Customer & Enterprise DNA: Finding a Match (Part 2.)

In a competitive marketplace, enterprises seek to differentiate themselves through service, marketing and innovation. It is this third component – innovation – which suggests that customer orientated technologies and content can be unique identifiers of an enterprise, and as a consequence, have a bearing on its brand.

In short, DNA segmentation ideally needs to be at an enterprise level to more accurately correlate innovation and content development with the appropriate customer segment, each one with a particular level of awareness of, exposure to and readiness to engage.

Example: DNA Segmentation at an enterprise level 

The corollary of this type of segmentation is that a minority of customers (example, 5%) might have a DNA level of between 5 and 7 in the context of mobile viral campaigns, but in the specific case of online payments (credit/debit card, PayPal etc.), these same DNA scores that might represent a segment as large as 35%. The moral of the story - DNA segmentation needs to be as dynamic as the technology and content it seeks to represent.

Therefore, in a very practical sense, an enterprise would be unwise to invest in an MMS pilot campaign targeting even just one-fifth of its customer base (based on a market-wide assessment that MMS virals have engaged 20% of the mobile market) when the enterprise itself might find that, in terms of mobile marketing, customers with a DNA score of between 5 and 7 represent less than 10% of the total customer base. By identifying this discrepancy between market and customer-base maturity rates, the enterprise is better informed and consequently more comfortable about its decision to commit to the digital option.

It is important to point out here that an enterprise might conclude that its own customer base (or at least segments within) has a higher DNA rating than the wider market. That being the case, the enterprise has a tremendous opportunity to the set the agenda within its own industry, and consequently, further differentiate itself in terms of the digital option. That is, innovate in terms of customer interfaces and digital communications.