Connected Commerce is the new omnichannel - the next step in the transition required for companies to be able to meet the expectations of today's customers. The road is a journey of change that affects the entire organisation and must cope with both the brand strategy and the sales strategy.
Today's business landscape requires many companies to re-evaluate their view of their business. Companies that focus on high customer satisfaction increase their competitiveness and a central part of such an initiative is to create a seamless and constantly relevant customer experience. Your customers buy an experience, not just a service or a product.
For such a seamless customer experience to be possible, all information must be transparent and updated continuously in all channels. Visualise Connected Commerce like an omnichannel, though in real time. Moreover, as customers' demands are constantly changing, most companies need to be much more agile at all levels, from supply chain to customer support.
Your company’s journey to be able to reach Connected Commerce is affected by, among other things, the business model, customer needs and existing digital infrastructure. But if we disregard these factors, it is crucial that you plan long-term and in stages. It is not wise to try to do everything at once.
For an organisation to become more unified, it requires changes in its processes and systems:
- All processes must be mapped towards the customer journey and the customer life cycle.
- All departments within the organisation need to collaborate and understand their roles in the customer journey and the customer life cycle.
- The digital infrastructure (including integrations) must be in place for you to be able to update real-time information across channels.
The biggest pitfalls that most organisations face is that they are not prepared for the journey of change. In addition, the organisation does not have a consensus on the impact it would have on different departments and how they will influence each other.
Is your company ready to take the first steps towards Connected Commerce? Here are three approaches to help you get started.
1. Integrated Data Approach
Embrace a Connected Commerce strategy
In the current scenario, devices are connected, offering a host of new solutions to help vendors collect, sort, filter, segment and analyse data from each channel.
However, most of them operate independently–whether in different tools or managed by various departments – leaving marketers with multiple streams of disconnected information to the public. Marketers need interoperable solutions that can integrate a variety of consumer data types from many sources and create a centralised, functional view.
2. Efficient Marketing Operations
Adapt to a unified marketing approach
Unified marketing is a framework that allows all marketing strategies–both traditional and digital–to be compared and compiled together. It will help to reduce redundant efforts and to identify gaps that marketing activities should fill.
By combining the metrics around the user's actions, we also avoid the unmanageable attribution situation – no single tactic is sufficient or solely responsible for users taking action; all of them play a role.
3. One View of the Customer
Build a unified customer profile
The thumb rule is, put your business customers’ needs first. To do so, you need a customer-centric data architecture. In simple terms, it means having a single, unified data stock at the epicentre of your technology stack to serve as a source of truth for every business user involved with your digital ecosystem.
Any well-planned CX program aims to create customer loyalty through delightful experiences. There are no quick fixes, so your growth objectives need to be long-term.
Remain competitive in today's digital marketplace
Unifying your commerce is one step towards succeeding in today's marketplace. As technology advances, your customers will be expecting a consistent, connected experience regardless of the channel.
That's how your commerce business can succeed. We've got a guide that discusses all of this, plus case studies from brands who have thrived and those who have failed. Check it out via the button below.
