How the digital twin of a customer enhances CX

By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, the digital twin of a customer (DToC) enables retailers to predict and personalise the customer experience, providing tailored recommendations, offers, and experiences.

The digital twin of a customer (DToC) is an evolution of the existing digital twin approach, rather than a digital representation of a system, it’s a dynamic virtual representation of the individual customer.

It goes beyond basic IoT data or customer profiles and simulates the behaviour, wants, needs, and preferences of the customer. DToCs are built using data from various sources, such as online behaviour, transaction history, social media activity, and customer feedback.

Ciaran Park, executive technology director, Australia at digital agency R/GA discusses how brands can leverage DToC to improve their CX.

Park said DToCs help retailers move from reactive approaches to proactive strategies, enhancing CX through a more data-driven and customer-centric approach. 

To deliver a rich customer experience, retailers need to start with a detailed, real-time understanding of their customers, Park explained.

He said DToC aim to do this by drawing upon various data sources which allows retailers to personalise recommendations, offers, and experiences, tailoring them to each individual customer's preferences and needs.

“Digital twins also enable retailers to simulate and anticipate customer behaviour, helping them make informed decisions and create a more immersive and effective buying experience,” Park said.

Park explained that DToC can have a greater impact on CX in comparison to other technologies because they are proactive, in that they provide a live, dynamic and virtual representation of a customer.

“Unlike traditional, reactive approaches such as basic customer segmentation or analytics, digital twins go beyond static profiles and actively simulate customer behaviour, wants, needs, and preferences,” he said.

“This dynamic nature allows retailers to predict customer behaviour and personalise their offerings more accurately.

“Additionally, digital twins can break down data silos and integrate various data sources, providing a more comprehensive and granular understanding of customers, leading to more effective and targeted CX strategies.”

Park said he envisions a future where the majority of brands are harnessing DToC to improve customer experience.

“It is conceivable that in the future, many organisations will use digital twins and DToC to deliver better CX,” he said.

“The increasing adoption and predicted market growth already indicates a growing interest in leveraging this technology, so the entry point will continually lower making it a far more viable strategy to consider for brands.”