Month: November 2014

Digital marketers recognise the benefits of cross channel marketing, but struggle to implement

Post author By Sally Hooton
Post date 5th November 2014
No Comments on Digital marketers recognise the benefits of cross channel marketing, but struggle to implement

Research demonstrates need for better understanding of key techniques, such as data integration

Marketers are aware of the power of cross channel marketing in reaching customers, but many are not yet taking full advantage of the technique.

So says research from Experian Marketing Services and Forrester Consulting, who conducted a global study of 428 digital marketing businesses in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America, The poll identified varying levels of technology adoption and cross channel marketing success across markets, with technology issues still a major hurdle in implementation.

Commenting on the results, Simon Martin (pictured), managing director of Digital at Experian Marketing Services, said: “This report makes it clear that marketers understand the importance of cross channel marketing in taking customer relationships up a level, but still need guidance to make it work. Customers today are much like teenagers at university – they only want to hear from you at a time that is convenient to them, and when they need something. Data linkage across channels allows marketers to better assess when this time might be, which allows them to deliver the right message to the right customer, at the right time.”

Additional findings from the research include:

Email is still a stalwart: 97% of respondents use email today and 65% have used it for at least three years. Email maturity has not discouraged investment, either, as it is still growing at 8% compound annual growth rate
Marketers struggle to integrate channels, with even a mature channel such as email only being integrated with search retargeting by 54% of respondents
On average, any two channels are integrated by only 45% of respondents
Few marketers harness the potential of customer data: only 24% are able to merge contextual data into a single, shared and real time cross channel view of the customer
Marketers in EMEA are behind their counterparts in using targeted display, with 80% agreeing that they make use of the technology compared to a global average of 97% (with all US digital marketers surveyed using the technology)
Sophisticated email marketers demonstrated significantly higher rates of data-usage best practices, which was twice as much as the average respondent
Practices among marketers in Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries demonstrated the highest prevalence of this mature use of customer data at 36 per cent, with China leading the pack at 47 per cent. APAC also led other regions in overall cross-channel marketing maturity
Seventy-five per cent of marketers that Forrester Consulting identified as ‘sophisticated marketers’ use data in real time

“Marketers must realise that the consumer cycle has changed with the advent of new shopping channels as well as expectations of excellent personalisation and service in interactions with brands”, continued Martin. “The sales funnel does not exist as it did before – marketers need to consider relationships in terms of customer need, not marketing action. The reward is increased loyalty, spend, and a better relationship with the customer full stop.”

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Digital customer experience – capturing the right customer insights

Post author By Sally Hooton
Post date 4th November 2014
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Udesh Jadnanansing (pictured) continues his examination of the customer experience online.

Depending on the goals a customer has from using your digital channels, they may choose different paths to reach them. Equally, one customer may use a different path from another to reach the desired goal. Therefore, to facilitate the holy grail of the digital customer experience, you need a lot more than just some general online feedback or survey tools. What you need is a customer experience strategy with a focus on the customer journey, for proper segmentation and ultimately relevant feedback. When this is in place correctly, it is the first step to turning insights into action.

There are four phases that companies go through in order to reach a mature stage of digital customer experience management. In phase 1 the focus is primarily on web statistics and numbers, phase 2 has a focus on periodic quantitative and qualitative research and phase 3 is the point that continuous feedback is collected real-time via onsite feedback forms. Phase 4 is all about turning insight into action to reach a mature stage of digital customer experience management.

Capturing customer feedback can be done through periodic questionnaires, as happens in phase two of this model, or as in phase 3, continuously through a ‘one size fits all’ feedback form on the website. In the latter case, there is usable feedback within, but that is not always related to what the visitor is doing at that time. Why ask what a visitor is doing on your website when you can see it happening? A professional approach means looking at the goals of the customer, user or visitor, depending on the online journey being made and then asking the right questions when it is relevant for a visitor to give feedback. For example, when you detect a visitor has a problem with ordering the product. Just like in real life, customers do not want store personnel bothering them with questions about customer service or registration when they haven’t even bought the product yet!

When feedback is too general it is hard to define what drives a customer. Taking action is possible, but it is not as refined as it could be. The questions to be asked in order to capture relevant feedback should therefore be linked to the goal that a customer or visitor has set themselves within your digital channel. Does the customer want to order a product, adjust his account, solve a problem or maybe get something done with a self-service tool? People use your website or mobile app to get a certain job done. With a generic feedback form or website evaluation survey, people can leave an open comment like a suggestion and that can be valuable information. But when relevant questions are asked at the right time, not only are the visitors more willing to provide feedback, but the feedback is also much more relevant. The more the questions are tailored to the various points in the customer journey and what someone is trying to achieve in a digital channel, the more relevant the findings are. This allows an organisation to optimize the processes and remove bottle necks within the journey. This way, organisations are continuously working on improving the digital channels and thus the overall customer experience.

Close control

Capturing feedback continuously that is focused on what the client is doing at that time, means having closer control. If someone is stuck within an online ordering process you must be able to identify the problem directly and immediately and ask the customer what goes wrong. And that mechanism should be in place on all digital processes in such a way that a company is able to collect useful information to optimise the digital experience continuously.

Ultimately, a better customer experience is good for customers and therefore also for companies – in both the short term and long term. The easier an online shopper can achieve his goal, the sooner something is ordered in the shop and how often they repeat their business. A better customer experience can lead to more sales in the short term. Thanks to customer feedback the bottlenecks within the digital customer journey can be removed and customers reach the end of the journey more often. Make sure that the huge budgets that are spent on shiny advertising campaigns are not useless because customers switch to your competitors faster than you can say ‘feedback’, when the product is easier to order elsewhere!

Excelling for professionals

In this digital age, churn is an increasing problem for large corporations. In the long-term, customer loyalty is already vital will become more and more important. Customers expect the same experience online as offline. This means a customer experience that matches the brand values of the organisation that they have chosen for. If your product appears to evoke low involvement from your business (such as an insurance product for example), offering better service than your competitor is something to excel at! Depending on those brand values a company chooses points within the customer journey to differentiate. This also goes for customer journeys within digital channels. But there must be understanding in how you are scoring on these parts. How do visitors experience the self-service tools on the website? The better the customers’ journeys are connected to the brand values, the better the customer experience and the more loyalty and in the end a healthy and profitable organisation.

Udesh Jadnanansing is managing partner at Mopinion.

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An online retailer’s strategy for global success

Post author By Sally Hooton
Post date 3rd November 2014
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Philip Rooke (pictured) has advice on, and personal experience of, expanding internationally.

As the CEO of an e-commerce merchandising platform, I am tasked with scaling-up our company globally. We are already active in 19 countries, 12 languages, and our customers can pay in 11 currencies. This year, we are in the full roll-out phase of our marketing, sales and operations strategy outside Europe and the USA. And we now deliver to approximately 200 countries from Brazil to Singapore.

With the world of retail, technology and delivery to global consumers moving so fast, online retailers need more than just inspiring customer experiences, great sales figures and a savvy marketing plan. All the successes generated by launching in new countries can be rapidly jeopardised with a poor delivery and supply chain. Without establishing a solid plan and network you might as well have thrown away the money spent on expanding.

So how does an online retailer in rapid global scale-up mode embrace these business realities? My top three areas of focus are:

1. Get your product to the consumer

Shipping is a vital component in the supply chain and it must be fast, reliable and priced right. This year we added delivery to more than150 new countries. Within weeks, we had to delist 10 countries due to fraud and delivery problems. However, there were some nice surprises within the mix. Some countries even with small populations, such as Bermuda, Guadeloupe and French Polynesia, are doing very well. Other countries had good sales, but have had to be paused until delivery issues are sorted out. Spend time getting this right.

2. Check on the local tax and business rules

This is where partnering can sometimes be a better bet than organic growth; you take on a business which already has all the right permits and understands how to do business in the region. For example, in the USA there are tax variations between the States, which need to be taken into account, along with the tax issues surrounding cross-border sales. If a customised T-shirt is sold by a YouTuber in New York and shipped to Brazil, but the transaction happens in Berlin, where is the tax paid? These are issues an international e-commerce company must be on top of. Spreadshirt is not only an online retailer, but we also provide a platform for other e-sellers, so this is especially key for us; it’s our job to make this a smooth and efficient process. No-one wants to get bogged down in tax issues when they’re creating and selling their ideas. Customers receiving an extra bill will hate you!

3. Plan to get on the ground

Many of our key sellers build a fan base on global social platforms such as YouTube and Facebook – making demand for their products truly international. We see huge traffic coming from countries like India and Brazil, meaning that eventually shipping will not be enough to satisfy consumer expectations. We’ve therefore just acquired a partner in Brazil and are looking at India, Turkey and other countries, to reduce the shipping time. A demand driven approach from traffic or shipped orders always governs our next steps.

Whether a customer is from one of your core regions or from a new market, you have to manage their delivery expectations and value. We intentionally locate production facilities in strategic locations to keep customers satisfied and meet their expectations and demands. For example, in the USA, our Las Vegas facility reduces a day in delivery time to the west coast compared to shipping from our east coast site. It is also ideally located for rapid and cost-effective distribution to Asia and Australia. Orders get to customers in Australia only two days after California for only $1 or $2 more.

The world is a great place to do business and in our experience more valuable orders were gained than lost due to problems. Glitches can be easily sorted out by switching off certain payment types, changing a shipping provider or turning off a whole country.

This approach is working so far: the addition of 150 new shipping countries puts us on par with retailers such as H&M and Zara and far ahead of most other custom apparel and accessory retailers. The process of going truly global has been a positive move and the outlook for the rest of the year is extremely optimistic. Each week, several hundreds of additional orders are coming from our newly listed shipping countries.

For Spreadshirt, the goal is to continue global expansion via acquisition, access, and strong international partnerships with an eye towards local production hubs. We go global while being local. Unlike traditional retailers, we are not restricted by supply chains and stock holding so I envisage an online retail future where everyone wherever they are in the world can create, buy and sell ideas on merchandising, in the language and currency of their choice and never be more than a few days away from receiving it.

Philip Rooke is CEO of Spreadshirt.