Ask The Experts: Delivering a Best-in-Class Customer Experience

Account management is essential to DoubleVerify’s (DV) customer success. DV’s account management team — located around the world — provides customers with access to a wide range of expertise and guidance that cultivates a true partnership and delivers tangible business outcomes. DV’s ongoing commitment to client support has fostered some of the longest-tenured relationships in the industry.

This installment of DV’s Ask the Experts series features Vicki Spencer, Account Management Lead in EMEA. She is responsible for the execution of DV’s client management strategy across Northern Europe and the Middle East. Below, Vicki discusses the importance of delivering a best-in-class customer experience and how her team collaborates and builds meaningful relationships with brands and agencies.

How did you begin working in this field?

Growing up in the South West of England, I always had aspirations to pursue opportunities in London – I was drawn to the energy and excitement of the big city. After studying business and marketing at university, I set my sights on a career in the advertising industry. My first role was as a personal assistant to the managing director at Omnicom Media Group. There, I gained valuable experience and insights into one of the world’s leading advertising agencies.

I then transitioned into a digital-focused role at Accuen. Over the next several years, I honed my skills in account management and secured roles at Millennial Media and Codewise. In these roles, I really developed a strong passion for providing exceptional customer service. I’ve now been with DV for almost five years, having advanced from an account manager to now leading the Northern Europe and Middle East account management team.

Your role requires a thorough understanding of DV, as well as the advertising industry as a whole. How would you describe what you do in layman’s terms?

The account management team at DV plays a vital role in our clients’ success. We maintain and expand relationships with existing clients by working closely with them to fully understand their business objectives and requirements. This insight allows our team to develop and execute personalized strategies to meet the needs of each client.

Developing custom strategies guarantees client satisfaction and enhances campaign performance. It also allows us to identify new opportunities for growth and expansion. The account management team collaborates with other departments to provide a seamless experience and ensure our clients receive the best possible service.

The account management team also provides comprehensive DV Pinnacle® platform onboarding to clients on a daily basis. We help clients take full advantage of the platform’s protection and measurement capabilities by creating custom settings for brand suitability, brand safety, viewability, fraud and geo — all tailored to their specific needs across various media and devices.

What are some of the most significant challenges within your remit, and how do you approach them?

One of the main challenges we experience is the varying levels of ad verification knowledge and expertise clients have across different markets. Our team understands the unique nuances of each market, and we tailor our training and support accordingly. 

Another challenge we face is the fast-paced and evolving news cycle. With headlines such as COVID-19 and the death of Queen Elizabeth II, it’s important that we stay ahead of the curve. The account management team contributes toward DV’s breaking news and election task force, which closely monitors the latest headlines and provides clients with strategic recommendations on how to adapt their media campaigns effectively. 

What does your team look like in terms of size? Where are you all located?

My team includes 13 members, consisting of associate account managers, account managers and territory leads. Our team is geographically distributed across various regions. Four team members are based in Dubai, overseeing the Middle East and Turkey. Nine team members are based in the UK, covering northern Europe, including the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Nordics. Additionally, we have two more regional pods situated in central and southern Europe.

Once a client is onboarded, how do you continue supporting them? What does ongoing support at DV look like?

Our goal is to help clients become confident and self-sufficient in navigating around the DV Pinnacle® platform. Our ongoing support involves educating clients on how to interpret metrics, pull reports and adjust settings for optimization. We also ensure that they understand our company’s best practices.

Our team proactively reaches out to clients to share details on any violations that require immediate attention to prevent wastage of media spend. Additionally, we provide alerts for high block rates on a regular basis as well as monthly recaps and quarterly business reviews as may be necessary. Also, the team stays connected with new agency contacts and provides product updates, ensuring that relevant resources are made available within the Pinnacle platform specifically with respect to DV University.

It is important to note that we do not use ticketing systems. Instead, each client is assigned a dedicated account manager who serves as their primary point of contact for all support-related matters.

How does DV provide local support for global brands?

At DV, we offer a robust framework to provide local support to global brands. We utilize a multi-layered approach, which includes global client and agency partnerships, client success managers, global account directors and regional account managers. Our primary point of contact for clients is the global account directors, who work closely with the rest of the DV team to ensure the entire team is aligned on the client’s business and verification goals.

One of our key strengths is our ability to provide local language support via our employees located at offices all over the world. DV is able to provide support in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, German, Tamil, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Arabic and Tagalog, to name a few. This enables us to provide our global clients with local support in their preferred language, which is fundamental to delivering an outstanding customer experience.

What are some of the accomplishments or aspects of your work at DV that you’re particularly proud of?

At DV, we strive to provide exceptional customer service to our clients, and I take pride in being a part of a team that is dedicated to acting as a trusted and reliable partner. Our focus on delivering results for our clients, while providing outstanding customer support, has been, and continues to be, something I am truly proud of.

I’m particularly proud of the role I played in developing and training my team ensuring that they are empowered to succeed and progress in their careers. Our commitment to ongoing learning and development has enabled our team to continuously enhance their skills and expertise, resulting in improved client satisfaction and business results. It’s incredibly gratifying to see our team members grow and excel in their roles, and I feel proud to have played a role in their professional development.

What are the most exciting developments in advertising? What do you think we can expect to see in the future?

Economic uncertainty and the ongoing increase of advertising platforms are driving brands to favor technologies that are more operationally efficient and result in a stronger ROI. As a result, attention metrics will become a dominant advertising currency in 2023. Brands will use powerful attention measurement analytics to predict the outcome of their ads and drive positive media and business outcomes, whether they’re looking to improve awareness or conversion. 

Advertisers can use attention data to optimize their campaigns, too. DV’s 2022 Four Fundamental Shifts in Advertising and Media report found that more than two-thirds of consumers believe the timing of an ad is essential, stating they are more likely to pay attention if an ad captures their interest in the first five seconds. This makes optimization critical in the year ahead.  

If you’d like to learn more about how DV can support your digital advertising outcomes, contact us here.