Web Strategy: A Call for Unification
Today’s digital world is inevitably governed by the principles
of multi-channel and multi-screen attribution modeling.
New digital channels such as social networks are thriving
due to the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, making
it crucial for companies to optimize the effectiveness of
their online initiatives for all channels in play.
In an effort to support consumers’ always-on lifestyles, most
organizations end up creating disparate websites that are
built on differing or non-standard infrastructures that tend
to fall short of delivering engaging Web experiences to their
target audiences and create nightmares for organizations to
maintain. A unified Web strategy is the key to fulfilling a
cross-channel experience that generates both revenue and
interest, building brand loyalty and driving a deeper relationship
with the various stakeholders.
So, what is a unified Web strategy? It is a set of Web
principles that are leveraged to promote a consistent brand
experience across various digital touch points, both online
and offline. This can be achieved through the execution of
two key underlying strategies: 1) having the right Web platform
components and 2) driving towards superior customer
engagement.
Web Platform Components
A web platform provides a single point of access to a broad
range of data, knowledge and services — any time, anywhere.
From Web hosting, Web content management and
Web analytics, to single sign-on, monitoring and Web operations
management, a Web platform includes a set of
tools and technology architectures that support the overall
Web presence of an organization. Let us dig a little deeper
to explore some important Web platform components.
Hybrid Infrastructure: Businesses are in a constant need for
more agile, adaptable and scalable infrastructures to support their enterprise Web platforms. A hybrid architecture offers
multiple deployment models in which on-premise resources
can be leveraged to support corporate websites and provide
tighter integration with internal systems, while cyclical events
such as product launches and promotional campaigns are carried
out on remote server-based cloud infrastructure to benefit
from the cloud elasticity factor.
Web Content Management: A Web content management system
(WCMS) makes website content creation and management
more efficient by providing a set of website authoring,
publishing, collaboration and administration tools. However,
the right WCMS should be based on a scalable data
model coupled with configurable workflows to ensure that
your organization has a solid foundation from which to promote
its Web presence.
Web Analytics: Web analytics is a source of valuable business
intelligence data that can be leveraged to understand
and optimize Web experience and evaluate whether a website
is contributing to business goals. However, the approach
to Web analytics should be holistic and beyond the microvision
of focusing on the number of attained clicks. The true
value of Web analytics data lies in the ability to provide actionable
insights into fine-tuning different components of
online user engagement.
Single Sign-on: Single sign-on provides a single log-in access
to multiple applications or systems, reducing the login/registration
friction and enabling a more personalized online
experience to be carried out across various touch points.
Web Request System: Among other benefits, a Web request
system helps with estimation and planning, scheduling,
budget management and resource allocation, as well as
quality management and administration. The Web request
system serves as a basic operational and governance mechanism
to manage activities impacting digital channels within
your organization.
Localization: “Global + Local = Glocal” is all about striking
the right balance, resulting in wider market reach and expanded
connections with global audiences. Different regions
require specific tweaks in Web content so that they
are localized to effectively communicate brand messages to
target audiences and maintain unified brand experiences.
Monitoring and Feedback Tools: Monitoring and feedback
tools are a strong component of governance, reporting and
auditing of your digital presence and operations. These
tools help organizations devise a customer-centric strategy
via real-time feedback and sentiment analysis as well as to
foster customer engagement.
Online Customer Engagement
In the current competitive marketplace, online customer engagement
is becoming increasingly critical to strengthening
customer loyalty and creating customer advocacy. Consumers
have more options than ever to choose from, making
it even more crucial to engage your audience and give
them a reason to visit, interact with, buy from, and come
back to your brand. Let’s explore some strategies that play a
decisive role in properly engaging consumers’ digital lives.
Segmentation: Audience segmentation plays a big role in
successful online customer engagement. Organizations
leveraging behavioral data to create user segmentation profiles
enable their online marketers to not only target different
types of audiences, but also to connect with them on an
emotional level.
Personalization: Personalized experiences cater to each individual
and lead to enhanced user engagement, site stickiness
and increased customer loyalty. How organizations respond to the needs of different market segments and how
they provide targeted services for those segments will affect
the revenue potential.
Social Media & Community Platforms: Almost every online or
offline purchase is influenced by reviews, recommendations
and feedback shared on forums, blogs and social networks.
Undeniably, social media and community collaboration have
become major drivers of Web initiatives. In addition, socializing
with your brand influencers can promote brand
evangelism and provide a solid foundation to improving
your business’ bottom line.
Digital Commerce: Customers can now be digitally acquired
at home, through their friends and peers, on the road or
even while waiting in the grocery store checkout line. To
capitalize on these opportunities, organizations need to
seamlessly integrate traditional e-commerce with social
commerce and mobile commerce.
Traditional E-Commerce, Social and Mobile Commerce
There’s a huge opportunity for organizations that integrate
e-commerce across all of their digital channel initiatives. The
key is to provide a seamless shopping cart experience across
varying touch points, bringing your product catalog to
where your customers are already spending the majority of
their online time, instead of funneling visitors to a centralized
online store.
Get Unified
Your customers’ online needs and expectations are diversifying.
They seek for everything to be at their fingertips
and expect the ability to transact and engage anywhere at
any time.
They are exploiting the digital mediums to find information,
compare prices and search for the best possible deals
at competitive prices. All of this is happening at a lightningfast
pace, creating a gap between consumer expectations and
the ability of businesses to meet those expectations.
A unified Web strategy must intertwine business with
digital strategies to support present and future online needs.
The goal of a unified Web strategy is to enable organizations
to close the gap between evolving business needs and the
readiness of various digital touch points to support organizational
goals.
About the Author: Olivier Naimi is the senior director of the global Web platform
& analytics for Sony Corporation of America. He has held several
key leadership positions for brands such as PlayStation, Hitachi
and BEA, with responsibilities for bringing each company’s
assets and unique business models to life in the digital space.


Leave Your Comment
Login to CommentBecome a Member
Not already a part of our community?
Sign UpSign up to participate in the discussion. It's free and quick.