You might be a very good businessman, establish really good relationships with your customers, or have a big name in the industry. Nevertheless, if you lack in the field of Technology, you will be left far behind in an era like 2022 in your business sector.
Technological Advancement has impacted almost every industry, and the Covid-19 Pandemic has only added fuel to the fire.
According to a Capgemini report titled ''The Consumer and COVID-19: Global Consumer Sentiment Research in the Consumer Products and Retail Industry'' published in April 2020, the Indian consumers' penchant for online shopping is projected to increase from 46% to 64% in the next 6-9 months. One thing is for sure; Technology is the main driving force behind this progress.
Your D2C Business & Tech
With all that being said, let's jump right into our topic and see what those five technologies can streamline your D2C Brand.
1. Customer Relationship Management
Put in simple words, a Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, system, is just like your "good old" ways of maintaining relationships with your customers and providing them good service and customer care.
Choosing the right CRM software is crucial as it provides up-to-date customer information as well as their order history. Access to information such as customer feedback, order, and management systems enables improving existing products, introducing better versions, and developing new products.
2. An e-commerce Website
An e-commerce website is crucial for your business strategy. Your website can play a good role as a platform to showcase the kind of goods and services you provide and to develop a customer base for your Brand. You can also use this to show your customers why it will be beneficial for them to purchase directly from you. You can easily build your website on top of a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or Shopify.
3. Marketing Automation
Marketing Automation is yet another system that aids you in building relationships with your customers and reduces the amount of time spent on manual tasks. There are plenty of marketing tools available, an ''email'' being the most effective aspect.
Hubspot reports that email generates $38 for every $1 spent, giving a 3800% ROI.
Marketing automation serves several purposes. They are flexible enough to handle purchase messaging and lead generation pipeline management.
For example - An interested consumer can automatically receive a series of messages geared to the specific product they are interested in, while a customer can receive emails about their orders and shipping.
4. AI/Chatbots
Chatbots are the virtual assistants that pop up asking if you need any help every time you visit a website. These virtual assistants are available 24x7 for customer assistance, and they immediately answer the customer's queries without any delay. This lifts an unnecessary burden from your customer service team and provides your customer with quality solutions and higher satisfaction with your Brand.
5. Data Reporting & Visualisation
A huge advantage of selling products directly to customers is the accessibility that you get to your customers' data, analytics, and metrics. Data visualisation is the system that enables you to report on this data, which in turn helps your Brand grow effectively and efficiently, increasing customer needs and demands. Complicated spreadsheets full of information are time-consuming and make it easy to miss key insights.
On the other hand, data visualisation gives your business a tool to quickly see and understand information and trends to identify fundamental data.
The Final Word
Who doesn't want their business to grow and prosper? Of course, everyone does, and surely you do too. Then including all these tech hacks into your e-commerce brand is an absolute necessity. So what are you waiting for? Why don't you go ahead and try them?