At BlueConic, we’re often asked: “What’s the ROI from investing in a CDP?” Not all that surprising, given 69% of technology decision makers view ROI as their primary objective.
But like many companies, B2C retailers often make the mistake of associating ROI solely based on their impact on tactical business and marketing metrics. In reality, any technology a retailer invests in – including a CDP – should not only improve key metrics, but also increase its value to the business by enabling more efficient ways of working.
To help companies understand how BlueConic drives both operational efficiency gains and performance and revenue improvements, we commissioned Forrester to examine the potential ROI they may realize by deploying our platform. Below, we reveal some of the findings from that study, including the most common types of operational challenges that led B2C retailers to invest in BlueConic, as well as the benefits they gained after implementation.
Challenges that Led B2C Retailers to Choose BlueConic
B2C retailers struggle with three common challenges that make it difficult to use real-time data to support customer experiences:
1. Siloed, unactionable data for marketing & business teams and their tools
Previously, teams had different views of customer data, and reconciling it was difficult or impossible, resulting in an incomplete understanding of customers and challenges communicating consistently with them. For example, a senior manager of CRM and direct marketing at a B2C retail company said, “Someone might be the same customer, but they purchased under two different email addresses. … [As a result], we might send duplicate messages to the same person.”
2. Limited types of customer data available to the marketing & business teams
In addition to siloed customer data, teams were also limited in the types of data they were able to access. For instance, the same B2C retailer noted that their “marketing data was largely limited to transaction data, and there wasn’t any layered data we could use within our previous system.” A digital media specialist at another B2C retailer explained how their company previously relied almost entirely on email data to understand and reach their customers. They noted, “Prior to BlueConic, we didn’t have a way to segment customers, and we were just sending emails to all our customers even if it wasn’t specific to their interests.”
3. Manual and time-consuming processes that required IT and analytics resources
Finally, teams indicated it was difficult to gain access to the data they needed to make decisions quickly, experiment, and pivot. As the senior manager of CRM and direct marketing at a B2C retail company revealed, “Setting up campaigns was manual. We would have to connect with someone in IT to create a grouping within our legacy solution for us to leverage in marketing, and then we were only able to pull out transactional data.” They went on to say they “used to rely on data and IT teams to create segments and had to wait for data.”
Benefits B2C Retailers Gained After Implementing BlueConic
Once implemented, B2C retailers found BlueConic empowered their marketing and customer experience teams to operate and activate data in new ways. Some of the benefits gained included:
1. Time savings from ease of use and automation
Through better data availability, automation, and an easy-to-use UI for non-technical users, the study confirmed up to 90% time savings on segmentation, customer journeys and reporting, resulting in significantly reduced costs for the business. A senior manager of CRM and direct marketing at a B2C retail company stated, “It’s so easy to hop in there and create a segment, and that’s another piece I like a lot. ...I think it’s alleviating a lot of various cross- functional teams’ needs to leverage different departments for something that is easily accessible within the system.”
2. Ability to focus on strategy and growth
Moreover, the time savings enabled by BlueConic allows business teams to spend less time on manual, day-to-day tasks for data utilization and more time on strategic planning and execution. For instance, the same B2C retailer noted, “One of the steps we’re taking ... is bringing more people on the team from an analytical perspective that will help us pull insights and then be able to provide even more strategy. ... Once we have someone to really dig into the data and see where our gaps are, I think that’s going to open a lot of doors from a project and strategy perspective.”
3. Increased profit from better conversion rates
The study also found BlueConic drives higher conversion rates worth almost $2.1 million due to the ability to collect and unify data into profiles to deliver highly relevant personalized experiences to customers. As the Digital Media Specialist at a B2C retailer noted, “BlueConic has been able to provide us with the...most catered customer experience for our customers. And...for our brands, knowing how many different categories we have, how many different products we have, that’s really essential.”
To find out what types of operational efficiencies and revenue BlueConic could unlock for your business, schedule your demo today.
