According to a Commonwealth Fund study, the average American visits the doctor only four times per year and that number is declining. One of the drivers behind this behavioral change is accessibility to medical information.

Here’s a great example – in a study of millennials by ZocDoc, it was reported that this group is more likely to research symptoms online, with 28% self-diagnosing and 36% self-medicating before seeing a doctor.

When patients only see doctors when they’re sick or injured, it impacts the overall quality of care they could receive. With a more complete view of a patient, healthcare professionals can provide in-depth care and counsel that focuses on overall wellness or even detect the onset of a chronic condition.

Creating a connected health experience that’s ingrained in patients’ daily lives is one solution, and the need has never been greater to help doctors and hospital systems support their patients digitally.

Our team at Perficient developed DailyDose, a patient engagement app built on Adobe Experience Manager Mobile. With a solution that aligns with consumer/patient behaviors, this will support lowering patient readmissions, driving lower healthcare costs and increasing patient engagement.

Watch the video for a peek at DailyDose.

See how Adobe Experience Manager Mobile can help you build engaging mobile moments, and register for one of the upcoming AEM Mobile Roadshow events.

Washington, D.C. | July 14, 2016

Chicago, IL | July 19, 2016

What’s lurking behind this customer experience issue? There are a number of reasons, and data fragmentation is among them.

Consider for a moment at how fast data is growing each day. Worldwide digital data grows exponentially, and it’s expected to double every two years. What’s surprising is that only 0.5% of it is ever analyzed.

The profound volume and types of data created is a blessing and a curse for marketers. There’s an opportunity to harness this information, using it to make data-driven business decisions and providing more personalized experiences.

Data silos are among the top obstacles for marketers – where data lives and how it integrates with other systems so it can be accessed and used by the people who need it.

Other challenges involve technology and people. Many organizations lack the right analytics tools and people with the right skills or training that can turn data into insights.

How do you overcome this? And more importantly, how can you improve the 45% of consumers who aren’t satisfied with their experience?

When you employ a digital marketing platform like Adobe Marketing Cloud, you will be able to track, analyze, and report on customers’ activities across digital marketing channels – not just what happens on your website.

Want to learn more about demolishing data silos and solving other common digital marketing challenges? Download our latest guide below.

People generate massive amounts of content daily. Think about how much you use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or blog on a daily basis. As an example of how much content is out there, Facebook has 2.5 billion pieces of content and 300 million photos.

Are companies capitalizing on user generated content (UGC)? For some, the answer is a resounding yes. The Content Marketing Institute reports that 78% of B2C companies plan to leverage UGC in their marketing strategies this year.

Adobe recently acquired Livefyre, a solution that curates UGC, because the technology supports the Adobe Marketing Cloud and provides marketers quick access to authentic, user-generated content.

In an interview with CMS Wire, Loni Stark, senior director of strategy and product marketing for Adobe, reveals more about the strategy behind the acquisition. Giving marketers full access to Livefyre, it allows them to tap into billions of pieces of UGC to use on their websites, ads, emails, apps, and more.

Brands typically use this content for brand advocacy. According to Adobe, UGC is revered as more trustworthy by consumers.

“Our content research found 81% of respondents considered a product that was endorsed by a family member or someone they were related to or a friend,” said Stark.

With more authentic user-generated content, brands have the opportunity to create more compelling and engaging experiences.

“That’s why we wanted to work with Livefyre,” Stark remarked. “It’s to bring the joint story of professional and user-generated content and deliver it in creative ways through the marketing cloud.”

This thought should give us pause as marketers. Rather than creating and pushing more of our content out there, shouldn’t we be creating opportunities and experiences for our customers that inspire their content creation?

Let us hear from you. How do you plan on taking advantage of user-generated content to enhance your marketing efforts?

Sound familiar?

Between call centers, social media, email, mobile apps, and brick-and-mortar stores, your customers have multiple options for engaging with your company. The downside is that when the data coming from these channels aren’t connected, the experience can be confusing and off-putting. Not to mention that your customers’ frustration can be amplified when encountering vastly different experiences across your mobile, desktop, and eCommerce sites.

As a digital marketer, you must optimize content to maintain customers’ attention and meet their expectations to remain competitive. You might wonder, “How will this impact my business?”

A study of customer journeys by Harvard Business Review followed companies in two industries, insurance and pay TV. The companies that excelled in delivering journeys outperformed the competition with:

• 30-40% improvement in overall customer satisfaction
• 20-30% better performance in revenue, repeat purchases, and positive word of mouth

When you focus on delivering a journey that aligns to customer expectations, you position yourself to jump ahead of the competition. With a digital marketing platform like Adobe Marketing Cloud, you can create a seamless customer journey by organizing data and delivering a connected experience.

Want to learn more about creating a connected customer journey and solving other common digital marketing challenges? Download our latest guide below.

According to Gartner, 89% of companies expect to compete on customer experience in 2016. And in just four years, it’s estimated that 85% of a customer’s relationship with a brand won’t include face-to-face interactions. (Got your attention?)

Personalization is key not only for customer acquisition but also for customer retention. In the 2016 Annual Digital Trends Survey, companies that want to meet (or exceed) customer expectations need to deliver experiences that are: 

• Personalized and relevant (25%)
• Valuable (25%)
• Easy to understand (17%)

To create personalized experiences, marketing organizations need a solid digital marketing platform that supports their well-defined personalization strategies.

Many marketing departments choose to standardize on a single platform, easing the support and integration required for disparate, existing tools. Adobe Experience Manager, the content management pillar within the Adobe Marketing Cloud, is one such example.

Updates included in the recent release of Adobe Experience Manager 6.2 include features that make it easier for marketers to:

• Personalize and target offers
• Understand which assets are performing well (or not so well)
• Create connected experiences across mobile apps, forms, and in-person (or in-store)

Want to learn more about exceeding customer expectations and solving other common digital marketing challenges? Download our latest guide below.

However, delivering a top-notch CX poses several challenges, particularly when it comes to integrating technology with existing marketing processes and platforms. Follow these seven expert tips to help you optimize your digital marketing platforms.

Like what you see? Download our guide, Solve Three Common Digital Marketing Challenges with Adobe Marketing Cloud.

If you’re not 100% familiar with Livefyre, here’s a quick overview – this social media content platform allows companies to search and gather user generated content from Twitter, Instagram and other networks to not only monitor customer sentiment but also engage and monetize this content.

Integrating these capabilities with Adobe Experience Manager will empower brands and advertisers with the meaningful data that will help them create more personalized customer experiences.

And when you think about taking customer generated data and how you could sync it with all data from Adobe Marketing Cloud Co-op, the possibilities and opportunities are endless. Not only will you have information about customer behaviors across devices but you’ll also have insight into what excites them (or on the flip side, what’s off-putting.)

It will be exciting to watch this strategic play unfold. Stay tuned for a follow up as Adobe is sure to reveal more in the weeks to come.

“The Adobe Experience Manager Specialization helps Perficient not only to differentiate itself in the market but also provides instant credibility with clients and prospects,” commented Robert Sumner, Adobe practice director for Perficient.

The Experience Manager Specialization also further elevates our Business Partner status from the perspective of Adobe.

“Our inclusion in this elite group of partners is a clear indication of how we’re continuing to advance our Adobe partnership. When Adobe sellers need to recommend vendors for implementations, they look to partners with the credentials and solid experience,” said Lynn Brading, Perficient alliance manager for Adobe US Sales.

Achieving this distinction is a testament to our commitment from the entire Adobe practice. With our deep expertise and practical experience in Adobe Experience Manager, it was a logical next step to work towards earning this Specialization.

Colleagues from our Adobe practice – from developers to business architects to sales – had to meet the training, hands-on experience, and rigorous testing certifications required by Adobe. The requirements for the Specialization include:

• 3 certified business practitioners
• 6 certified developers
• 1 certified lead developer/architect
• 2 certified sales specialists

Aaron Price, Perficient senior manager for Adobe client services, sought out and encouraged members of the practice to earn certifications specific to their roles.

“With all that’s involved in achieving this Specialization, it establishes a level of trust between Adobe and Perficient because it shows we are investing in their technology as much as they are investing in us,” said Price.

Additionally, Adobe requires three customer references of Experience Manager implementations, which include our successes with Symantec, Thompson Reuters, and Cardinal Health. These references are among the multi-year, multi-project implementations we have with more than 75 clients.

To build on the solid foundation of Experience Manager implementations, our Adobe practice is now working towards Adobe Specializations for Analytics, Campaign, and Target.

“While Adobe Experience Manager is our wheelhouse, we are not stopping there. This Specialization has launched Perficient into the upper-echelon of Adobe partners, and we are energized to continue earning more Specializations because of the opportunities they provide for Perficient,” said Sumner.

Learn more about the depth of our Adobe experience and how it will help you realize the full value of your investment.

“Marketers are no longer in the business of selling products – we are selling experiences.”

The proliferation of technology, such as smartphones and the Internet of Things, make it possible to engage with customers on a one-to-one basis. However, the challenge is meeting their expectations to provide continuous, consistent, and compelling experiences both digitally and in reality.

Clients often come to us with the same three digital marketing challenges that can be solved with a solid marketing technology platform. Our latest guide, “Solve Three Common Digital Marketing Challenges with Adobe Marketing Cloud,” explores the underlying factors that impact customer experience and how the right digital marketing platform can help you:

• Exceed customer expectations in B2B and B2C
• Create a seamless customer experience across all channels
• Use analytics to make data-driven marketing decisions

Our team was on the ground at Summit, learning about the latest innovations from Adobe and how marketers need to lead the transformation of creating an experience-led business.

Michael Porter, managing principal of Perficient’s strategic advisors, was among the team members at Summit, and he shares his perspective on the top three takeaways from the event.

What experiences or technologies at Adobe Summit impressed you the most?