How can businesses ace their digital-first strategies

COVID-19 has brought the digital economy to the fore and while many businesses are still pivoting to digital, there is a difference between thriving in the digital world versus merely surviving. While sales in an offline world were a convenient option before the pandemic, it no longer fits the current requirements, prompting businesses to innovate. Adobe has witnessed various companies win at transforming digitally and extending exemplary customer experience. Unfortunately, there are many that failed after taking the digital leap.

It’s essential for businesses to evaluate their requirements, keeping in mind the short-term and long-term goals. Pivoting to digital requires understanding, talent, and agility to face challenges in the middle of uncertainty. The point is to move on from a conventional and rigid business model to a flexible one, offering the ability to deal with dynamic roadblocks.

C-Suite Handshake

Any business today requires a fresh syncing up of teams, data, and strategies in order to drive towards a common goal.

Traditionally, the CIOs and CMOs in companies ran their independent teams, but their integration has now become vital. Firms that prioritised this handshake gained a natural edge in this digital-first world. It not only strengthens sales and marketing but also provides deeper insights into customer relations, demands, and more.

While the CIO must lead a strong business technology agenda, the CMO is the custodian of driving the customer experience. They must find common grounds that intersect to the benefit of the organization. And the organization itself must shift its thinking of IT from being a cost centre to being a business-revenue facilitator and enabler.

With more teams directly involved in shaping the customer experience, CIOs must regularly partner with their peers to take their digital experiences from concept to reality.

MG Motors India’s CIO, Manish Patel, and Head of Marketing, Udit Malhotra, teamed up to break down siloes between their teams and align their customer experience priorities at the leadership level. Together, both leaders combine their skillsets and leadership experience to unify and strengthen their customer experience each day.

Improve customer engagement

Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) leveraged Adobe Experience Cloud applications, including Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, and Adobe Campaign, to create cross-channel experiences that relate with the Indian youth and get them excited about saving, investing, and building new wealth.

Insights gained from Adobe Analytics showed a high drop-off rate for new investors, who were hesitant to make the first move in investing. The company started directing these customers to a risk analyzer tool, which helped them pick the right fund to invest in and meet their financial goals. A could-be-lost sale was turned around, using data and automation.

“Adobe Target helps us experiment with customer interactions and find new ways to improve customer experiences,” Arpanarghya Saha, Chief Digital Officer at NIMF said. “We discovered that it’s not just about SIP investment. Encouraging customers to interact with an online calculator or redirecting their interests to a different type of investment fund can lead to more active investors and happy customers.”

Leverage data-driven strategy

Since 2020, almost all businesses have gone back to the drawing board to re-strategise. Customer experience management (CXM) has become more complex than ever, making it essential for enterprises to have a data-driven operating model. A centralised platform is also of utmost importance as multiple teams need to be on the same page for successful execution.

Data management platforms (DMP) can give you a competitive edge. By bringing together avalanches of siloed data, a DMP helps you understand your audience like never before. It helps in creating custom filters and rules to deliver a customised solution. When the pandemic hit, e-commerce website Tata CliQ opted for an agile response since it didn’t cater to groceries or essentials on a usual day.

The shopping experience of each user of Tata CliQ was customised based on region, offering maximum relevance at a time when each state had its own guidelines. These experiences were backed by top-notch content, which consisted of publishing rich, deep stories about taking care of one’s health during the pandemic. Customer engagement was deeply understood via clicks, click-through rates, order participation, and revenue participation.

“The results were positive. We saw people on the platform engaging more with our website banners,” Pratik Khandagale, a project manager at Tata CliQ said. “In areas where people were under lockdown and wanting to buy essentials, we saw a 57% lift in clickthroughs.”

Analysing and adapting to a customer’s emotional journey is slated to be the next evolution of experience management. According to Adobe’s Digital Trends Report 2021, just 37% of Indian executives have significant insights into customer mindset.

All businesses are practically digital businesses today, hence it’s imperative to understand that the digital transformation and the capability of extending the intended customer experience is subjective and personalised for each brand. Driving digital innovation can come with its share of turbulence. But when the C-suite commits to working toward a shared vision for the future, it’s easier for the rest of the organization to rise to the challenge.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in partnership with Adobe

SEE ALSO:
TVS Group’s car maintenance wing myTVS raises ₹375 crore to expand its network across India
ICICIdirect website and app down; users complain about not being able to login