Multichannel

Creating a single view of customers: five top tips

Creating a single view of customers across channels has long been the goal of the ambitious retail marketer.   

By being able to track and analyse consumer interactions across in-store and online, a retailer can create a new level of insight into their customers and therefore market to them with an unprecedented level of accuracy and insight. 

In addition, data has shown again and again that customers who interact with a brand on more than one channel are more valuable and loyal than their single channel counterparts.

However, a single view of customers isn’t as simple as just connecting online and offline databases of information. It requires significant investment in new hardware, software, staff capabilities and processes.

Before launching any project of this scale, retailers need to be aware of the possibilities and pitfalls. 

Verdens Gang and the Holy Grail: a case study in integrating print and digital

Is achieving integration of print and digital publishing the pursuit of the Holy Grail? Well, it certainly sounds nice listening to a publisher talk about burgeoning digital revenues in multiple channels, alongside beautiful print products.

Verdens Gang is a Norwegian newspaper with a daily circulation of more than 200,000, in a population of 5m. Across print and digital, 1.8m people use VG daily.

At Digital Media Strategies 2014, editor-in-chief and CEO of VG Torry Pedersen gave the lowdown on how they integrated print and digital effectively, along with how they monetised smartphone and tablet content.

Culture is the key, as is so often the case in disrupted industries where big brands have to adapt and are competing with pure-plays that have started on the right foot.

Torry used the analogy of Haile Gebreselassie vs. Usain Bolt to describe print and digital. They both run but they run in very different ways and they shouldn’t have the same training regimen. The same can be said of magazine-style high quality print products compared with the fast-moving multimedia world of online news. The two teams can’t necessarily work together.

That’s why from 2000 until 2011, everything at VG was separate for print and online, from ads to editorial. In 2011 the two were joined back together once again.

The same thing happened with mobile and desktop, the two had separate ad sales and technical teams from 2010 until 2014 (though the same content team). Now ad sales and techies across desktop and mobile are integrated.

So what are the challenges that VG has overcome and how is it moving forward?

The importance of data personalisation and localisation

Last year Econsultancy published an article claiming that some businesses doubt the value of personalisation.

Although 94% of companies agree that personalisation ‘is critical to current and future success’ less than half of companies are personalising their website experience.

This isn’t because they think personalisation is unimportant, but because they don’t actually know how to make the most of it.

However, even the smallest of companies can target their consumers directly using personalised content.

How marketers can use iBeacon to add relevance to location-based targeting

While location based marketing is not a new strategy, iBeacon, Apple’s recently introduced Bluetooth LE-based technology that extends location-based services in iOS, offers exciting new opportunities to engage consumers in retail stores and other destinations.

iBeacon uses Bluetooth 4.0 to pick up signals from Bluetooth-enabled phones. With an advanced API software and transmitter hardware that reaches up to 150 feet, the technology allows businesses to precisely estimate a phone-owner’s location, and exchange data and information.

iBeacons are so efficient that even the largest of stores would only need handful of beacons per floor to enable a high degree of positioning accuracy.

Start Me Up! A profile of mobile analytics tool Appsee

Apps are an important part of many multichannel marketing strategies, whether it be for a big retailer, a travel company or a not-for-profit.

Although users are more and more accustomed to smartphones and tablets, that brings with it hundreds of hours of learning that shouldn’t be contradicted. Designing an app that just works is a difficult task and aside from determining the way to platform your app, perfecting the user experience (UX) is the next priority.

There are many UX companies out there. Appsee is a new player in the market, providing software to put an app through its paces. They’re the latest company to feature in this, our Start Me Up feature.

31% of UK shoppers research in-store before making purchase online: report

In order to thrive in the modern age of multichannel retailing brands have to be aware of the relationship between their offline and online sales channels.

Smart retailers such as John Lewis, B&Q and Marks & Spencer already partly attribute online sales to their brick-and-mortar stores as it’s naive to think that people buying through ecommerce haven’t been in-store for product research at some point.

A survey published by eBay gives a new insight into the relationship between offline and online retail by asking respondents about the channels they used to research a specific purchase.

In both the UK and Germany around a third of consumers used multiple channels during their purchase journey, including 31% of consumers who visited a store before buying online and 34% of consumers who did online research before a recent in-store purchase.

11 ways M&S is improving the multichannel experience

I’ve written two posts already about Marks & Spencer’s new website. It’s not a love-in, in fact both posts have generated some good debate.

Should it be so editorially led? Could the navigation be slicker? Should there be a guest checkout? Despite these issues, I’m a fan of the new look and aside from the intricacies, the new site is about finally aligning the brand’s image with top quality high street fashion.

But it’s about more than just a new website, M&S is investing across the multichannel customer journey, in the knowledge that a multichannel customer can be worth four times as much as one that only shops either on- or offline.

Here are 11 ways Marks & Spencer is enriching its multichannel business, aside from its new desktop and mobile sites and revamped apps.

Seven ways for marketers to collaborate with IT for better customer experience

Customer experience management is fast becoming the core pillar of effective digital marketing and data has a critical role to play.  

However, it seems that many marketers do not have access to the data they need to improve customer experience. In our recent research, only 29% of marketers told us that they have access to any kind of data in real-time, which is essential for effective customer experience management. 

This move to data-focused strategies is changing the relationship that marketing professionals have with IT and, with IT professionals traditionally the owners of data, a much closer relationship betweenthe two looks to be essential. 

New Year marketing resolutions you shouldn’t break in 2014

It’s February and already, according to a number of statistical sources, around a quarter of us have failed to uphold our New Year’s resolutions.

Interestingly, 39% of people in their twenties achieve their resolution each year compared to only 14% of people over 50. That’s interesting given the prevailing attitudes towards younger generations.

In the same vein, marketers are mapping out the conversations they want to have this year to stay ahead of the curve. Given the influx of ‘2014 Trends’ in January, I thought it would be a useful point to review the best and highlight a few that might follow New Year’s resolutions.

Audi to Apple: who is using digital on the high street?

We’ve looked previously at the state of digital retail in London and found that bricks and mortar, in most cases, is still exactly that.

A lack of wi-fi and interactive devices was identified as an issue for Oxford Street’s retailers. 

Of more interest, perhaps, is not the overall picture, but how individual retailers are using technology, how this affects the customer experience and for what product types.

Home electrical, technology and automotive retailers have been shown to make greater use of digital media in-store. These products are purchased by informed customers and part of the in-store experience is about providing the customer with information via digital devices.

Of course, many of the products in these sectors are digital themselves and are on display for use in store.

80% of the home electrical/technology retailers on Oxford and Regent Streets had interactive devices for customers to use, versus just 16% of fashion, shoe and accessories retailers.

But let’s look at some specific retailers for best practice or otherwise. Again, this information comes from eccomplished’s latest research.

How can travel operators provide a first-class digital customer experience?

Online holiday bookings at a record high. According to the latest ITB World Travel Trends Report, 65% of all holidays are now booked online, compared to just 24% that are booked via travel agencies.

Mobile travel bookings are also on the rise, with one in five UK holiday-makers now booking holidays using a mobile device, according to a recent survey by Tradedoubler Insight Unit.

As competition moves from the high street to digital channels, it’s now more important than ever for online travel operators to ensure customers have the best possible experience across all channels.

Broken links, payment problems, poor navigation and a lack of information can force customers to competitors’ sites, ultimately losing business. To avoid this, online travel operators need to take action fast.

What is the state of digital retail in London?

How is the world’s shopping capital using mobile and digital experiences to engage customers in-store?

I’ve previously written about window displays on Regent Street, but that was a scanty survey. Eccomplished has released some more in-depth research into select stores on Oxford Street and Regent Street in London.

Factors such as signage, interactive media, WiFi, mobile interaction and store layout were surveyed in 40 leading retail outlets by a team of researchers.

Shoppers were also canvassed with the aim of ascertaining whether or not digital in-store offers brands the opportunity to stand out. So, how well are stores implementing technology and is there a gap between best practice and reality?

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