For some time now, there has been a new buzzword in the field of marketing and sales digitalisation for the topic of product information management (PIM), namely product experience management (PXM). In conjunction with a CMS and/or shop system, this then becomes a PXP – a product experience platform!
And this time, it's not just another marketing approach – there's actually a meaningful development behind it. The topic of PIM and what we do with it has evolved dramatically in recent years.
Covid-19 and the decline in live offerings, closures of showrooms and shops, and cancelled trade fairs have given the digital sector a major boost. It is now considered a key challenge not only to provide product information for research purposes, but also to bring products to life. Information must be turned into an experience. This trend is irreversible, because digitalisation offers considerable advantages in terms of costs and efficiency, regardless of pandemic conditions. It also suits the communication style of digital natives and addresses mega-issues such as the shortage of skilled workers. The necessity of the pandemic period has thus become a virtue for the future.
On the one hand, this means putting yourself in the shoes of customers, for whom access to real product samples is no longer the norm, and face-to-face contact with sales staff is also reduced. Digital product presentation therefore no longer merely supplements live access, but increasingly represents the first or even only access point. Products must therefore be made as comprehensively accessible as possible in digital form. On the other hand, the reduced personal contact between sales staff and prospects and customers is a challenge for sales, which must also rely more heavily on digital channels. Three aspects are essential to meet these requirements: more media presentations, more context, more networking. The last point concerns not only information and media, but also people.
There is a lot to balance on the media level: at trade fairs, in showrooms or in shops, products can be seen, heard, smelled and, above all, touched, allowing textures and functions to be explored. The spatial context is usually tailored precisely to the product presentation and ensures that all the senses are optimally catered for. Some of this cannot be replicated digitally; the senses of touch and smell cannot be addressed at all. The challenge is therefore to better cater for the other senses and replace the missing ones with visualisations, for example. Animations, videos, 360° product images, contextual representations, customer references and stories about using the products are used for this purpose. For example, when someone reports in a video or text how the product feels, how they use it, how loud it is, whether and how it smells, this comes closest to one's own experience with the product.
At the networking level, this results in more elements that need to be linked together and to the precisely matching target group persona in such a way that they offer the user a comprehensive and easily digestible experience.
At the technical level, all these elements are, of course, nothing more than data that must be created, stored, processed and played out in the appropriate systems. Due to the expanded breadth and depth of media, there are increased requirements for digital product information and asset management at the system level. PIM manufacturers have recognised these requirements and are offering more and more options to support them.
In almost all of our current PIM projects, in addition to pure products, variants and product groups, more and more media are being modelled in PIM or DAM, as well as contexts and networks such as systems, solutions, areas of application, industries, references, etc., filled with content and linked to products in a multidirectional manner. Personas are also being modelled in a more differentiated and much more precise manner and served with more specific content and information. All of this helps us to make our customers' products more tangible. And that is exactly what PXM – Product Experience Management – is all about.
In addition, this information can be used to offer visitors to the website options that previously required enquiries to the sales department. Individual configurations, calculation tools, price calculations and quotations can be made available to users directly as an interactive part of the website using CPQ modules (Configure, Price, Quote). Sales staff can also use them to respond to enquiries and prepare quotations. Users who utilise these functions can be contacted digitally by sales staff, thus facilitating the transition to the personal sales process. This can significantly increase efficiency on the sales side.
The digital presentation of this comprehensive product experience is also significantly more sophisticated than previous, more limited approaches. The product experience is only one part of an overall, even more far-reaching customer experience. In addition to products and solutions, brands and companies are also presented, target groups are addressed more comprehensively, customers are provided with additional information in open or closed customer portals, and events, contact persons, locations, competencies, news and job advertisements are brought to life. Not to be forgotten is the use of complementary channels such as email marketing, chats and social media, which remain highly relevant; all brought together using marketing automation tools.
Comprehensive digital experience management uses a powerful content and commerce platform that fully integrates traditional components such as the corporate website, product catalogue and online shop and presents content in a networked way as an experience. In line with the experience concept, a correspondingly powerful online platform is referred to as a digital experience platform (DXP). This no longer relies on mere standard software. The optimal solutions and the path to their implementation are individual for each company. Therefore, the required modules are progressively integrated according to specific needs and the level of maturity achieved. The INFOLOX Omnichannel Box, a best-of-breed PXM and DXP solution in the cloud, is an excellent implementation of this idea.
Ultimately, it is still about more comprehensive, better and more up-to-date content and its consolidation into an optimal customer journey through the digital world. More than ever, the 3R rule applies to content: RICH, RELEVANT and REALTIME. With the combined expertise of INFOLOX – from the idea to implementation to operation – we transform your content into ideal customer experiences for unforgettable digital experiences.
