Over the last few years, companies have invested in a stable, high-performance e-commerce infrastructure to expand their existing channel portfolio. The focus was on logistics, range and technology. Today the standard is fulfilled in many places: products are presented online, processes are organized. However, in many cases sales expectations for the online shop have not been met yet and the growth targets had to be modified in many places because of the competitive pressure [1]. Making brands: multichannel is a must, but it is difficult to keep customers online and motivate them to make new purchases. Loyalty to an online shop is only available in individual cases: buyers are often one-time customers.

Fragmented decision cycles slow down e-commerce
Therefore, the next strategic development step for e-commerce is to bring online shops to life. Instead of a logistics-driven perspective on the company and the product, the focus must be on personal and emotional customer experience. This is especially true for providers of high-involvement products: here the purchasing decision cycles are long and fragmented. Thus, to analyze the behavior of a consumer through the entire decision-making process is usually impossible. Situational influencing factors can suddenly take the decision in a completely different direction. Apart from the immediate product properties, the consumer increasingly seeks for emotions and information on the usage context of the product. “Does the product really fit my lifestyle?” He asks. On his decision-making trip, he is interested in authentic content that is not primarily generated by the vendor, but by other brand enthusiasts. Such information is viewed as more reliable and can trigger the decision-making process.

Proprietary brand communities trigger the decision-making processes
A proprietary brand community initiated by a company around its brand is a value-adding tool that can assist customers on their journey with the brand, touch them emotionally and personally, and bring e-commerce to life: [2] Brand communities have a clear sense of togetherness. The brand as a common reference point creates a sense of attachment to other members of the community. Shared experiences or the sharing of experiences in the community leads to a common story and strengthens the identification with the brand. Each individual member feels an emotional commitment, not only to the brand but also to other members of the community.

In principle, a proprietary brand community can support all phases of the purchase decision:

• In the inspirational phase, desires are aroused and manifest. The customer, who does not need any specific products yet, is confronted with the world of the brand.
  Contribution of communities: Experience-oriented stories of other customers as a source of inspiration.
• The customer evaluates various options and chooses a product.
  Contribution of communities: Product evaluations, recommendations helping to gain more confidence in the decision-making process and serving as “social proof“ for the product and the brand.
• Once the customer is a happy owner of the product, he starts looking for confirmation that he has made the right choice. On the other hand, he is interested in specific services that support him in the use of the product and in communication with other like-minded people.
  Contribution of communities: Specific services for community members, Q&A as service channel to increase satisfaction.

Starting points for added value on customer journey.

The prerequisite for a proprietary community to exist is an exciting place where customers can share opinions. The chances of success increase greatly when companies are able to link community functionalities to their own website. Only in this way does the brand fully benefit from authentic contents generated by the community.

Interaction encourages identification
Proprietary communities create commitment and therefore function as an e-commerce booster, not only in the short term but also sustainably. The customer feels noticed and taken seriously in his needs. Concrete benefits can be divided into four areas:

• Communities make customer experience more emotional: A PAC study entitled [3] “Holistic Customer Experience in the Digital Age” shows that customer experience is a strategic topic for top management of 70% of companies surveyed in Germany, France and the UK. Customer experience comes alive thanks to the integration of opinions from the community. Product information is enriched by authentic content from other brand enthusiasts, which makes the buying experience more emotional and thanks to social proof brings more confidence into the decision-making.
• Communities strengthen Customer Lifetime Value: Building an integrated brand community has a direct impact on customer value. In the short term it happens by increasing the conversion rate, cross-selling and reducing the amount of bad buys. In the long run, it happens by increasing the purchase frequency. By seeing the product in the context in which it is used, consumers can assess how it suits them better and more quickly.
• Communities create loyalty: Integrated brand communities can shape long-term relationships by establishing emotional barriers preventing customers from switching to another brand. Identification, commitment and connection to the brand create loyalty.
• Communities show innovative approaches: In addition, companies can use the brand community’s observations for their product development and target group definition.

Proprietary communities create commitment.

„How to get started“
The development of a functioning community in which the members interact with each other takes a lot of work, so it is useful to think it through before starting to act:

At the strategy level, it is important to find out how much the potential for identification and mobilization of your brand or product there is.

At the target level, it is necessary to define the value added created by participation for individual members, but also for the whole community.

At the system level, it is important to examine the extent to which community technologies fit into the existing infrastructure in order to minimize media disruptions and redundancies.

Sources:

[1] Netzreport 2016

[2] 3 Characteristics of communities according to Muniz and O’Guinn

[3] https://blogs.adobe.com/digitaleurope/files/2015/09/StudyHolisticCXAdobe.pdf

Customer expectations are higher than ever before: In the course of purchase decisions, the experience factor is becoming more important than the price or specific product characteristics (Customer 2020, Walker). Therefore, we are convinced that in 2017, in order to increase commitment to their brand, companies will have to take a closer look at how they inspire their customers in the digital world.

In this context, there are specific trends that will shape the digital year 2017 and change the way companies deal with their customers. We have identified four topics that companies need to address in 2017 and derived from them concrete strategic steps that need to be taken:

• Personalization: With IQ to the EQ
• Always on: Consistent customer experience across the channels
• IoT & Robotics: Artificial Intelligence enriches customer service
• Augmented and Virtual Reality: Worlds of experience to immerse yourself in

Personalization: With IQ to the EQ
In the age of information overload, customers seek relevance and experience. The goal in 2017 will be to bring the existing, often static websites to life. A company and product vision must be replaced by a personal and emotional experience, which covers the specific needs of the customer. Customers behave differently and are driven by different factors and decision-making mechanisms. Companies must address these differences in order to establish a long-term relationship with the customer. With skillful algorithms, behavioral patterns can be detected and marketing activities can be automated (marketing automation) in order to achieve conversions of various kinds. Through targeted collection of the so-called “micro data” about customer behavior throughout his entire life cycle, visiting strangers turn into “familiar faces” that can be addressed personally (nurturing). Instruments to be used on this path are a content strategy that defines the relevant content individually and in relation to the situation, as well as flexible, cross-channel tools that allow dynamic personalization.

Business case: Through the personalization and emotionalization of the customer experience, both the direct conversion rate and the long-term customer loyalty increase. Barriers that prevent people from aborting transactions and switching brands become stronger because the customer feels understood and taken seriously. Through automation, companies achieve efficiency and a shorter time-to-market of their marketing activities.

Maturity of the topic: The topic of personalization is mature. Companies that do not deal intensively with this in 2017 will face competitive disadvantages.

Strategic steps in 2017:

• Define the target image and motivational drivers with regard to personalization
• Develop specific fields of application for the rule-based dynamization of content, involving iterative implementation, review and optimization
• Create a concept of and initiate cross-channel nurturing over the entire customer lifecycle by means of marketing automation

Challenges: Personalization is a complex and thus a resource-intensive task. In addition to the considerable effort required to create content, companies must invest in smart and, as far as possible, flexible tools that can be integrated into the system landscape, in order to use the content in a user-friendly manner, in real time and across the channels.

Always on: Consistent customer experience across the channels
In their decision-making, customers choose the right point of contact for their individual and situational needs. There are different usage patterns of sales channels and information sources on the journey from inspiration, evaluation, purchase to after-sales. It is referred to as the so-called channel hopping. The customer alternates between different channels and sometimes uses channels even in parallel: some customers are looking at offers in the store, at the same time inform themselves directly via a mobile device about possible alternatives before ordering the product at home in the online shop. Other customers can be inspired and informed on the Internet, but then prefer a stationary point of sales (POS) for the actual purchase. Consumers can no longer be categorized as pure online or offline shoppers. The choice of information and purchasing channel depends on the situation and the product. The multi-option consumer uses the contact point in each case where he can best meet his needs in the respective purchase situation and phase. Companies need to respond to this need with an omni-channel infrastructure that will meet customers where they are. Cross-Device Analytics is gaining importance in this context.

Business case: A context-oriented approach always includes the device that the customer currently uses as well. Thanks to omni-channel, an integrated and consistent customer experience, characterized by added value, service quality and convenience, can be achieved. This increases conversion rates and companies can unlock new target groups and new revenue potentials.

Maturity of the topic: A better part of the companies have recognized the potential of omni-channel and support the interaction with their customers through different channels. However, not all the core processes of the companies have been made available across all contact points, in many places the continuity of end-to-end processes is not guaranteed.

Strategic steps in 2017:

• Analyze the customer journey
• Reflect on own channel infrastructure
• Validate customer needs in different phases of the customer journey, derive specific added values

Challenges: The main thing is not to map everything on all channels and not to position the distribution channels side by side or against each other. Instead, channels and their specific characteristics should be optimally exploited and their interactions should be systematically orchestrated.

IoT & Robotics: Artificial intelligence enriches customer service
The Internet of Things and robotics are revolutionizing customer service. Smart objects and chat bots automate communication between companies, products and customers. They enable customers to recognize and express their needs. They allow for prompt, contextual, cross-channel communication with a company and facilitate completely new forms of self-service.

Business Case: Thanks to IoT and robotics, a company is directly and quickly accessible to the customer according to the motto “easy to do business with” and thus it can set itself apart. By automating simple repetitive queries, the company can also focus on more complex tasks in the service area.

Maturity of the topic: The subject of the Internet of Things and robotics is still at the experimental stage.

Strategic steps in 2017:

• Analyze customer service with regard to strategic opportunities that can be developed using the IoT and robotics
• Identify added values that can be created for the customer
• Experiment and learn within a clearly defined area

Challenges: The quantum leaps in the field of artificial intelligence over the last three years have not yet been translated into application-oriented enterprise solutions.

Augmented and Virtual Reality: Worlds of experience to immerse yourself in
Augmented and Virtual Reality applications have the potential to deeply change the customer experience. Augmented Reality adds digital information to the real world. It supports customer decision-making processes such as the selection of a suitable sofa for the living room. Thanks to Virtual Reality applications, a user is fully immersed in the sounds and sights of a virtual reality and experiences the situation as if it were real. By introducing devices such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard, Virtual Reality is making itself ready for the mass market.

Business Case: Virtual reality applications allow for a location-independent customer experience with new insights, they make it possible to dive into another world. This stirs emotions and thus increases conversion. Augmented Reality transfers digital products / services directly into the customer’s world. This can increase the conversion rate and reduce bad buys.

Maturity of the topic: The topics are still at an experimental stage. However, by playing with them early enough, a company can demonstrate its innovative power.

Strategic steps in 2017:

• Monitor further development of the topics
• Carry out dedicated tests in a clearly defined area to gain experience

Challenges: The critical mass of the distribution of specific Augmented and Virtual Reality utilities has not been achieved yet. There are still no applications with a proven business case in this dynamic and complex environment.

About five years ago Ethan Marcotte first talked about “responsive web design workflow”, and one year before that, Luke Wroblewski published his book entitled “mobile first.” Since then we have seen many discussions and experiments on this topic, much has been refuted and confirmed. Today “mobile first” and “responsive web design” are on everyone’s lips.

While “responsive web design” is generally understood and currently regarded as a standard for cross-device online presences, the situation is a bit different in the case of “mobile first” – this term is understood and used in ways that are diverse to say the least. “Mobile first” can be a design approach but also a strategy for content delivery through various channels. Currently “mobile first” seems to be a mantra for web design.

Reduction to the essentials
According to the “mobile first” approach, one should start with developing a website for devices with a small display and low bandwidth. Website content is in the foreground – nothing changes here – but it is optimised for use on smart phones, which inevitably involves refining such content. This strategy has an additional positive effect on the structure depth, thanks to which clear and easily understandable navigation structures are created. Finally, the desktop version benefits from this procedure too, but web designers increasingly often feel that they are faced with the challenging task of reducing the content to the essentials and at the same time working out enough differentiating features.

Experience shows that “mobile first” as design principle does not always yield the assumed outcome, namely the achievement of a goal in a more efficient way and with the desired independence. It should be examined whether you want to expand from small to large in the design process and you approach it consciously from the other side, i.e. start from the larger “view port.” In this way designers are given more room to deliver brand identity in a surprising and user-oriented manner. The advantage is reduced content and simplified structure resulting from the “mobile first” strategy.

«Mobile First» means «User First»
Nowadays if you compare digital presences which were consistently executed in accordance with the “mobile first” principle, they do not always accomplish the goal of being sufficiently innovative and different from one another.

Finally «mobile first» means also «content first», «context first» and once again «user first», that is meeting customer requirements on each device in each situation.

«Mobile First»: Development begins with the smallest display.

Our first article concerning digital analysis revealed the challenges faced by companies in today’s world of data. Companies often have enormous quantities of data at their disposal but fail to take advantage of them. This is because many entities focus on gathering and storing data, while the aim of digital analysis – which is to enable deriving data-supported recommendations and optimisations of actions – is frequently not pursued consistently. Data should support the decision-making process, and to this end there must be a possibility to analyse and interpret them comprehensively.

Data visualisation is the preparation and presentation of non-graphic data contained in databases and Excel tables. By this means information derived from such data can be presented and communicated in a visually understandable form. The area of data visualisation combines the principles of many disciplines, such as statistics, information design and psychology, which is precisely why it constitutes a complex, yet very valuable instrument.

Visualisations tell stories, engage the user and can present complex facts in an understandable manner. Visualisations can also be interactive and fun, and in the best scenario might even trigger a “wow” effect in the user. Thanks to visualisations it is easier for marketing managers, decision makers, but also non-technical users who come into contact with data in any way, looking for answers to their questions, to extract information from data, interpret it and derive recommendations for action. Visualisations influence human perception and the visual system. As a sensory organ, the eye carries information to the brain and enables people to analyse complex relations and draw conclusions on their basis. Data visualisation helps users apply their cognitive capabilities and analyse complex facts and relations. Data journalist and information designer David McCandless points in his blog (1) that the attractive appearance of visualisations is important. Beautiful and creative presentations appeal to users and motivate them to learn more from the graphics and make use of them.

But why do companies need data visualisation? In order to be competitive, it is more and more important for companies to be able to develop their marketing activities in a targeted and customer-oriented way. Data-supported decisions are essential for good performance, and an understanding of data is indispensable for this purpose. Data visualisation has the following advantages:

• Structured and organised data presentation and communication
• High information quality and good, understandable presentation of information
• Information is processed and visible, complex relations are presented in a simple manner
• Visual exploration of data and interactivity
• Cost savings through standardised visualisations and provision of information
• Time savings through simple and quick data analysis and insight acquisition
• Transparent and meaningful reporting and provision of information
• Potential for action is recognised and optimisations are derived
• Basis for data-supported decision making

There is no limit to the number of graphical forms of presentation for the purpose of data and information visualisation. The greatest difficulty consists in choosing the right form from among circle diagrams, bar charts, histograms or box plots. The suitable graphic should be selected on a case-by-case basis: the key role is played by the context and the information to be communicated. There are important principles that have been developed in the area of information design, business communication and statistics, which should serve as guidelines here (3):

• Pay attention to information density: not too little and not too much information in one graphic
• Highlight important and relevant information, omit unimportant information
• Avoid redundancy
• Direct contents to addressees
• Present the same contents in a uniform manner

In addition, the effect of graphics can be manipulated and thereby customised by applying a suitable font, scale, axial section and layout, so that the information to be communicated is presented in an appropriate manner. It follows that selecting the form of presentation is the crucial factor when it comes to making the information included in the data reach the readers. This is illustrated by the following examples.

Figure 1 shows an example of the effect of various types of charts containing the same information. Although the pie chart provides a good overview of the shares of the groups, it is difficult to compare the values if they are close to each other, and the human eye cannot interpret the area straight away. Therefore, the rule of thumb is to avoid circle diagrams and pie charts when various figures are to be compared. Column or bar charts are recommended instead.

Figure 1: Circle diagrams vs. bar charts
[Source (3): http://www.ibcs-a.org/standards/144]

Figure 2: Linear charts instead of two-dimensional forms of presentation
[Source (3): http://www.ibcs-a.org/Standards/163]

Use data visualisation in your company as an insight acquisition instrument. We are keen to support you in this task.

Sources:

(1) http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/ (David McCandless, data journalist and information designer)
(2) https://www.solit-finance.de/datenvisualisierung
(3) http://www.ibcs-a.org

As a diamond sponsor of the Frontend Conference Zurich on 1 and 2 september 2016, we had the exclusive opportunity to conduct interviews with selected speakers. They shared their experiences and opinions about the exciting interplay between design and technology. Thank you for the inspirational food for thought!

Heydon Pickering – Designer and author

About Heydon

Last year, Léonie Watson stated «So accessibility is probably in a holding pattern for the time-being. It could be worse, but it could also be better, and as designers and developers we’re working hard to make that happen». What is the current state of accessibility on the web? Did we work hard enough to make it happen?
Léonie may not know it, but she was instrumental in getting me enthused about tackling the accessibility of modern web applications. As a front-end developer, I was working on an app running on an early version of Angular. I was determined to make this curious, idiosyncratic web page thing (with views and hijacked links etc.) to work for screen reader and keyboard users.
I tried some weird stuff with focus management between views and WAI-ARIA live regions. Then I reach out to Léonie and she tested it for me. To my surprise and excitement, she was able to report that the content and functionality were accessible as I’d intended. That experience led me to write Apps For All for Smashing Magazine.

I agree that accessibility is somewhat in a holding pattern — at least in the sense that there’s such an emphasis on remediation rather than design. Our industry has a funny habit of compartmentalizing design and development. Accessibility is then treated as a kind of third wheel. What we (and by ‘we’ I mean anyone with a design/development background who’s sick of fixing applications for accessibility after the fact) are all trying to move towards is embedding accessibility and, more broadly, inclusive design thinking into the design process.

For that to work, we also need to accept that development and design are not different disciplines themselves. Design is thinking and development is doing. Inclusive design means thinking about Web users — of which there is a huge diversity in terms of abilities and preferences — and developing solutions to accommodate as many of them as we can.

Are we working hard enough? I don’t know. What we need to do is work smarter. Remediation is REALLY hard work, because it’s fixing what’s broken. It’s actually easier (and cheaper!) just to design with different needs in mind from the outset. That’s what I’m working on teaching folks who design interfaces.

Where do you see the biggest potential in improving accessibility on the web?
New Web technologies often offer both opportunities and challenges for web accessibility.

Web Components are a good example. The Custom Elements spec’ allows you to create new elements. Where these replace existing semantic elements, you lose all the standard behaviors that went with those elements: essentially, <my-button> is just <div> unless you intervene and add a WAI-ARIA button role, tabindex=”0″ and support for keyboard activation with Enter and Space. However, if you extend the accessible HTMLButtonElement prototype and add new behaviors — such as a toggle state using aria-pressed — wrapping this functionality up in <my-button> makes it much easier to include the toggle in an interface without having to worry about adding accessible state support separately. In other words, it makes it easier to author an accessible interface with rich semantics and behavior.

More important than discrete technological innovations is the mindset with which we approach accessibility. The biggest potential of all, I believe, is to be found in moving tentatively away from accessibility compliance and towards accessible UX. The former is a lawyer appeasing, box ticking exercise and can result in technically accessible interfaces which few people are able to (or want to) use. The later appreciates that everyone needs a usable interface, but acknowledges that different people use interfaces in different ways.

Some people use interfaces with a screen reader, or a bluetooth keyboard, on a train with a poor network connection, or pinching the screen liberally to zoom in and out. With a potentially vast audience offered by the Web, differences in ability, education, preference and circumstance are legion. The key change in mindset is to want to embrace flexibility and user control. There’s no one experience to be had; there are many. This often means doing little, or not undoing what devices and browsers offer as options and settings.

What is the role of server-side rendering with regards to accessibility? And will we see an increased adoption of universal/isomorphic applications?

When we talk about accessibility, primarily we’re in the realm of disability — ensuring access for people with disabilities. Some have moved to saying accessibility means access for ‘everyone’. I’m not willing to embrace this, because it’s essentially the “#AllLivesMatter” of interface design. There should be an emphasis on disability because it is something that folks simply can’t help. Supporting a disability is more important than supporting a browser.

In the case of server-side rendering, there is a robustness and performance that improves access to everyone — although, more so to people on poor networks. I hope we see more of this, although I think isomorphism is a very complex way to achieve what progressive enhancement can do in its place, in many cases.

Because server-side rendering improves access, you could call this architectural soundness an accessibility provision, but I prefer to preserve this term. When addressing approaches to design that take in reliability and performance as well as disability support, I use the broader term “inclusive design”. My new book, Inclusive Design Patterns (https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/06/inclusive-design-patterns/) therefore talks about everything from keyboard accessibility and color contrast, to non-blocking assets and responsive images. It also highlights the multitude of techniques that, by supporting discrete disabilities, can make sites more usable to a number of other users. Alternative text, for example, means there is a visible description of an image if and when it fails to load.

Nearly all manufacturers of renowned brands operate their websites in order to showcase their own brand and products. The satisfaction level of the end customer’s need to buy products online is particularly important for providers of expensive consumer goods – who at the same time want to safeguard their own interests, such as brand reinforcement and a profitable business model.

Without a consistent strategy that enables a skilful arrangement of e-commerce channels (see figure), even strong brands face market share losses as a result of missed opportunities. In order to sufficiently stand out, specific aspects, such as the brand’s bargaining power or product suitability for direct sales, must be taken into account.

Selected scenarios for e-commerce

The point of departure of numerous manufacturers is specialist trade (A) with focus on brick-and-mortar stores. As a consequence, many companies are eager to develop “trade-compatible” e-commerce strategies with commission models in order to avoid conflicts with vendors. At this point it should be taken into account that large pure players, such as Amazon, or marketplaces, such as Ebay, are meanwhile supplied directly by vendors, whereby considerable sales volumes that are achieved bypass the manufacturer. Although companies prohibit this form of intermediate trade, it cannot be fully prevented and in many places is legally unenforceable. Many manufacturers feel confronted with this “grey market”, which results in disadvantages due to the lack of influence on product presentation and prices. In addition, there is risk of gradually increasing dependence on large pure players such as Amazon. They court strong brands and tempt them with advertising subsidies for redirecting users from brand websites (B).

In order to differentiate from pure players, manufacturers who have physical brand stores can employ the omnichannel solution, where online products can be viewed and reserved for collection at a brick-and-mortar store, or the local product range can be enlarged thanks to an online store (D). In such situations it is in the manufacturers’ interest to attract customers to their own platform in order to reinforce the brand, acquire customer data and participate in growth. Cooperation with pure players can be reasonable on this basis, e.g. in the form of an online brand store on Ebay, in order to benefit not only from the additional reach but also from customer data for their own market research and direct marketing. If manufacturers do not want to or cannot invest in physical brand stores, they can apply variant (C) that corresponds to (D).

In light of the increasingly greater significance of e-commerce, manufacturers are encouraged to carefully analyse advantages and disadvantages of various scenarios and to use them for developing strategies of their own initiatives as well as of conduct with specialist trade and pure players. Otherwise, they are at risk of missing strategic opportunities and have to accept growing dependence on vendors, pure players and marketplaces that pursue e-commerce.

As a diamond sponsor of the Frontend Conference Zurich on 1 and 2 september, we had the exclusive opportunity to conduct interviews with selected speakers. They shared their experiences and opinions about the exciting interplay between design and technology. Thank you for the inspirational food for thought!

Sara Soueidan – Freelance Front-End Web Developer

About Sara

You are one of the most influential proponents of using SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics) in responsive web design. How did your fascination with this asset start?
I fell in love with SVG because I was fascinated with the idea of controlling the contents of an image with code. As a teenager, I used to draw a lot of animated manga characters and, for a few years, wanted to become a cartoon animator. With SVG, I found the ability to literally animate images that I can draw on a conceptually infinite canvas. And even though I’m not entirely focused on animation these days, I still absolutely love the fact that I can draw using code. SVG gives me the ability to use one passion of mine (coding) for another (drawing). So instead of drawing on pen and paper, I now draw on screen, using code. I just love that. And SVG images look *really* good, so that’s an added bonus.

What are the key benefits of using SVGs for icons, e.g.?
SVG images are crisp. They look gorgeous on both high and low resolution screens alike. They are images, which means they provide a more semantic approach to marking icons up, and since an SVG image is also an XML document, we get all the benefits of controlling the contents of the image using CSS and JavaScript, thus we get the ability to style and script the contents of the image to our heart’s content. The contents of an SVG image are also accessibility-friendly, which means that they can also enhance the experience for users using assistive technologies. These are possibly the main advantages to using SVG over other image formats and over icon fonts, for example.

What is the most exciting development with regards to SVGs? What can we expect for the near future?
The most exciting thing about the development of SVG is that it’s not finished yet! It’s still very much work in progress, just like much or most of the Web, really. There are some very bright people working behind the scenes, writing specifications, suggesting, adding and implementing new features that are currently missing in SVG and that would make working with SVG a whole lot easier in the future. There are still some limitations to what can be done in and with SVG, and many of the new features address these limitations. We, as developers, also play a role in helping to push these new features forward and even suggesting new ones that would solve our real world problems. SVG2 brings a lot of new features that are too many to list here, but it suffices to say that the future is looking quite exciting for SVG and for the Web in general. I’m very much looking forward to it.

There is general consensus about the development direction of online presences of insurance companies. But… does everything amount to following the trends? What is required to stand out among competitors and be authentic? Think about your strengths – also online.

Expectations concerning the digital offers of companies seem to grow exponentially. New online ideas from other sectors rapidly become generally applicable and must be adopted, competitors try their hand at new approaches and applications, the technology sector continuously expands the technical base, thereby providing new perspectives, and digital natives loudly demand that everything be available everywhere and at all times. The innovation cycle is becoming increasingly shorter and a very important question arises in this regard: is a long-term online strategy still feasible at all in this environment?

The answer is obvious: becoming exposed to the continuous pressure to act and reacting accordingly not only makes no sense but also causes dissatisfaction, internally and externally. A company following all online trends would lose its authenticity. When you are aware of that, you can definitely prepare a long-term digital strategy. There are two crucial considerations here: what are my must-haves that I have to offer in the digital area, and based on what performance indicators can I transform my own strengths into the digital world and at the same time appear authentic online?

Undoubtedly, there are specific digital hygiene factors in today’s online world that your customers assume – your availability does not increase satisfaction, it is only your absence that stands out and has an adverse effect on user experience.

Nowadays, your customers – and we explicitly understand not only digital natives under this term – rightly suppose, for example, that their expectations concerning your website are in the centre of attention: Do I feel that my expectations are addressed? Do I find what I look for quickly and intuitively? Is the content customised and characterised by high quality? Creation of high quality online-compatible contents is not only a challenge for editors or specialists but it is also decisive for a consistent brand message.

The new patterns of use resulting from the increasingly more mobile society assume that information can be accessed using the already available devices – with high performance and simple contact capabilities with prompt answers to the questions asked. Moreover, customers are reluctant to leave such a chosen channel but they still feel affected by media interruptions.

It is common knowledge that the online area is developing at a high pace. Therefore, there are also features that are currently still regarded as positive differentiators but that will constitute must-haves in the foreseeable future. For example, many companies’ attempts to offer customers an integral customer journey in the foreseeable future are still in their infancy: the customer can complete their journey to a perfect product step by step on such devices that they have at their disposal in various situations – online and offline – and despite diverse touch points that form an integrated whole. Perhaps with personalised offers that can be prepared based on customer data or visitor behaviour, which again considerably increase the conversion rate.

There is still another way. And as has already been said: you will not be the only one with these must-haves. That is why differentiation additionally requires enthusiasm criteria that surprise the customers and considerably raise their satisfaction level. So emphasise your strengths also in the online channel. They can be also different from what all others have.

The basis for recognising these enthusiasm criteria and making use of them are your customers and knowledge about their needs. What is meant here are not expectations of your online presence arising from the internet standards applicable worldwide – but expectations your customers have of your company.

In terms of behavioural economics, people live in two different worlds which are subordinate either to social or to market standards. If both these types of standards are confused in business life, the company can get into trouble. It is a fantastic idea to treat customers as partners, like for example an insurance company in the USA with its motto: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” However, if this insurance company sent a reminder with a respective fee immediately after a delay in payment instead of making a friendly call to the customer, the standards would be confused and the customer would resign at once.

Companies should be aware of such behavioural economics also while establishing their online strategy and developing their online channel. What have you successfully done on the offline market? Have you compared your online performance with your own market identity? How are your branches integrated in the customer journey? Do you know who looks for what on your website? Do you know not only the typical “sector’s online customer” but also your own customer? Really?

The digital transformation is under way. One day companies will make digital end-to-end processes available across all systems, and their homework will be done. But every company develops its own online success factors on its own. So consider your strengths apart from the must-haves and follow your strategy, the principles of which are based on verified insights.

The digital transformation requires much more than provision of modern technologies. How can you seize your opportunities, where can you make adjustments and what are the challenges involved in a thorough transition?

“Digital transformation” – this slogan arouses hopes and incites fear. Some sense bright prospects of profits and unprecedented opportunities, while others fear doom scenarios for the real economy and abandonment of human labour.

So this is a notion that provokes conflicting emotions, viewpoints and different attempts at explanation. Digital transformation is about unstoppable and intensive development that turns many things upside down both in the business and the social aspect. Suddenly there is an elephant in the room, which slipped in quietly and almost unnoticed and which can no longer be simply ignored.

Digital transformation as a challenge
In the online poll “Digital Switzerland 2015” (HWZ, 2015) 74 per cent of the nearly 500 respondents stated that digital transformation will seriously impact their sector in the coming five years. More than half of them believed that it would be crucial for success already by 2017. Interestingly, 33 per cent of the surveyed companies still had no digital strategy in place. The forecasts of the “Digital Economic Value Index 2016” by Accenture, which predict an increase in the global digital economy to a remarkable 25 per cent by 2020, also show that it is hardly possible to evade the questions and challenges of the digital transformation.

The technological progress requires a lot from companies that wish to remain competitive. Apart from substantial investments in infrastructure, licences and services, it is the large expansion of personnel and knowledge that counts as a major challenge. Organisations that consistently drive the digitisation and get a good grip of important pillars of such development have a good starting point. Nevertheless, they are standing only on the start line of a comprehensive transition. Digital transformation requires much more than merely effective and efficient provision of technology. Its progress is based on the triad “human, technology and organisation” in all major areas of the company and far beyond it in the person’s everyday life.

Focus on people
Understanding people’s needs and expectations is at the centre of attention of economic entities, public institutions as well as NGOs equally. Those needs have significantly changed. Previously, employees were happy if they had the privilege to receive a laptop from the company, now they are disappointed if the model is not the one they prefer, or they want to use their own equipment anyway. A few years ago it was enough to please the customers if the service was available on the Internet at all, while today it is taken for granted that the offer can be used everywhere on mobile devices. People expect everything to be cleverly designed, user-friendly, versatile and, moreover, fun to use. After all, a competitor’s offer is just one click away.

Digital transformation focuses on this change in human behaviour and the evolving human needs and expectations. On the one hand, the point is to be able to provide customers with the right offer at the right time and in the right place. On the other hand, employees have to be able to use their information and communication independently of place and time in order to work efficiently and above all effectively. The classical value proposition for the customer, or the technology offer for employees, evolves in both cases towards a dynamic relation aiming at maximised use, positive experience, and simplicity.

People value autonomy and control. And they get precisely that thanks to the transparency offered by digital services. The success of such large players as Uber, Airbnb or Booking.com does not originate solely from an attractive price model. They offer services that provide customers with transparency and enable interaction with the company. At the same time it is possible to share information with other users whose opinions and reviews may inspire trust and safety. The combination of knowledge of individuals (The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki, 2004) is a major component of new digital models and makes mature and demanding customers, who interact with the company on equal terms and who must be treated seriously as partners.

Technology as the basis
Customer- or employee-oriented offers can be developed only when the person’s expectations, wishes and needs are known. Since it is impossible to ask each customer directly, digital data constitute a basis for drawing conclusions regarding general expectations and specific requirements of individuals. Extracting useful and accurate patterns from large data sets in order to translate them into innovative and improved offers remains a great challenge.

This brings us to intensive and smart automation, thanks to which information can be processed without manual activity and necessary measures can be taken. Apart from specialists who can deliver and operate the sophisticated technology, experts are necessary to develop scalable systems and services, taking into account clear goals and in line with the strategy, which could serve as a basis for dynamic development also in the medium term.

Organisation as the breeding ground
In line with the growing capabilities of connectivity the degree of complexity is also increasing. Reducing complexity where necessary and implementing targeted measures both require good and simple ideas. Only in this way can a company launch new, interesting and economically attractive offers in a short period. This is attainable in a highly dynamic environment by establishing an organisation that supports innovation and creativity and is able to attract and retain motivated and skilled employees.

Many existing structures in the organisational framework and in the processes are too rigid and too slow to keep pace with the rapid transition. In this situation, bold steps towards more agile, self-organising structures should be taken in order to remain successful on the market. Collaboration and teamwork are largely supported by an open business culture, flat hierarchies and short paths. Only thus can knowledge be openly shared and new innovative ideas developed together. If a company succeeds in becoming this kind of a learning organisation (P. M. Senge: The Fifth Discipline, 1990), it is set to count as one of the best in the future.

Comprehensive change as a task
Therefore, thorough digitisation is the crucial driver of digital transformation, but not its core. What needs to be transformed is the organisation and processes, business models and finally also the culture and behaviour of various stakeholders. The question about the direction in which your organisation should evolve cannot be answered in a generalised and simple manner. Focusing on people – customers, employees, partners – makes it is possible to formulate the right goals and determine the appropriate measures for the transformation of the organisation and the development of technology in order to achieve sustainable successes.

In this sense, the comprehensive changes underlying the digital transformation require a company to rethink what is known and to launch a profound transition. Organisations which set themselves this challenge in a bold and self-critical way will become tomorrow’s winners.

Published in “Digital Transformation” special supplement of “Netzwoche,” 22 June 2016

As the organiser of the E-Commerce Summit to be held on 14 June in Zürich, we have an exclusive opportunity to interview selected speakers who share with us their experience and opinions regarding the topic of customer engagement. We are looking forward to exchanging experience and to hearing your inspirations at the E-Commerce Summit!

This year’s E-Commerce Summit deals with the topic of customer engagement, i.e. the manner in which enterprises establish and nurture relationships with their customers in the digital world. In our opinion, customers expect experiences that appeal to them emotionally. What is the meaning of emotionalization for the Mammut brand? How does Mammut create an emotional world online, which attracts mountaineers who tend not to primarily look for the digital?
The emotional load of the Mammut brand has been one of our main concerns in the area of brand management. This objective was taken into account in the relaunch of mammut.ch and the associated combination of content, products and (prospectively) community. We would like this combination to offer the customers an attractive world of experience and create an emotional bond. In addition, with #project360 we have tried to create exactly such an emotional world on the Internet for our target group. There, our users can virtually climb such mountains as the Mount Everest or Matterhorn, which is how we further raise the involvement in our brand.

What role will be played by Mammut for mountaineers?
We want to be one of the most significant and successful enterprises in the field of mountaineering, rock climbing and outdoor equipment. Our products set quality and innovation standards and create new trends. Mountaineers and outdoor athletes identify us with the utmost safety, reliability, responsibility and progress. The brand claim “Absolute alpine” reflects that Mammut equipment is designed for alpinism. The coverage ranges from mountain climbing and rock climbing, through free riding and ski tours to trail running and trekking. We perform these activities with passion, and not only the products but also our marketing actions and PR stories authentically epitomise the passion for mountaineering.

Customers react more strongly to brands that address their specific needs and offer the relevant content in an appropriately personalised way. To what extent is personalisation/targeting a subject of interest for Mammut? What is your position and in what direction is the issue developing in Mammut?
Personalisation is definitely an important subject for Mammut. We would like to offer customers as tailored an experience as possible, let them experience the brand individually, in a way that is relevant for them. We already employ certain personalisation tools on our homepage and in our newsletter, but we are obviously at the beginning of this complex and partly resource-intensive project.

What potential can you notice in collecting information about customer behaviour during the customer journey and in using it for personal customer experience? What is Mammut currently doing in this area?
In my opinion, this issue is closely related with the earlier question about personalisation. The potential is definitely huge, good execution is complex and resource-intensive, in particular when customer behaviour is observed through various touch points.

Where do you see the greatest challenges in the area of customer engagement?
I think that the greatest challenge is the provision of tailored content and products at the right time, via the right medium and the necessary collection and analysis of data through various touch points.

Mr Held, thank you for this insight into the digital world of Mammut – we are looking forward to your speech at the E-Commerce Summit.

Unic regards interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and experience as an important driver for challenging the existing solutions and developing new ideas. Apart from the vessels that entangle the entire company, there are individual initiatives in the teams to share knowledge so that something new can be created.

Roy Voggenberger has established OMEA Labs, an idea workshop, in his business unit Online-Marketing, Engineering and Analytics.

Roy, the topic of innovation is omnipresent in the media. How has the topic of innovation developed at your company in the past years?
My business unit is composed of 25 employees who work in the fields of Digital Analysis, Online Marketing and PHP Open Source Development. The market has changed considerably in the past years: not only do innovation cycles become more compact (new technologies, new tools), but also the topics themselves become deeper and more complex. It is a challenge for the employees to stay on the ball between the market, technologies and projects. The interdisciplinary exchange in OMEA Labs ensures that, apart from project work, we continuously deal with our areas of expertise and thereby further develop. The direct connection between the developed ideas and the indirect business relevance is crucial. We use it for establishing a balance between productive work and innovation.

When and how was the topic operationalised?
We initiated the OMEA Labs format as at 1 January 2015. The term “Labs” demonstrates the experimental nature of the vessel – the point is to try out, to experiment outside of projects and of day-to-day activities. The discipline of orienteering races serves us as a role model for the philosophy of the Labs:

• A higher pace to succeed
• Leave wide paths
• Pause to get orientation
• Take note of the surroundings on an ongoing basis
• Adjust the direction as necessary
• Observe the rules
• Share the success

How have you embedded the topic of innovation in your work routine in terms of content and time?
Basically, we distinguish the following phases of idea development and implementation:

• The first phase serves the purpose of brainstorming: employees provide creative new approaches and develop them further together. Feasibility is consciously ignored at this phase so as not to restrain creativity.
• The second phase concerns a specific implementation of the idea. The result are improvements and quick wins related to existing topics but also suggestions for new topics.
• In the third phase, new topics such as the launch of new product and software solutions are checked for feasibility and contribution to the strategy.

Basically, we make 20 man-days per year available to every employee for innovation-related activities:

Every third Wednesday in a month is reserved for the OMEA Labs Day. The day is blocked for employees and may not be postponed. We meet at the office. The aim is to use the shared time for interdisciplinary exchange. We ensure the transformation in the work routine by giving each employee a half day per month free for the purpose of working on topics defined on the OMEA Labs Day. Two additional joker days per year can be taken individually by employees to develop and implement ideas.

Are there rules for OMEA Labs?
Basically, the principle of self-organisation and self-responsibility applies. OMEA Labs is an open and transparent process. In return for the establishment of OMEA Labs we have rethought the existing exchange vessels, restructured and partly removed them. An important rule, apart from complying with the general internal guidelines, is sharing the results from OMEA Labs with all other Unic employees, so that innovations can be further developed also outside our team. Therefore, the results and discussion from the Labs Day are always presented briefly in our internal collaboration report soon afterwards. Other employees can throw light on the ideas with their pool of experiences, to invoke them and provide their inputs and ideas.

What are the major insights from the change process concerning the establishment of OMEA Labs?
The most important and major prerequisite is obviously the image of a person who focuses on self-responsibility, and readiness to give the vote of confidence. I assume that employees use their time wisely and know what helps us as part of the business unit strategy.

Innovations are created in the “free space.” In addition, results cannot be restrained through preconceived conditions and expectations. Of course, some employees are initially overstrained by this free space – they have to be accompanied at the beginning so that they are able to make their contribution.

The mental transition between the clearly structured project work and the creative innovation work is not always simple. By releasing ourselves from project activity for a whole day, we can achieve this balance.

An additional lesson learnt is that we are on a journey. The operational introduction of OMEA Labs is completed, but the process of deepening the existing, developing the new and abandoning the obsolete will keep us occupied.

«Make small steps, do not shrink from steps back, maintain a global focus»: Catherine Loeffel’s recipe for success (Photo: Mara Truog)

The Swiss Post has made its website more customer-oriented. While this sounds easy, it took Catherine Loeffel, the then Project Manager of WEPP (Post Office Portal Development) and 300 other employees four years of work.

What were the primary reasons for relaunching post.ch?
Catherine Loeffel: The Swiss Post had multiple customer platforms in the e-channel, so there was no uniform understanding of target groups. These diverse platforms required the use of many logins, which translated into suboptimal user experience for customers. Due to conceptual and technical barriers, it was impossible to have more transactions through these channels and to introduce targeted lead management.

The Post speaks of the second largest IT project that has ever been implemented. Why?
This project involved numerous departments from various management and business areas of the Swiss Post and activated a large amount of internal resources. The project was characterised not only by an IT focus, but also a heavy marketing focus. From business side, we had to answer relevant questions concerning the area of marketing and communication. From the technical side, IT and application managers on the part of both the Post and diverse Partner enterprises from the Post Portal and from the online services were included in the change process. In addition, the project had an impact on the organisation and processes, and hence was extremely demanding from the point of view of internal policy.

What were the project objectives?
The project was supposed to establish a conceptual and technical basis for targeted lead management. We wanted to control the differentiation of customer segments with the use of the login profile, which required the introduction of a uniform login. Another aim was to introduce a new content management system (CMS) that would serve as a framework for all online services, prevent redundant content and be able to reflect the topic of marketing automation.

Furthermore, we wanted to improve user experience. The structure of the old Post Portal greatly reflected the internal perspective. Our intention was to move customer needs more towards the centre of attention and to make the relevant content more accessible. Apart from that, the implementation of a good measurement system was supposed to enable appraising the customer journey and optimising it on an ongoing basis.

What is more, through easy access to information and online services, through cross- and up-selling with teaser management as well as later marketing automation, we wanted to draw more attention to lead generation via the online channel.

Catherine Loeffel (left) talks to Michèle Ritter, Assistant Manager in Private Customer Development, Post (Photo: Mara Truog)

From the user’s point of view, visual changes are what stands out most. But what is actually hidden behind the relaunch?
Apart from visual and technical adjustments, other changes included redefining offer segmentation for business customers as well as arranging and rewriting more than 6,000 content pages in line with the new concept. Moreover, diverse new modules were introduced, such as contact, wizard and FAQ module. E-business and customer service were reorganised. In terms of processes, we created a strategic basis for CRM: thanks to the uniform login it will be possible in the future to bundle customer information in line with data protection laws.

«It was crucial to transform those concerned into active participants.» Catherine Loeffel

One of the major requirements was the connection of over 80 online services of the Post. What does this mean exactly?
The goal was simple: the online services had to correspond to the same framework in order to standardise user guidance. Access to the login, to the information of post.ch, to the customer centre, to the specific help services and contact data for the respective online service had to always appear in the same place.

However, the implementation proved very complex. Various core systems and applications with different development bases had to cooperate in one overall system. At the same time, the task was to coordinate release cycles and to build interfaces that would entail as few side effects as possible. Moreover, plenty of application specialists and line managers had to be focused on one goal.

Customer centricity as the major success factor: how was this issue incorporated in post.ch?
The relevant target groups were determined using personas developed with the help of Marketing, Sales and Communication Departments. The existing studies and data were analysed and the data were verified in new studies. In the case of discussions concerning priorities or in the case of conflicts related to the targets, it was always possible to return to the definitions of personas in order to remain focused on the customer.

How did you manage to keep motivation high in a project lasting four years and involving more than 300 external and internal employees?
With a lot of energy and continuous focus on our goal. It was crucial to transform those concerned into active participants. To this end, each business area concerned, such as PostMail, PostLogistics, PostOffices and Sales, defined the so-called SPOCs (Single Point of Contacts). These were responsible for performing all project activities in the respective area and for representing their area in the project. Each area representative built their own project organisation within the respective business area in order to involve the relevant parties in the formulation of questions and to communicate project progress. Heavy management focus was also very helpful. The Project Committee (PAS) was composed of Communication, Marketing and Sales Managers, the PAS management acted as a member of the group’s management.

What is your personal highlight from the project?
I am happy that we managed to start such a project bottom-up and to execute the “one login” solution. Another highlight is the change of approach – away from the internal perspective towards the external perspective – and thereby the construction of a central unit that controls and coordinates the work in the e-channel. And, last but not least, I am proud of the smooth launch with detailed planning of all required activities.

Post.ch has been online since 30 May 2015. How do you evaluate the success of the relaunch?
I regard the relaunch as a great success. We received fantastic feedback both internally and externally. The new organisation works well together and uses the new possibilities. I am particularly happy about the already visible positive effects on the number of users. Customer reactions themselves range from very good to very negative. Transformations are always difficult but the negative comments were limited. Fortunately, the user experience, one of our core objectives, is rated positively.

What advice can you give to other enterprises?
Maintain strong management focus, involve personnel to a broad extent and prepare good plans. It is important to make small steps but keep the global image continuously in mind. Finally, do not shrink from steps back and do not let anything get you down.

In the past, companies invested heavily in channels and processes – thus partially losing the individual customer from sight. They have built structures that can address nearly everybody in a universal manner. However, customers expect ever more personalised experiences – irrespective of the channel they are moving in.

It is about time for those created structures to be filled in with value for the individual customer, and time for companies to provide contents and offers that are individually relevant. This article is showing how you can link together your contents, customer needs and the customer context to create a relationship that brings value for both parties.

Networking, unique, multioptional, demanding
The customer behaviour keeps changing. Different socio-cultural factors and their interplay permanently change the way in which customers source information on how to purchase and use products and services. In this way the following drivers crystallise which have a significant impact on the customer behaviour these days:

I do networking therefore I am: the networking trend includes a technological and a social component. Currently with the increased availability of mobile devices the contemporary customer is permanently online. On the other hand, the individual customer has become embedded in various networks, and he or she will look there for information sharing and value rating.

I strive for uniqueness: customers tend to increasingly enjoy their individual approach and their own style. Everyone wants to be unique and also be perceived as such.

I am a channel hopper: during their journey customers each time choose the Touch Point that is right for them in a very individual and situational way. They will simultaneously use online and mobile shops, physical stores as well as print media, and will not so rarely change the Touch Point during one phase of the purchase process.

I feel overwhelmed by the information flood: although with the technical networking the customer has gained on market power, nevertheless in many cases the accompanying flood of unrated information overwhelms him. In the abundance of excitement he can hardly sift out information which would be individually relevant for him.

In the light of these factors, customers are discerning, well-informed, dynamic i.e. unpredictable, multioptional yet also headstrong. They are looking for relevance, and expect in particular such experience in the area of high-involvement products

• that is personalised: so that the contents, offers and relations are relevant for them;
• that is contemporary: since the customers’ readiness to wait for offerers is low: “I want it and I want it now”;
• that is emotionally appealing to them: so that they feel they are cared for and esteemed;
• that is simple and convenient for them: since customers are increasingly less and less prepared to go through complex and elaborate processes.

Engagement Marketing: linking the Contents, Needs and Context
In the recent years companies have built a portfolio supporting different channels and processes in order to have presence wherever the customer looks for them. With the variety of Touch Points created in this way the challenge is not to lose the customer and his needs from sight.

It is necessary for companies to always know where their customer is, what drives him and what matters to him. You can only link your contents with the customer’s situation if your information is relevant. Relevance is achieved by way of linking the individual needs of the customer with the situational context and the available content (cf. illustration 1). If a company manages to convey the relevant information to the customer at the right time via the right Touch Point, the information will reach the customer, and he or she will feel understood and cared for. At the same time, apart from the current needs, it is worthwhile to take into account historical behaviour, too. Relevance produces affinity, security and added value. Affinity, security and added value in turn create loyalty. Hence the companies increasingly face the question how they should shape a unique and individual experience for the customer throughout his/ her overall journey while employing context-oriented information. The objective is to support the customer in taking the next step (conversion).

Illustration 1: Linking Contents, Needs and Context.

Show a real understanding of the Customer Journey
It is pivotal for companies not to perceive the customer experiences as isolated instances at a particular point in time but put them in the overall context of the Customer Journey and the Customer Lifecycle and deposit them through the Touch Points with the company. (1).

Relations can be established only through continuous interactions that bring value on both sides for the offerer and the customer. The English literature speaks in this context about “Customer Engagement“: “Customer engagement is a personal connection between a consumer and a brand that is strengthened over time, resulting in mutual value. It’s an enduring, two-way active relationship that simultaneously delivers on your customers’ needs and generates greater profitability for your brand…. Highly engaged customers have a personal connection to a brand, built on experiences that drive affinity with its ethos. Highly engaged customers recognize when a brand understands their personal needs. They believe that the brand reflects their personal identity – both how they see themselves and how they want others to see them. For highly engaged consumers, the tangible and intangible value they receive from the brand outweighs the effort and cost they expend as loyal consumers.” (2)

The basis for Customer Engagement is a systematic, organised collection of data at all Touch Points along the Customer Journey. Initially, a differentiated observation of the customer behaviour (Behavioural Analytics) in each phase of the Customer Journey and linking it with historical data enables companies to break down the needs of their customers and react to them in a specified manner. The Customer Journey helps put the different, collected data into context – irrespective of the channels:

• information about the usability context (device, location, time, need, purpose)
• information about sentiments (Emotion Analytics, driving factors, objectives, involvement, status in the customer life cycle)
• information about specific behaviour (click rate, consumed contents, length of stay, conversion path)
• information about activities stored before and after (the origin, subsequent information search)

Illustration 2 Behavioural Analytics concerning the entire Buying Cycle and all Touch Points throughout.

2016 focus on the subject of Customer Engagement
Intensify your discussion in 2016 on the subject of Customer Engagement in order to strengthen your relations: involve your customer in an interaction – in this way you will get to know your customer better. In doing so take into account the overall Customer Journey and not just the individual Touch Points. Accumulate data over time. Collecting data is just the beginning. Use the data to align your actions accordingly: personalise contents, offers, communication time points, and the interaction rhythm in order to reach the customer with content that is relevant for him. Test and make use of the outcomes in order to learn from them.

The following reference framework will help you approach the subject of Customer Engagement step by step:

• Define the scope and the specific objectives that are relevant for you (Conversion, Customer Lifetime Value etc.) within Customer Engagement. Identify clearly the limits of the application scope in the beginning, and gradually expand your scope. As a starting point, application areas that are particularly interaction-intensive will be most suitable to be taken into account, such as your Website or campaigns.
• A culture that lives on continuous and permanent improvement is a condition for the Organisation to be oriented towards the subject of Customer Engagement. Do you have the courage to try out new things and learn from them?
• The following instruments within Customer Engagement will support you on the way to strengthening relations with your customers on a long term basis and thus ultimately to generate more turnover:
  – Conversion-oriented objective and measurement concept (Leads, Micro-Conversions, Conversions)
  – Comprehensive Touch Point path analysis (Customer Journey Analysis)
  – Conversion-oriented reporting (Conversion Funnel Cockpit)
  – Segmentation, automation and personalisation (see diagram below)
  – Short IT release cycles and continuous integration

Illustration 3 Segmentation, automation and personalisation.

(1) https://hbr.org/2010/10/understanding-customer-experie

(2) http://www.12ahead.com/why-engaged-customers-are-your-best-customers-facts-figures-value-engagement

The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP (1).

Using data-based marketing to become more customer-oriented, to organise marketing activities more purposefully: that is the vision. Many decision-makers, however, face a huge amount of web analytics data and are not able to process it systematically so that the collected information could support marketing decisions. This article shows where the challenges lie and what strategies you can use to get more out of web analytics data.

Web analytics, today more commonly referred to as digital analytics, has become an established discipline in many companies and is a regular item on the agenda of marketing meetings. Marketing decision-makers have realised that it is a valuable instrument for controlling their activities in digital channels. However, if we have a look at the entire process from data collection and data storage to data analysis, we find that many companies in the recent years have focused on the first two stages. The amount of data collected is huge: (2) the number of visitors, clicks, bounce rate etc.

The difficulty is to extract the relevant information from this flood of data and use it to make informed decisions. John Naisbitt, a US trend researcher, has thus described the challenge: “We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.” A study by etracker (3) shows that many businesses use the collected analytics data for internal reporting only. Only one third of the respondents use the data systematically to generate insights for optimising the marketing efforts or use web analytics as an early warning system.

There are many factors hindering or preventing a systematic and structured data analysis:

• System- and channel-oriented data collection and processing instead of a holistic view of the customer journey.
• Processing the data using the “one view fits all” approach instead of views tailored to individual stakeholders (analysts, people responsible for the web presence, CMOs, people responsible for campaigns etc.).
• Isolated presentation of data instead of presentation of logical and/or chronological relations between the data.
• Static reports instead of dynamic views which make it possible to drill down on detailed data to identify causes and patterns.
• Juxtaposing a lot of data without aggregating it to strategic key performance indicators and without specifying its relevance for actions.
• Reporting as a past-oriented accountability mechanism instead of a future-oriented optimisation tool.

3 strategies to use data as support for decision-making
The following three strategies will help you get more out of web analytics. Not by gathering more data but by forwarding the relevant data in the right form, with the right context information, to the right place:

1. Process the data individually: Web analytics is used more and more frequently by people other than analysts. The circle of stakeholders has grown in the recent years: marketing decision-makers, sales managers, product managers, all of them use web analytics findings in their work. Marketing managers wonder how much traffic and turnover has been generated by a campaign. A content marketer wants to know how the contents appeal to the visitors. A sales manager is curious to what extent the website serves as a lead generator. A product manager wants to know what products with what features are in the highest demand. Certainly, the information needs of these various stakeholder groups vary significantly. The data has to be processed individually to address the individual persons directly. Consider each affected person separately and identify their information needs to define a dashboard that is best suited to their individual situation.

2. Analyse the data holistically to identify patterns and dependencies: Isolated data, such as the number of visitors or clicks, is generally not useful for explaining specific phenomena. Only when data relationships are considered, not only with respect to time, but also the relations with marketing activities, along the customer journey, or with external factors, will it be possible to recognise patterns and define the appropriate course of action.

3. Visualise the data: Mere figures, scattered across a huge Excel table, are not enough to recognise patterns or correlations. They may even lead you to false conclusions. With visualisation, the data suddenly starts to tell stories. Visualisation supports information processing. It can be used to present complex issues and show correlations. In a TED talk, David McCandless described the benefit of visualisation as follows: „Visualizing information, so you can see the patterns and connections that matter.“ (4) You can use the following questions to help you prepare relevant visualisations:

• Who is the recipient?
• What decisions does the recipient want to back with the information?
• What information does he need to make these decisions?
• In what form does he read and interpret the information?

(1) „Information: the currency of the digital age“ Speech on the occasion of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco 2004

(2) When collecting data, it is absolutely necessary to follow the data protection guidelines. It is also recommended to always offer the user an added value in return.

(3) https://www.etracker.com/de/know-how/web-controlling-whitepaper/studie-status-quo-webanalyse-und-website-personalisierung-in-deutschland/etracker-studie-webanalyse-und-website-personalisierung-in-deutschland.html

(4) http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization

As a diamond sponsor of the Frontend Conference Zurich on 27 and 28 August, we had the exclusive opportunity to conduct interviews with selected speakers. You shared your experiences and opinions about the exciting interplay between design and technology. Thank you for the inspirational food for thought!

Our frontend engineers Olga Skurativska and Thomas Jaggi held a talk about their «Static Site Generator Odyssey» at the conference.

To paraphrase Stephen Hay: There are 393 static site generators listed on https://staticsitegenerators.net. Do we really need another one?
If you filter them by JavaScript as the main language, you end up with only 72. But jokes aside, our main premise for it was to be as flexible and as fast as possible. That is why creating our own set of Gulp tasks turned out to be an obvious choice.

We use Estático to create static frontend prototypes for every project. It needs to be trivial to satisfy custom requirements. A perfect example would be a current project where we use React for specific parts of the website. Adding a new task to take care of the JSX transformation was very easy. Having a completely customized living styleguide is just as simple: We just modify the base CSS and templates used for these views.

How was the response so far?
We did not actively communicate it in advance of the conference but had already gathered some inputs on Github. When Vitaly Friedman tweeted about it during the presentation, we started to receive feedback like the following, which is exactly one of the reasons we decided to open-source our approach.

What is your roadmap with Estático?
Since it is the main tool our frontend team uses in its daily work, development is mainly driven by whatever problems or missing features we encounter along the way. An important task would be to write tests for every Gulp task we use. Currently, we only check the two most important ones automatically.

Which other talks did you enjoy the most?
Thomas: I very much enjoyed “Improving Web Fonts Performance”. It highlighted a very important fact: Web fonts are a crucial aspect when it comes to rendering performance and there are viable approaches to improve the current situation.

Olga: I was hugely inspired by Patty Toland’s “Design Consistency for the Responsive Web”. It was interesting to see what the communication between Filament Group members and their clients looks like. Also, she put strong emphasis on the importance of progressive enhancement. The presentation was full of real life examples of fantastic, complicated responsive websites and clever solutions. To be recommended!