Product Information is Key to Winning the Customer Experience Race

Copyright © 2015 Earley Information Science1 Copyright © 2015 Earley Information Science
Product Information is Key
to Winning the Customer
Experience Race
Jeannine Bartlett
Chief Digital Strategist
Earley Information Science
Cody Bateman
Client Relations Executive
Riversand
Foundations for
Successful B2C
Digital Commerce
Click to view the recording
of this webinar

Copyright © 2015 Earley Information Science2
Today’s Agenda
• Welcome & Housekeeping
– Session duration & questions
– Session recording & materials
– Take the survey!
• Introduction
– Dave Zwicker, CMO, Earley Information Science
• Product Information is Key to Winning the
Customer Experience Race
– Jeannine Bartlett, Chief Digital Strategist, Earley
Information Science
– Cody Bateman, Client Relations Executive, Riversand
• Questions & Answers

Speaker Bio – Jeannine Bartlett
• Envisioning, strategy, design & delivery of integrated digital
information architecture for OmniChannel Commerce across channel
touchpoints
• Working with Retail & Consumer Goods clients on the intersection of:
• CX strategy for site search, navigation & ways to shop
• digital asset management (DAM)
• web & enterprise content management (W/ECM)
• product information management (PIM)
• big data analytics in social media
Jeannine Bartlett
Chief Digital Strategist
Earley Information Science, Inc.
@brandJeannine
Specializes in digital transformation
for product catalog, site
merchandising and brand context.
We organize digital information so you
can focus on engaging your
customers.
EIS has been helping organizations
realize the business value of their
product information, content, digital
assets and data since 1994.

Speaker Bio – Cody Bateman
Cody Bateman
Client Relations Executive
Riversand Technologies, Inc.
@CodyBateman
• One of the initial founders of the data warehousing and
business intelligence movements
• Expert in master data management, complex analytical
solutions, customer loyalty programs and, recently,
creating strategic value utilizing Big Data
• Passion for developing the vision and architecting
enterprise solutions for large corporations
Riversand Technologies, Inc.
High Scalable, Configurable & Robust
Multi-domain MDM platform rated highly
by leading Analysts
Customer Driven, Agile, Flexible, Forward
Looking approach to Product Strategy &
Product Management
Our product development and deployment
philosophy aligned to support multi-phased
approach with lower TCO and quick Time-
to-Market

Winning the Customer Experience Race
The Customer Experience Race is On!
(Research findings from Gartner)
• 89% of companies will compete based on
customer experience by 2016
• 65% have the equivalent of a chief
customer officer (office of the CCO)
• 18% of marketing budgets in 2014 were
spent on customer experience
• Customer experience is the top
innovation project for 2015
Product Data is Key to Winning the Race
• Great product content enriches the
shopper experience
• Great product content builds customer
satisfaction and loyalty
Customer Lifecycle Published by Forrester

Winning the Customer Experience Race
Driving Differentiated Digital Experiences

The Analyst Perspective on differentiated digital
“…eBusiness leaders and marketers are critically reliant not
only on their product data, but also on curated product
content to provide differentiated digital experiences.
Key to this objective is telling engaging stories about the
products being sold; however, many online retailers,
brands and industrial manufacturers lack effective methods
to streamline the product content creation process needed to
create high quality, consistent product content efficiently.”
- Peter Sheldon, Forrester Research, Nov, 2014

Retailers’ Goals are Clear…
Create differentiated customer experiences…
o That are personalized and
contextualized
o With innovative ways to
showcase products having
rich product content
o Featuring specialized
product assortments and
collections
o Providing easy navigation
through a meaningful and
relevant shopper journey

…as are these Foundational Requirements
• Adaptable Product Catalog to
drive innovative product
assortments and specialized
collections
• Intuitive Product Taxonomy
(categories, attributes, ways to
shop) to drive a meaningful
shopper experience
• Integrated Workflow
(onboarding, enrichment,
publishing) to drive coordination
across markets and channels
Source: Nordstrom

Some short term investments enrich CX quickly
• Product Category and Seasonal
Taxonomy Design
― adapt for segment preferences
• Product Display Taxonomies and
Product Filtering
― navigation and click-through
to optimize product promotion
• Product Attributes Design
― for effective product
placement and establishing a
curated cross-sell portfolio
• ‘Next Right Product’ Shopper
Event Attribute Framework
― personalize the next likely sale

Agile operations deliver the optimal
customer experience
…From the Supply Chain to Distribution, Marketplaces and Customer Touch Points
Product
Onboarding
Aggregate, cleanse, enrich, and
syndicate for quality product
information
Establish an agile product
content lifecycle and publishing
workflow
Suppliers
Products &
Inventories
Site Merchandising
Omni-Channel
Customer
Experience Call
Center
KiosksSocial
Mobile
tablet
Offline
/ store
Print
Ecommerce Marketplace
Curate inbound and
outbound product feeds

Consistent product info, both digital & physical
From Product Onboarding through Omnichannel Publishing
Images/video Suppliers
Third party
systems
Data pool/
content
aggregator
Ecommerce
Data
warehouse
XML/direct
feeds
Supply chain
management
XML/direct
feeds
ERP
Data
Hub Customer

Rich content + product data = storytelling
Product Information Sourcing
Images/video Suppliers Third party systems
Product Data Hub /
Integration
XML/direct feedsData pool/
content
aggregator
EcommerceData
warehouse
ERPXML/direct feeds Supply chain
management
Customer
Content Publishing

Off the Blocks in the CX Race
Scope, Expectations, Information Architecture & Platforms

Understand the scope up front
Data
Change
Impacts
Regions
Enterprise
Master
Data
Domains
Technology
Brands

Improved efficiency - Reduced labor costs -
Minimized manual intervention – Automated
workflows and business rules – Single system of
record eliminates redundancy
Accelerated products to market – Better, faster
product availability – Enhanced data accuracy –
Fewer product returns – Seasonal flexibility
Agile change management – Rapid functionality
deployment - Decreased data cleansing –
Decreased IT costs – Sunset outdated systems
Better product information pays for better CX

Foundational Data
• Master data are the critical nouns and one verb of business and fall
generally into four groupings:
– People
– Things
– Places
– Process (Workflow)
• Historical Item Pricing and Category Revenue Information - Most of
the complex attributes will be Pricing and Revenue related. Be prepared to
address this early on.
• Hierarchical — Hierarchical data stores the relationships between other
data. Critical to understanding and sometimes discovering the
relationships between master data.

Real Data from a Real Consumer Brand
8 major
categories,
600+ attributes…
then add in rich
assets and
content to
complete the
picture
Total Entities:
200+ million
Item Records:
6 million
Customer
Records:
450,000
Vendor Records:
60,000
Common
Attributes:
more than 1 billion
Tech Attributes:
1.5+ million
Relationships:
almost 600,000
Relationship
Attributes:
1.5+ million
Total PIM DB Size:
• Est.to reach 4TB
• Currently 2.5TB

An Architectural Framework for Context

A Roadmap to Platform Optimization
Assess &
Diagnose
• Core Issues
• Goals & Gaps
• Baseline &
KPIs
Quick Wins
& Pilot
• Leading
Category
• Taxonomy
Quick Wins
• UX Quick
Wins
• Search Quick
Wins
Design &
Implement
Categories
• Collection &
Display
Taxonomies
• Cleaner leaf-
node categories
• Style & labeling
guidelines
Design &
Implement
Attributes
• Normalize
• Implement
schema
• Style guidelines
• Attribute Fill
Governance
Deployment
• Prevent drift
• Accommodate
portfolio growth
• Clarify roles,
policies, structure
We manage change…
Align the organization,
Guide the transition,
Deliver quick wins
You realize success.
Measurable, Sustainable,
Repeatable & Scalable
Governance & Operations

ASSET
LOCATION
VENDOR
CUSTOMER
PRODUCT
Workflow
Data
Globalization
Data
Governance
Performance
& Scalability
Flexible
Data Model
Entity
Explorer
Data
Integration
Reporting
& Analysis
Relationship
Management
Enabling a 360 Degree View of the Customer
Driving CX Context from All Data Domains

How to get off to the right start…
• Understand the scope of what you are
about to undertake
• Set proper ROI expectations up front
• Understand the data required and the
design of catalog and context
• Implementation and optimization of a
flexible platform that includes migration

CX through Differentiated Digital Experience
Success Criteria

Success Criteria – IA Design & Platform
 Executive Sponsorship
 Metrics For Success
 Project Governance
 Data Governance & Workflow
 Product Operations Readiness
 Planning For Seasonal Freshness

Realizing Rapid Time-to-Value
Short-Term Financial
Impact
• Increased shopping cart value
• Increased conversion rates
• Reduction in product returns
• ‘Starting search point’ with
increased customer loyalty
• Lowered product onboarding
costs
Short Term Organization
Impact
• Product category and
collections design flexibility
• Optimized ways to shop and
meet customer preferences
• Seamless and agile product
content operations
• Product information quality
• Streamlined product
onboarding
$

Earley Information Science helps
organizations establish a strong
information architecture and
content management foundation
Realize your digital transformation
vision with EIS.
(EIS)
Information Architects for the Digital Age
Founded – 1994
Headquarters – Boston, MA
www.earley.com
Thank You & Questions

Product Information is Key to Winning the Customer Experience Race

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Product Information is Key to Winning the Customer Experience Race

Similar to Product Information is Key to Winning the Customer Experience Race (20)

More from Earley Information Science

More from Earley Information Science (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Product Information is Key to Winning the Customer Experience Race