Forrester

Why Read This Report

Forrester believes that chief marketing officers (CMOs) must abandon the century-old marketing/sales funnel and embrace the customer life cycle in order to better manage their customers' interaction with the company and brand. But this shift of framework and focus is not an easy one. CMOs can learn from companies like Caterpillar and Progressive Casualty Insurance that have successfully managed this transition by following four key steps: 1) Map customer interaction points and define the visible value for the customer; 2) focus on actionable data to define visible value for the customer; 3) develop a test-and-learn attitude to improve customer interaction value; and 4) develop a new collaboration framework across teams and functions.