The Marketing Mix: Processes (HL IB Business Management)

Customer experience

• Processes directly impact the overall customer experience as they involve everything from how customers discover a product or service to how they make a purchase, receive support and interact with the brand
  
  
• Well-designed processes provide a seamless and positive customer journey, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty

• L’Oréal uses artificial intelligence to improve the customer experience
  
  
• Face-scanning sensors measure a customer’s skin which allows appropriate skincare products to be recommended to customers

Efficiency

• Effective processes improve efficiency, streamlining operations and reducing costs
  
  
• By carefully designing and planning marketing processes businesses can eliminate redundancies, automate repetitive tasks and improve the use of resources
  
  
• This leads to reduced timescales, increased productivity and profitability

• Air BnB hosts are encouraged to provide self check-in facilities, removing the need for the host to be present when guests arrive at their property

• Processes help to maintain consistency because they provide a framework for delivering consistent messages, branding and experiences whenever an interaction with customers occurs
  
  
• Consistency builds trust, reinforces the brand identity and helps to develop long-term relationships with customers

• The Economist uses its established brand 'tone of voice' consistently across all of its social media channels
  
  
• Its posts are informative and factual, and its language is brief, clear and using everyday speech

• Marketing processes need to be flexible and adaptable to changing customer preferences
  
  
• By continuously monitoring processes businesses can identify areas for improvement and respond to emerging trends and challenges including the actions of competitors 

• Passengers travelling with the airline Lufthansa no longer need a boarding pass or passport on the airline's route from Miami International Airport to Munich following the opening of America’s first all-biometric terminal, reducing check-in time to less than two seconds 

• Processes help different departments work together effectively to meet objectives
  
  
• When teams work together within defined processes it improves communication and  coordination

• At HubSpot, a leading business software company, cross-functional teams use a variety of collaboration tools which allow for the rapid approval of promotional activities

• The business also keeps a full recorded timeline of task completion so that anyone involved in the project can instantly see the status of a project