10.06.2024 | BJÖRN BAYARD
The reality of business has changed drastically in recent years. Thanks to ever shorter innovation cycles, we are now more networked than ever – with each other, products, services, and a wide variety of processes, tasks, and channels. As a result, information is available everywhere and at all times. Today, any question can be answered within a few seconds. However, this also raises expectations, and companies that offer products and/or services are particularly affected by this.
Not only do they have to ensure that potential customers get answers to all their questions, but they also have to be seen in the colourful world of digital commerce in the first place.
Product experience management describes the data processes required for this, from the creation of product content to its maintenance, preparation, and contextualisation through to its distribution to the respective channels. This can be an Instagram channel, an online marketplace, or a shop page – the same information is offered in different ways and individually for different target groups in order to create the greatest possible relevance at each of these touchpoints.
This task is as complex as it sounds, as it involves different types of data, various software disciplines, diverse requirements from the data recipients or communication channels, and the perfect orchestration of these channels and the finished product content. In this blog post, we therefore look at the different areas that are responsible for product experience management and explain how they need to interlink in order to offer consumers the best possible product experience.
PIM – because every message is essentially information
In product information management (PIM), the necessary data is managed and maintained for each product. Depending on the industry and product range, this task can quickly become highly complex. Particularly in the context of industry and trade, mechanical engineering, and the healthcare industry, there is a great deal of data, product classes, specifications, and categories for each product. The data records often have to comply with certain industry standards such as ECLASS or ETIM, and there are also requirements from communication channels and trading partners that are important for product sales and product communication.
In addition to the structured product data, marketing texts are also stored in the PIM. This includes product descriptions of any length, target group, and tonality, as well as headlines or slogans.
The PIM must therefore provide the best possible support for the customised data structure that maps both the company’s product world and the requirements along its supply chains. Given the dynamic nature of digital product communication today, it is also important that this data structure is flexible and expandable. This illustrates the importance of the data model in the PIM sector. In fact, defining and structuring the data model is a critical task when implementing a PIM system. Innovative PIM systems such as BYRD therefore have ready-made data models that include certain industry-specific structures and consequently provide the best possible support for PIM implementation in industries as complex as the healthcare sector.
Convincing product experiences thanks to DAM
The importance of product images and videos has naturally grown considerably, especially in digital commerce. Unlike in physical retail, consumers can’t touch the products in online shops or view them from all angles. Accordingly, there is always a certain amount of room for interpretation, which influences consumer expectations. The aim of product presentation must be to keep this room for interpretation as small as possible and thus minimise the risk of disappointment, dissatisfaction, and returns. This is best achieved by presenting the product as comprehensively as possible on the respective channels – i.e., with many images from different perspectives, along with videos, documents, or even graphics.
This in turn means that the amount of data that a company has to manage and maintain is growing rapidly. In addition, each communication channel has its own requirements for digital content. Image formats, cuts, and sizes need to be adapted and often rearranged so that the product is optimally displayed on each channel.
In digital asset management, all this content and its derivatives are stored centrally and in a media-neutral manner and made available for transfer to the respective channels. Together with the PIM, the DAM ensures comprehensive product content management and thus forms the basis for all product communication.
Targeted playout through channel management and syndication
It is therefore important to take channel-specific rules and requirements into account from the outset in order to maintain the highest possible data quality. So that the optimised product content ends up where it is needed, channel management and syndication ensure that the relevant channels are controlled centrally and played out as efficiently and reliably as possible through integrations, connections, and automated processes.
Syndication is playing an increasingly important role here, as companies’ channel landscapes are constantly growing. It is no longer just a company’s own channels, such as its online shop or Instagram channel, that are supplied with the corresponding product content. In the FMCG market in particular, retail offers numerous opportunities to optimise the product experience with the help of retail media and enhanced content, thereby increasing conversion in the retail channels.
As the efficiency of data exchange processes is a major issue in the complex industry and retail network, there are numerous solutions that support retailers in procuring their retailers’ data in the desired quality and that in turn offer manufacturers the opportunity to maintain control over their product communication and brand integrity.
These include, for example, the global data pools of the GDSN (Global Data Synchronisation Network) or supplier portals that synchronise the manufacturer’s product content directly with the retailer’s ERP.
How PXM shapes the customer journey
Consumers today move back and forth between the digital and physical worlds as a matter of course, researching products online, switching channels, and buying where it is particularly trustworthy and convenient. This is particularly true for consumer goods, but it is now also influencing purchasing behaviour in all other markets.
This makes it necessary for companies to adapt their communication and sales strategy accordingly, including the following points in particular:
- Centralised provision of product content. In order to ensure that product content is up to date on every channel and simultaneously keep communication processes as efficient as possible, product content must be provided centrally and in a media-neutral manner and ideally played out to the respective channels via automated data processes.
- All channels at a glance. The channel landscape is constantly changing – new retail partners are being added and digital communication channels are being replaced, expanded, or discontinued. This dynamic will continue to increase in the coming years, making it all the more important to manage and control these channels centrally and to record the respective product content requirements.
- Consistent communication. There is a lot of talk about the importance of a personalised and context-dependent customer approach in the sales channels. At the same time, however, manufacturers also need to ensure consistency in communication. This is the only way to build a strong and trustworthy brand in the long term and to ensure that prospective buyers are more willing to continue their customer journey across multiple channels.
In order for all of this to succeed and to prevent convincing product experiences from failing due to poor data quality or inefficient processes, product experience management must be set up accordingly. This includes not only the most important software disciplines but also the integration of data processes, workflows, and information flows. End-to-end product content life cycle management solutions such as BYRD combine all PXM areas in the same platform, thus ensuring perfect product content in every channel, optimal data quality, and satisfied customers and retail partners.
Would you like to find out more about our end-to-end product content lifecycle management solutions? Get in touch with us!
Best regards
Björn Bayard
