I just completed reading a research paper by the Aberdeen Group titled “Next Generation Web Content Management”. It confirmed what we have been saying for some time now, “Integration is ultimately what is necessary to scale and produce competitive advantages in marketing”.
The study confirmed that companies that are able to deliver personalized web content (this also means targeted email campaigns) that do more than just mention the visitor’s name, produce 1.4 times revenue than those that do not. The challenge is that the data to personalize the message is typically scattered. Customer purchase history likely lives in the system for fulfillment which often times is different from the system that captured the order. Customer interactions may be across multiple mediums (web, phone, email, chat) however these systems do not tie that interaction together to make meaningful assessments about what the customer cares about. The challenge is that there is no unifying methodology or design to identify who the customer is across these interactions so that actionable information can be generated from all the different communication points.
We helped a client create automated, trigger-based, email campaigns. The client is marketing oriented. They want to reach out to their prospective and existing customers in a meaningful way. However, they suffer from the challenges discussed by the Aberdeen Group. Their data is located in multiple systems and the cost to get that data organized into an actionable format is often prohibitive relative to their speculation for a return. Indeed, our efforts have produced meaningful uplift in revenue; but it was relatively painful to get there; especially when we know of other ways with an integrated front and back office system.
For sometime, we have been talking about integrated systems as a competitive advantage. It is our philosophy. For small to medium sized businesses, we like NetSuite. Much of the capability that is talked about in the research paper is built-in to their platform. Aberdeen classifies this as the integrated CRM approach. They speak about CRM systems that have hooks into partner systems for email campaigns and web analytics. NetSuite has this all tied together in their platform; hence it is cohesive.
Appropriately, they speak about the practices that must be developed to leverage the capacity offered in these tools. Absolutely. We like calling this a practice because value is created when you develop organizational habits to think about the world in this manner and then regularly act on it. It clearly is competitive because it is demanding, uncommon, and requires investment.
Marty Zigman
Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.
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