Forward-looking marketing is characterized by complexity, creativity, technology and analysis: customers research and purchase in their own time and at their own speed. They want further information when they required it, and this to the currently relevant topic.
In order to master this dynamic, to attract the attention of the customer and to create individual memorable experiences, it is essential for a company to know how the customer behaves to adjust the company’s own behavior as a consequence. Challenges - which are covered by both terms marketing automation and personalization.
Various tasks around the customer have to be coordinated, realized and optimized. Moreover, this complexity spans a wide range of communication channels like e-mail, web sites, advertisement and social media. The goal of marketing automation is not only to manage these aspects. It aims to increase operational efficiency and to take advantage of new possibilities, not least in order to promote customer loyalty and to generate significant new revenue. Landing pages, campaign management, prediction and scoring, customer lifecycle management and marketing analytics are features, to name but a few, which are part of marketing automation.
A new way of thinking in marketing approach is personalization. It is the ability to reach millions of consumers but each with different creative, personally relevant and interesting messages. Executions are tailored based on demographics, location, interests and behavior. The key to this strategy lies in in-depth understanding of customers. With this data, websites can be designed to display individual content comprising preferences of the customer. Products and offers can be recommended influenced by several factors like customer history, current or anticipated needs as well as trends. Direct mailings can highlight specific content, products or offers, accordingly. Personalized marketing focuses on the power of one and develops an exceptional experience personal in a deeply meaningful way.
The answer of SAP to these varied challenges of marketing is SAP Hybris Marketing, a platform which integrates the vital processes of automation and personalization. An excellent example, how this technology empowers a company to attract customers and attain an ideal return on the investment, is addressed by a valuable Consumer Goods Brand, one of the biggest chocolate producer and confectionary companies in Europe. The customer produces several goods under various brand names representing great ideas. This broad diversity is reflected by diverse marketing operations and channels: brand websites, campaign websites, social media, offline promotion cards and e-mail. Along with these activities, consumers have the opportunity to access their own care portal.
With SAP Hybris Marketing a comprehensive program was initiated to involve marketing activities across the different brands and channels. Campaigns are effectively structured, planned and executed. Processes are automatized realizing defined actions and reacting dynamically to interactions of consumers. Segmentation, multi-stage campaigns as well as trigger based campaigns enable this approach. Behavior, interests and needs are analyzed to answer several questions: In which campaigns does the consumer participate? Does a brand or channel affinity exist? Where is the sentiment toward the company positioned? Which e-mail contents lead to opening and link click? Is the consumer interested in a specific category like raffle, product launch or event? The information is reasonably applied to delight consumers with relevant messages at the right moment. At the same time, various charts, methods and key figures measure the success of executed marketing tasks. By monitoring how people react to marketing activities, characteristics are derived that cause the most positive response. For example, the placement of action buttons in e-mails or the use of language are influencing factors which are considered for the optimization of campaigns.
Additionally, the consumer care portal of the Customer provides an assortment of banners relating to brands and current marketing promotions. The display of this content is highly personalized regarding both the choice of presented banners and the positioning of them. SAP Hybris Marketing merges and standardizes data in order to generate one profile of each consumer including detailed interactions and behaviors, interests and propensities. Appropriate advanced algorithms are applied which do not only analyze personal data and history but also the current browsing behavior as well as choices made by people with similar history. Based on trends, marketing goals and consumer responses, strategies and algorithms are flexibly configured to get an overall personalized experience. But personalization does not end in individual banner ad, the care portal allows consumers to choose preferences for brands they are interested in. By this means, they are able to control and to specify the content of e-mails sent to them. This tactic completes the targeted direct e-mail marketing.
By using the SAP Hybris Marketing solution, our customer met the challenges of marketing. Above mastering these challenges, an exceptional concept is created truly connecting with customers. Marketing - that is more than the sum of the parts marketing automation and personalization.