re buying a Customer Journey Orchestration Solution, ask the following questions to vendors.
When has determined that Customer Journey Orchestration is right for your company, you should research individual vendors to learn more about their capabilities. When it comes time to choose a vendor, this research will help you make the right decision.
Customer journey orchestration: a research study
Follow these steps to evaluate your company’s CJO capabilities, and research possible solutions.
List your current CJO capabilities. List the capabilities that you have now, those you’d like to have in the future and those you simply cannot live without. This category is crucial and can help you to avoid costly mistakes. Ask vendors how they can help you harness data from your call center. Also, ask them if they are able to analyze the sentiment of the conversations that take place in the channel.
Make a list of your capabilities, then do some research. Talk to other marketers at industry events about which tools they are using and why. Some vendors featured in The MarTech Intelligence Report of CJO offer whitepapers or interactive tools to help.
Narrow down your list by selecting vendors who meet your criteria. Send your list of critical capabilities and give them a deadline to respond.
Determine whether you want to participate in an RFI/RFP formal process. It is a personal preference. To facilitate apples-to-apples comparing, if you are running a formal RFP/RFI process, make sure that each vendor receives the same list.
Most effective RFPs will only ask for relevant information, and you should provide as much information about your brand’s needs and requirements. It should include high-level KPIs and strategic goals. Mention, for example, your company’s top KPIs as well as how you plan to evaluate the success your CJO efforts. Include information about your timelines and existing martech tools.
If written correctly, an RFP can facilitate the sales process by ensuring that both parties have a common understanding of the scope, purpose and structure of the intended acquisition. You should be able narrow down your list of solutions to three or four based on the RFP responses.
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Questionnaire for vendors
After receiving RFP responses, set up demos for your selected vendors in a short period of time. Ensure that all internal users who may be interested are present on the demo call. Also, pay attention to:
- How easy is it to use the tool?
- Does the vendor appear to understand our marketing and business needs?
- Do they show us the features we “must have”?
Additional questions you can ask each vendor based on their services include:
Data collection
- Is the solution compatible with the current systems that you use to store your customer data?
- What kind of machine learning or artificial intelligence is used by the tool?
- Can we choose from different models to suit our needs?
- Can we segment customers and view them by multiple criterias?
- Can the tool match anonymous interactions to the right profile?
- Can we reconcile the data across all channels that we use to interact with our customers using the tool?
- Does the solution comply with GDPR or CCPA?
Reporting
- Does the solution offer real-time analytics?
- How can I customize the reports?
- Does the tool utilize artificial intelligence or machine learning? How?
- Does sentiment analysis of relevant customer interaction exist?
- What insights and recommendations are generated by the tool?
Real-time Interaction Management
- What native integrations or interactions does the tool have with our systems (i.e. display ad management, content management systems)? Display ad management and content management systems?
- How are data exchanged? Can real-time, or near-real-time, personalized or segmented campaign be implemented?
Training and Customer Support
- What kind of training and how much training do we need for the software?
- What is the level of support you provide, and what hours are they available? (i.e. 24/7 or 8/5)
- How long does it take to respond to support tickets/queries?
- Are you able to provide us with professional services and support during our transition?
- What new features do you have in mind?
- What is the product roadmap for the future? When will it be launched?
Download the full MarTech Intelligence Report Enterprise Customer Journey Orchestration: A Marketer’s Guide
A snapshot of customer journey orchestration
What is it? Customer Journey Orchestration allows marketers to connect real-time data from channels, touchpoints, and systems. This gives users insights into customer journeys over time. It allows marketers to use data to understand the customer journey.
What’s hot right now? Businesses are aware that they must be customer-focused at every stage of their Marketing operations. Brands need to first understand how customers find them. The medium chosen will determine the direction of the journey, whether it is through search, advertising, or word-of-mouth.
Cisco predicts that by 2023, the number of IP-connected devices will be three times greater than the world’s population. People switch between devices depending on their task and the environment. The average consumer and business buyer uses nine different channels to search for products, get advice and make purchases.
Brands can see what assets they have that are helping them on their journey by capturing their interactions after discovery, like communication with a customer service center or a visit to a retailer. Brands also need to understand what customers do after a purchase. This information can help companies increase repeat business and encourage advocacy. Customer Journey Orchestration Tools can help you do that.
What tools can do. Most vendors provide one or more capabilities that help marketers understand the customer journey. These include data collection from multiple channels and touchpoints, analysis using machine learning and artificial intelligence, and visualization of customer journeys.
Most vendors offer the capability of orchestrating the customer journey (CJO), which allows users to take action on the insights they receive and deliver the next steps in the customer journey, in real time.
Why we care. Customers expect consistent experiences across all touchpoints. Personalization is a growing trend. Brands can gain insight from their audiences using tools like , a customer journey analytics software.
Dig deeper: What is Customer Journey Orchestration and how can these tools help marketers?
The post What to ask before purchasing a Customer Journey Orchestration Solution first appeared on MarTech.