The reality that many marketers are facing today are the limitations that popular marketing automations platforms have due to a variety of reasons. First, automation tools are only as good as the channels they manage. There are many interactions points a customer can have that an automation tool has no purview of, thus not allowing the tool to react in a way that creates a customized experience. Second, automation tools do not always have the ability to react on real-time data. For most marketing strategies, there comes a time when the speed and volume of data inputs outpaces the marketing automation setup, ultimately rendering the data unactionable. And third, many organizations run on lean marketing departments that do not have the technical resources available to unify data points across all channels and platforms within the organization.
As you continue reading, you’ll understand how to use Tealium to help solve the automation challenges mentioned above without sacrificing your current tech stack and resource investments.
Challenge #1: Channel Visibility / Data Collection
“My automation tool does not have visibility into my app, retail store, call center, and other online channels.”
Tealium Solution
Tealium iQ, a proprietary tag management system equipped with over a thousand turnkey integrations (and counting), allows you to integrate customer data technology into one cohesive tag management tool. This includes client data without any limitations as to the amount of technology you own or where the technology lives. The goal is to collect and standardize all incoming data from your different data sources and unify them into one singular view for each individual customer.
You can then enable Tealium EventStream to empower third-party tools, such as your marketing automation platform, with specific data details that can either be enacted on or stored within your platform—all in real time. This ultimately removes any barriers your tool has, in terms of direct integrations with offline sources that can not be tracked by the platform itself.
For example, let’s say your company has a mobile application for users to engage with. Your company goal is to drive as many users to this application as possible. So, you put together an email campaign that notifies all contacts within your database to log in and use your application. But, there is one problem. Your marketing automation platform does not have visibility into who is already using the application. The last experience you want to provide is sending an email to a list of contacts telling them to use your application when they may already frequent the application daily. With the power of Tealium, you can now notify your automation platform in real time to discover not only who your active users are, but also the last time they logged in and what they interacted with. This now allows you to improve your communication campaign strategy by developing unique content to exclude users who are already active within your application and encourage them to use other features they might have not known were available.
Challenge #2: Actionable Real Time Data with Business Rules
“The data I need is updated on a nightly basis, often creating delays in my campaign logic.”
Tealium Solution
With the power of Tealium AudienceStream, you can create audience badges to segment your database in unique ways across all connected platforms. Instead of creating segments within each database platform that may or may not integrate with each other, you can create unified segments that dynamically update in real time as actions occur.
For instance, let’s say your organization is a retail store that provides customers the ability to purchase online as well as purchasing at a brick and mortar store. This would require you to have technologies such as a website, an ecommerce platform to power the cart of your website, email marketing tool, ad display server, and an in-store POS system. Each of these technology platforms have their own database of information and not all have the capability of integrating with one another. Some of these systems such as your in-store POS system sends data to the data warehouse through a nightly batch process.
By utilizing the capabilities of Tealium, you can now integrate all your technology into one place and unify your data across the board. You can also create audience badges that segment customers into those who are first time shoppers, new customers, return customers, and customers who have abandoned their online cart. Tealium then enriches your different technologies with the data it needs to know who is in what audience in real time, without the requirement of a nightly database update.
This is a game changer because if someone is online shopping on your website, for example, and puts a few items in their cart before realizing they would like to go to your retail store to try on the items, they will be able to have a seamless experience. The minute they leave your website they are entered into the abandon cart process where your email system starts targeting them and your retargeting tool starts to place ads on different parts of the web, including social media, to remind them to complete their online order. However, before all that goes into effect, the same customer pops into the retail store to try on the clothes they had originally placed in their cart. The customer loves the way they feel and completes their purchase in-store. Immediately, this data is sent from the POS system to Tealium which then updates badges and segments on all platforms. This stops the delivery of abandoned cart emails and retargeting ads, and enters them into a new customer nurture stream to encourage them to come again in the near future. With the capabilities of real time data updates, you can truly provide a unique experience for every level of activity across all platforms.
Challenge #3: Lack of Available Resources for Customer Data Integration
“My developers are too busy to help me integrate new technology into the automation platform.”
Tealium Solution
Many organizations run extremely lean on resources across all departments, but one that is understandably pulled into many meetings and projects are developers. Being that we are in the digital age, nearly every facet of a business requires technology. And, said technology always needs to be configured to meet the needs of every department. This not only includes sales and marketing but also customer service, finance, and HR.
Tealium has created a platform that allows users to have access to codeless integrations across thousands of technologies. This makes it extremely viable for the average tech savvy marketer to complete a short training course and start integrating their tech stack to their Tealium platform. This also goes for ongoing maintenance of the platform and updates to any system. Your marketer can go in and make updates themselves without having to rely on pulling a developer every time an update is required. This allows you to make changes at a much faster pace, which yields quicker campaign execution and results.
Summary
As web browsers move away from third-party cookies, the demand for personalized experiences still continues to increase. There needs to be a solution in your tech stack and strategy that allows you to unify data across all platforms and provides a holistic view of customers. When you can do this in real time and with a high degree of accuracy, you can dramatically change the experience of your end users, resulting in higher conversion rates and return on ad spend.