In the increasingly interconnected digital landscape, Analytics Management emerges as the unsung hero of successful omnichannel strategies. Bridging the gap between multiple channels and the customer, it holds the key to unlocking a truly seamless and personalized user experience.
Analytics Management is the beating heart of any effective omnichannel strategy. Without it, businesses are navigating the complex world of multi-platform customer interactions blindfolded. Harness the power of Analytics, and you can transform interactions into opportunities, driving unprecedented customer engagement, loyalty, and growth.
How often have you heard the term “Omnichannel”? I’m going to take a leap guess on this one and say, “pretty often”. But do you know the foundation for being an omnichannel company?
I will take you through the main view, what it means and how to get there.
Analytics is not just Analytics.
Analytics is not one tool. Often has the term Analytics been used to describe Google Analytics. Well, Google Analytics is not the only vendor of analytics tools out there and there are a vast number of different types that serve different needs. Are you certain that Google Analytics is your perfect fit, for your business? Avensia is vendor agnostic, meaning that we work with any tool and recommend those that our clients need, not because of what’s trendy or “hot” right now.
Unified Customer View
Analytics plays a crucial role in creating a unified customer view across all channels. By collecting and analyzing data from all customer touchpoints, businesses can understand how customers interact with their brand, regardless of the channel they use. This facilitates a seamless, personalized customer experience across all platforms.
First, let’s just take a short look at the different areas within digital business optimization, and the link back to analytics management and omnichannel.
Search Engines
Think about how we find almost everything online – through search engines, right? Now, imagine being able to pull the strings behind those search results. Being able to influence a narrative, being able to take part in trends and seasons. With Analytics you, to some extent, can do exactly that.
Let’s break it down.
Paid Search:
Everyone wants the biggest bang for their buck, especially when you are paying for ads. Ever thrown money at Google Ads and crossed your fingers, hoping for good results? Well, it doesn’t work like that. Analytics takes the guesswork out, leaving you with an extensive keyword research & analysis, that gives you insight into trends, seasons, preferences, specific intentions etc. It lays down the foundation for what keywords to use, when to use them and in which contexts.
Finally, through analytics, you can get insight into the strategies and tactics of your competitors, by analyzing your competitors’ ads and ratings, giving you an extra edge.
Organic Search
Its not all about paid ads. Organic search is a big piece of the puzzle. That’s when your site pops up in search results naturally, not because you have paid for it to be there, but because you have through a comprehensive work on beforehand, made possible by analytics, stated out what you need to rank for and have authority on.
Search combined.
Paid and organic search can even be compared, which really gives you an edge. This also ties together your online and offline stores, where customers are searching for your products or services and finds both online and offline store information, so they can choose to visit either one.
Proximity search like “restaurant near me” is one example of how this is being used every day. How would you be able to optimize for that, if you don’t know what your customers are searching for.
Social media
Think about the time we spend on social media each day. Scrolling through Instagram, retweeting on Twitter and sharing post on Facebook. It’s become a big part of our lives. For businesses, all this social media activity is a goldmine of information, interests and target audiences compressed into followers. Think about the exceptional marketing powers that really lies in the specialized and highly dedicated group of followers, who have signed up to follow an individual. This kind of target audiences takes years elsewhere to build.
Paid Social
Shelling out for ads on social media can feel like throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean. Will it reach the right people or will it smash against the rocks, 100 meters down. Or will it make waves and stir something up? With analytics you can answer those questions.
Tracking engagement, click through rates, from post to sales, you can see what’s working and what’s not. Analytics takes your ad campaign from a shot in the dark, to a well-aimed arrow.
Organic Social
Paid ads are great, but the organic is “free”. The cost is time, but insights from analyzing posts and shares, can reduce excessive use of resources. These organic interactions can say a lot about how people feel about your brand, which is extremely important in brand awareness. Frequent tag analysis can even alert you of new trends before you even hear about them, that being positive or negative narratives.
Not only is it branding, but it can cater the entire customer journey with information and guidance, and by using analytics in doing so, your accuracy and efficiency are ten folded.
Backend systems
Alright, so stepping backend for a moment. Behind every great online business, there is a suite of powerful backend systems keeping track of your inventory, logistics, information management product management, plus a whole bunch of other tools and parts, that make out your entire e-commerce ecosystem.
But here’s the thing- these systems are like talented musicians in the orchestra. They can all play their instruments beautifully, but they need a conductor to bring the together in creating a symphony. And guess who the conductor is? That’s right, analytics.
Let’s take your PIM, for example. Its chugging away, keeping track of your inventory, prices, product descriptions etc. But how do you know if your product descriptions are hitting the mark? Or if the prices are right? Well, analytics lay the foundation for that. With analytics, you can see how changes in your product information affect sales and customer engagement. Its like having a feedback loop between your PIM and customers.
The same goes for other backend systems too, like IM, Commercetools, Contentful and other CMSes. Through analytics you can see how the data is flowing through these systems, impacting your business. For instance, analytics could show you that blog posts published through your CMS are driving traffic to your site, or that customers who use certain features of your ecommerce platform are more likely to make a purchase.
In short, while your backend systems are doing an awesome job running the show behind the scenes, analytics is the maestro making sure everyone is playing the same tune. And its important to mention that up until now, you have been presented with analytical powers that derives from several tools that are not Google Analytics. GA is good, but can’t cater everyone and every need.
Seeing the whole picture
Let’s face it, we are all about understanding our customers, their needs, and their interests. Analytics helps us do that by taking all the bits and pieces of customer data from every channel and combining them into a one big picture. Its like having a map of every step a customer takes with your brand. Now that’s handy for giving them a smooth ride.
Big data, you might think. Well, that is to some extent true, but let’s rephrase it to “Smart data”, and don’t think about size. Believe it or not, the size doesn’t matter, but how you use it, is of importance.
Making it personal
Who doesn’t love a personal touch? You can segment your customers based on all kinds of things, what they like, how they behave etc. And when you can target your communication like that, you can ramp up customer engagement and get more people clicking that “buy” button.
Maybe you say you already have this in place on numerous tools integrated into your e-commerce solution, but how much of this is being related to other sources of insights and information? How much of this is being archived for learning and testing? How much of the insights that are gathered, are documented for democratization of your findings and learnings to other stakeholders and persons within your organization?
Measuring Success
So, you have an omnichannel strategy. Great! But how do you know if it is working? Well, you have the ultimate KPI is your bank balance, but that’s not sufficient. That’s where analytics comes in handy. It keeps track of all those important numbers – conversion rates, customer lifetime value, customer satisfaction etc.
Next level Analytics or incremental maturity
Ever wished you had a crystal ball? With predictive analysis, that’s basically what you get. Advanced analytics techniques like machine learning can help anticipate your customer’s next move. Imagine knowing what your customers want, before they do!
Hold your horses you might say, and we agree. It is important to take the steps of maturity towards the business objectives first and foremost, but in our experience, having a clear understanding of analytics management can reduce the cost of resources, increase the profitability and efficiency and finally, increase customer satisfaction.
There are levels of maturity for a digital business. To become data-driven, the way to start is by mapping out which level you are on the modern analytics maturity model. Next is aligning your analytics closely with your business objectives.
Summary
As we step into the future, the art and science of Analytics Management becomes even more significant. We’re transitioning from simple number crunching to cultivating a holistic understanding of our customers’ journeys, behaviors, and desires. Analytics are no longer just about reflecting on what has happened, but they also predict what will happen, crafting an intelligent roadmap to business success.
By harnessing the power of analytics, you are not merely surviving in the digital landscape, but thriving, innovating, and leading. It is a transformation from being reactive to proactive, from ‘doing digital’ to ‘being digital.’ The information you gather, analyze, and apply today shapes the business landscapes of tomorrow.
Remember, it’s not about the size of the data, but how you use it. Make it personal, make it count. See the whole picture, understand the narratives behind the numbers, and you will unlock a world of possibilities.