX (Gartner).