echnological advances and changing consumer preferences are leading more and more companies to invest in MarTech technologies to increase their competitiveness. Among other things, these tools offer new possibilities for personalisation, automation and data analysis, which are key to operating effectively in the e-commerce market. The implementation of these solutions, therefore, is becoming a key element of companies' growth strategies, enabling them to manage their marketing activities more effectively and improve the customer experience.
What is MarTech?
MarTech, or marketing technology, is a collection of technology tools and solutions that support marketing activities. It covers a broad spectrum of activities, from marketing automation and data analytics to content personalisation and customer relationship management. These tools allow companies to better understand their audience and optimise their campaigns. The most common challenges MarTech supports e-commerce businesses with include:
- Personalisation: companies can tailor content and offers to individual customers, increasing customer engagement and loyalty.
- Data management: Enables effective collection, analysis and use of customer data to support decision-making.
- Process automation: Automation of many marketing activities, such as email campaigns and performance analysis, saves time and better manages resources.
- Marketing channel integration: MarTech makes it possible to integrate different communication channels, increasing the consistency of the marketing message and building a positive brand image.
Does your company need MarTech?
The decision to implement MarTech should be well thought out and based on an analysis of the company's needs. It is worth considering implementing MarTech technology when:
- The company wants to improve the effectiveness of marketing activities and get a better return on investment.
- There is a need to better understand customer behaviour and market segmentation.
- Marketing processes need to be automated to save time and resources.
- The company plans to expand into new markets and needs scalable marketing solutions.
Implementing MarTech tools requires an organisation to analyse its existing operations, identify key areas for development and plan an appropriate strategy. It is worth being aware that not every solution will be beneficial for a given company. According to a Gartner report, as many as 61% of marketers regretted one or more software purchases within 12-18 months. That's why it's so important to match technology to current business needs.
How to prepare for the implementation?
Analysis of marketing activities
Check whether current marketing campaigns are effective, what KPIs are being monitored and whether there are any technological limitations of current systems.
Sales processes and customer service
Are your company's sales processes fully automated? Analyse what tools support your sales and what are the main challenges in customer service.
Customers
Is your company experiencing rapid customer growth, but lacking effective strategies and tools to improve retention rates?
Data management
Consider whether you are realising the full potential of your CRM systems and whether there is a need for better segmentation and personalisation of customer communications.
Systems integration
Analyse what tools are currently being used to manage marketing campaigns and analyse data, and what challenges you see in integrating data from different sources.
Personalisation and segmentation
What are the current methods for segmenting your customer base? Check whether they are sufficient to effectively personalise customer communications.
IT infrastructure
Make sure your current IT infrastructure is ready for the implementation of new MarTech tools by analysing the marketing channels you currently use (email, social media, PPC advertising, etc.).
Business processes
Consider whether existing business processes are optimised for automation and what are the main challenges of implementing automation in current processes.
ROI and budget
Estimate the budget available to implement and maintain MarTech tools and the expected return on investment (ROI).
Human resources
Does your team have the right competencies and skills to operate MarTech tools? Analyse your employees' training needs in detail.
Short-term and long-term goals
Consider what your main business goals are for the next 12 months and how these plans fit into your organisation's long-term strategy and vision.
MarTech implementation in practice
The implementation of MarTech tools requires comprehensive knowledge of both technology and marketing, so it is worth using an experienced e-commerce agency for this purpose, which will tailor specific solutions to the company's needs. At Strix, we not only implement online shops, but also support customers in developing their online business. Check out what the MarTech technology implementation process looks like with us:
- Needs analysis: we carry out a detailed analysis of your company and its marketing needs.
- Selection of tools: we select technology tools tailored to your company's needs.
- Integration: we integrate the tools with your e-commerce system and implement them.
- Support: we provide training for the team to maximise the potential of the new tools.
- Data analysis: we analyse your current automation paths, assess their conversions and recommend appropriate solutions.
- Loyalty programmes: we increase customer engagement by offering benefits for regular purchases.
- Growth strategy: we develop a growth strategy to help you achieve better results through marketing technology.
- Marketing Automation audit: we conduct a detailed assessment of your current system to find areas for improvement.
Implementation example: optimising the Marketing Automation strategy
One of the companies we cooperated invested in advanced Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Marketing Automation tools. Despite initial expectations, the company experienced a low return on investment, resulting in insufficiently effective marketing campaigns.
Challenges:
- Overkill and lack of tool integration: There was some overlap between the two marketing automation tools, leading to performance issues and complexity.
- Insufficient use of data: Automations were not data-driven, resulting in low conversions.
- Lack of segmentation: The customer database was not properly segmented, preventing personalised campaigns.
- Low conversion rate: Conversions from implemented automations were significantly lower than industry standards require.
Proposed solutions:
- Analysis of existing Marketing Automation solutions
- Changing the tool and migrating the data of the don marketing automation system.
- Designing new automation paths (cross/up-sell to increase the value of the shopping basket, sequences of e-mail marketing campaigns to increase the newsletter base, detailed segmentation criteria and scoring rules, allowing even greater personalisation in the future).
These measures have provided the client with an optimised and standardised marketing automation process that provides a solid foundation for further audience engagement activities.
Headless architecture
All of this would not be possible without the right technology. In today's dynamic e-commerce world, companies must react flexibly to market changes. As a result, the traditional, monolithic architecture of shop platforms often becomes insufficient. This prompts companies to implement headless technology, which provides greater flexibility, the ability to quickly adapt to changing consumer needs and integrate with external services. This is particularly important when implementing MarTech tools.
This is an architecture that involves separating the frontend, or application interface, from the backend, or technical backend responsible for the functioning of the system. In this type of software, the communication between the visual part and the interior of the system takes place through an API. This approach offers greater efficiency as well as scalability, allowing organisations to respond much more quickly to user needs and introduce new services.
Headless enables the simple integration of various MarTech tools, such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms or data analytics. With it, marketers can deliver personalised offers and communications based on user behaviour analysis, increasing customer engagement and satisfaction. This approach also supports an omnichannel strategy, enabling the creation of consistent experiences across platforms and devices. For more on headless technology, check our ebook.
The benefits of MarTech in your business
Implementing MarTech enables companies to increase the efficiency of their marketing efforts and become more relevant to their customers. As the online sales market continues to grow, the importance of marketing technology will increase, making it an integral part of a company's strategy for growth and innovation.
Among the benefits offered by the implementation of MarTech technology are:
- Increased efficiency: Automating processes reduces costs and increases the effectiveness of the marketing team.
- Better understanding of customers: With advanced analytics, companies can better understand customer needs and behaviours, allowing for more personalised marketing efforts.
- Increased revenue: Optimising marketing campaigns and better matching offers to customer needs translates into increased sales.
- Competitiveness: Companies that use MarTech effectively are able to react faster to market changes and stand out from the competition.
Need support in developing your e-commerce platform? Contact us and we will implement MarTech solutions for you, tailored to the needs of your business.