The emergency of these weeks has changed consumer behavior and, at the same time, the needs and the expectations.
In the last month there has been a massive run-up to the use of ecommerce sites, not all ready for new demands. Surely this is something that all companies must re-evaluate even after the emergency is over. 
Consumers are becoming more and more citizens of the web. Someone has just approached in these days the world of online shopping – using a credit card on the wild web still raises some fears whilst someone else is moving like a real expert. What they have in common, however, is the variety of goods they are looking for: in the first instance, definitely food but also personal care products, materials for e-learning, food for pets, streaming TV subscriptions, etc.. what it takes to manage #stayayhome and the closure of many shops. So if Large Distribution is the star, there is no lack of excellent newcomers.
If, on the one hand, we are witnessing great changes in the way we buy and in what we buy online, on the other hand, brands have also to reinvent themselves, respecting new rules and adapting their logistics and marketing activities and businesses to the new situation.
The difficulty for people to leave their homes and the closure of almost all physical stores has deprived many brands not only of one of the main commercial channels, but also of one of the preferential and more direct communication channels for interaction and relationship with customers. We are therefore witnessing intensification and a changing in use of engagement marketing platforms that often become the only available lever to keep alive the to dialogue with consumers. And we also have to rethink and adapt the content of the communication to the lockdown situation that millions of consumers are experiencing.
Brands need to pay more attention to some factors that have been important up to now but that have now become vital to better respond to the above and seize every opportunity. Just to mention a few:
- Time management: precise and in-time communications and operations.
- The relationship with the customer: customer shall fell unique and recognized.
- The satisfaction of expectations: personalization, attention to detail and respect for promises.
- …
… All this often managing activities and taking decisions away from the office, from colleagues, from the consolidated routine and the comfort zones, in smartworking.
And if often not all brands are ready for smartworking, a cloud marketing platform that is a (smart)platform becomes an essential ally.
The Contactlab Marketing Cloud is a (smart)platform
In situations like these, having tools that are always available and within everyone’s reach can make the difference. Accessible from any device or browser, with any type of connection and at any time of the day. Brands can appreciate and understand now more than ever how much even the survival of the business itself could depend on it. 
How can a platform like Contactlab’s Marketing Cloud become a valuable ally for the business success? Simple, smart and perfectly aligned to the above mentioned features.
Let’s see what our Marketing Clouds offers wherever you are in the office and at home, during the day and at night, with and without specific technical knowledge, at all levels of the company, …
The SINGLE COSTUMER VIEW, the creation of integrated profiles to make the customer unique.
More and more consumers are moving online at a speed never seen before. They produce a huge amount of data that describes their actions in every detail. What they are looking for, where they navigate, what products or services they choose, when they do so, how often, what channels they prefer, etc…all information that you need to intercept, integrate, process and use to improve their knowledge and management of the relationship with your brand.
Consumers go through a particular moment in their personal life that leads them to become demanding especially towards brands. They demand a high level of attention, extreme service customization, an immediate response to their searches, minimum processing times, they want to be recognized immediately and be managed consistently on all contact channels. They are moving in a way they are not used to, frequency and expectations are growing.
The MARKETING AUTOMATION, the creation of customer journeys that aim at a customer experience never seen before.
The new needs and the ways in which they must be covered, make the brands to rethink the points and moments of contact with consumers. Faster automation – with reduced waiting times between the various steps – and at the same time richer flows – with increased opportunities for contact. Time becomes important and the completeness of information fundamental: the famous “saying the right thing at the right time”. You have to keep a constant communication with your customers open, reach them everywhere with significant updates such as the status of their requests or of your business, all in a short time. Being at home involves a different perception of time and consumers are facing this.
And even for those companies that usually use less ecommerce, a secure communication channel should not be interrupted. Customized contact plans are needed to keep customers in focus with the brands and to maintain high their interest in seeing each other again after the emergency is over. We need to create journeys that offer the right incentives, at the right time, on the right channels.
The MESSAGE PERSONALIZATION, the right choice of channel, content and timing to elevate the relationship to a 1-to-1 level.
A transparent, fast, simple, multi-channel communication, always consistent, allows you to stay in touch with your customers, responding to their requests on time when it is useful to do so. Intuitive and easy to use message creation tools that do not ask you to give up the creative aspect. Tools that allow you to organize the elements of your email, for example, so that the result is easy to read and immediately understand. A distribution of components and a choice of words that bring the heart of the message immediately to the reader’s attention.
The MAXIMUM DELIVERABILITY, a delivery engine that ensures the highest possible delivery rates so that your customers actually receive your communications.
Communications must arrive in the consumer inbox, in your audience’s inbox. Whether they are transactional messages or marketing campaigns designed to overcome together the difficulties of the moment, your communications must reach your recipients. You need to be sure to have access to email delivery platforms – but also SMS, push, lead ads, etc. following other dynamics – that offer all the functionalities to manage and monitor these aspects.
It doesn’t end there
A (smart)platform available in the cloud also has other significant impacts on the daily management of activities, again not to be underestimated these days:
- Money savings: investments in technology and maintenance are significantly reduced.
- Greater flexibility: you can use only what you actually need and free up resources for innovative core projects. Think only about the emails you send: buy the package that comes closest to your needs.
- Security and compliance with GDPR regulations: no matter what happens to your laptop, your data is safe and secure without investing heavily in security systems or qualified personnel to manage them.
- Greater speed: you can access the platform in minutes and with a simple web login.
- Mobile access: all you need is an internet connection to consult, build and manage sophisticated yet simple and effective communication activities.
- Sharing: with a role-based access policy, everyone in the company can access up-to-date information at a single point and help keep it fresh and enriched at all times.
- Automatic updates: you can benefit from new features and the latest updates as soon as they become available, often at no cost.
- Experts at your disposal: teams of experts to help you define and improve your contact plans and maintain engagement with your customers in these complex times.
- Maximum availability: offering you the best experience is our goal and our work. We will do everything to ensure that the platform is always available and to guarantee you maximum continuity of service.
Concluding
What we have covered today are just some of the features and functionalities that distinguish Contactlab’s Marketing Cloud on a daily basis. These are some examples that we have chosen for you, to share how the platform and our experts can support you and your brand in establishing and maintaining long-term relationships with your customers. Even today in a time of emergency where it becomes essential not to ignore these aspects.
Let’s go back to the title: smartworking, (smart)platform, our platform is able to deal with this unexpected situations supporting you and your business while together we work to come out of it thanks to the right attention on the one hand, and the best tools on the other. Let’s put everything at our disposal so that activities do not stop in spite of everything. Together we will start again.
Contactlab offers you a (smart)platform and a team of professionals who never leave you alone. They are the human touch that we like to combine with the engagement intelligence of the Contactlab Marketing Cloud payoff. A winning combination for your business, yesterday, today and always.
For any request or support needed, we are running as usual, safely in smartworking with our (smart)platform.
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The authentication of the sender’s domain is increasingly important in the world of e-mail. Threats such as domain spoofing, phishing and spear phishing have encouraged the development of stronger authentication strategies for brands. Protocols such as SPF – Sender Policy Framework and DKIM – DomainKeys Identified Mail, have started showing some pitfalls. It becomes fundamental to think about adding new check methods, first of all DMARC.
Content: a tailored message on customer desires, preferences, socio-demographic data, hits the mark more than a generalist and impersonal communication. The content is not only word – or substance – but also form. An email with all the elements and spaces distributed and used correctly, or with attractive images and videos, invites the customer to click, to get to the heart of the relationship and start his adventure for example on the ecommerce portal.
Timing: an email received at the right time has higher openings and click rates. Time can be the instant of the day or in the customer’s life cycle. The first is simple, let’s see the second. If I have purchased infant formula for months, my son will probably no longer use it after one year. How do I react if the brand continues to send me communications regarding a product I no longer need? Knowing the customer means understanding that it’s time to promote other products that follow him, and that follow his changed needs.
Channel: nowadays the importance of multiplatform and multichannel communication is a fact. To be successful, a brand must plan to interact on all the contact channels, choosing the preferred ones for each single customer. And as some of them may be active on several different fronts simultaneously, it is necessary to harmonize the activities on the various channels to ensure consistency in the messages and in order to propose an integrated offer and successful marketing plans.
Recognizability, identity and consistency are all words that have guided the redesign of the platform. The visual appearance is part of good communication and is an extremely important variable. After all, the design is the first thing the user interacts with, when accessing the platform. Seeing any screen, they must immediately recognize it, associate it with the brand and understand it. As a result, we have worked hard to strengthen the concept of a unique identity, which is clear and common to every element used.
Often, data tells you stories that you can’t see at first sight. We need to explore and correlate it to discover new meanings and information… to know your customers better, monitor campaigns more closely and improve the results, and make increasingly accurate strategic decisions. For example, you can 
The key to success with customer engagement, is the unforgettable experience that can be achieved, thanks to increasingly contextual and personal marketing activities. Relying on in-depth knowledge of each contact, Contactlab Marketing Automation allows you to orchestrate individual journey steps 
Imagine a contact is added to a Real-time source when they purchase something worth more than €100, and so trigger a Completed order insertion event with the associated condition. As a result, the automation sends an email, or perhaps an SMS, to encourage them to make a further purchase. When they do, the customer completes the automation’s aim and so triggers the Removing event, which is also Completed order.
