5 Things You Should Start Doing to Get More Value From Product Information
The way customers purchase has drastically changed over the last decade. eCommerce retail portals, point of sale, mobile platforms, digital signage, social media, marketplaces and more, it’s time for new ways; a time of change. And, digital is at the core of everything customers do from researching, decision-making, buying, and getting after-sale support.
What does it all imply to you? It means your customers are now connected everywhere. They need to be engaged right from the first moment. And your product, content, and related information are a moment of truth for them, and based on that—they make decisions. It’s like a fuel that keeps the engagement engine ignited throughout their path to purchase.
Today’s reality is that you consistently have to generate volumes of product content for multiple channels. Managing the rising heap of content within the company and displaying quickly, responsively, consistently and at scale across channels is a big challenge. If not managed properly, it can create more problems for you than solving them. So, what actions you need to take, to avoid a situation where managing product content and related information does not take a toll on your business.
Here is what you should start doing immediately:
1. Eliminate Spreadsheets
Your product contains lots of information that opens the path to purchase such as pricing, product specifications, retailer and manufacturer descriptions, warranties, packaging, shipping/handling instructions and other related information. Handling all this information using spreadsheets and manual processes is a herculean task. When you try to speed up your time-to-market using manual processes, it's like racing in a truck against a sports car. Do away with spreadsheets and get a flexible PIM platform that can help you efficiently manage a wide range of content and related product information in a streamlined way.
2. Centralize Content
Product content always has a purpose. The purpose is to make buyers’ life easier. But your purpose won’t be achieved if your content lives in silos. It simply kills the value of the information you want to deliver. Bring everything on the same table to generate more innovative ideas to engage customers. Create a central hub with a product content management system so that you can utilize it to its maximum potential.
3. Automate Distribution
So many things are associated with content like product visualizations, similar products, product kits, comparisons, videos, price comparisons and availability of a product. Every information about the product has its significance in simplifying the buying process. Since it’s an omnichannel world, content must be seamlessly distributed across all channels. This is where an automated content process can help in speeding up time-to-market and improving the experience across all customer touch points.
4. Govern Content
This is one of the most important factors to ensure what is going to be presented to customers. A robust content governance process can largely solve content accuracy and quality issues, thereby positively impacting you to maintain proper governance process, reduce risks, and provide accurate, timely compliance product content. It provides uniformity and a better control over brand communication. This all will add up increasing the overall ROI of your product.
5. Empower Teams
A connected and collaborative team tells better stories about your products. When they have all information at their fingertips like product FAQs, product tutorials, care instructions, and product manuals, they can help customers make better decisions and improve their overall experience. This will simply take your customer engagement to the next level. Create a single source of truth with a consolidated platform so that your teams can get clean and accurate information and build happier relationships with customers.
So, does your brand have the right product information management platform to meet the next-wave of customer experience? Take control of how customers see your product information with PIM solutions!
The original post published here.