Elements involved when selecting platforms.

When considering replacing platforms in your ecosystem, here are some key elements to keep in mind.

Alignment between Business and Technology Strategies:

Whilst it could be the understatement of the century, it is imperative the business and technology strategies are synchronised. The ecosystem is to facilitate and enable the business vision, provide the technological grunt to bring to life its missions.

Evaluating Your Current Ecosystem:

Begin your platform selection process by gaining a comprehensive understanding of your existing technology ecosystem. Identify gaps and redundancies, this analysis serves as a foundation for making informed decisions about what changes or improvements are needed.

Stakeholders, users and their use cases:

Capture requirements in full, but this does not mean being an order taker, if something doesn’t make sense dig deeper into why it’s been requested, achieve clarity through use cases – theme them into buckets and phases (single customer view, compliance, personalisation, automation, operations, governance, next best action, risk management, omnichannel, AI et al), invest the effort and time with being super clear on the various use cases as they will provide the markers you’ll use when plotting your path. 

Technical Debt:

Technical debt can hinder progress and efficiency. Be sure to identify and address any technical debt that may impede the success of your ecosystem. One of the most critical areas to balance especially the trade-offs that are needed.

Effective Ways of Working and Governance:

It is essential to review ways of working and governance to support your platform initiatives. Even the best technology can and will likely underperform when poor ways of working and governance inform how the ecosystem is being brought to bear.

 Time to Value:

Define clear trade-offs, milestones, timelines, and success metrics for your program. Be prepared for potential delays and incorporate buffers into your plans to accommodate unforeseen challenges.

Data:

Data is as valuable to a business as diamonds, diamonds have its 4 Cs – Cut, Clarity, Colour, Carat. Well, for mine, data also have its own Cs, and data goes one better with 5 Cs ­– Capture, Correct, Complete, Current, and Compliant. Data traverses through an organisation and permeates into every corner, be sure to calibrate your actions based on a clear understanding of how well your business has been able to track across each of the 5 Cs.

Budget vs. Business Requirements:

Budget considerations are important, they should not overshadow your assessment of which platform provider best meets your business requirements. Focus on the platform that aligns with your goals, as it will ultimately drive ROI and business growth. Additionally, understand and factor your current contractual obligations, for example, how many days till the contract ends? What are the data extract options? What are the extension options without committing to a renewal if you need more time? All these questions are important to how you manage the process.

Vendor Performance Reviews:

Reviewing vendor performance are vital to ensure that your considering relevant providers. Platforms evolve, and vendor performance can change. Resources like G2 and Forrester provide valuable insights from user reviews.

Navigating the MonetiSation Journey: Somethings to consider…

Monetising an organisation’s owned and operated assets can be an exhilarating journey filled with challenges and rewards. Let’s explore some of the stages of this journey and highlight key strategies and considerations along the way.

Start with a Clear Holistic View

To embark on the monetization journey, it's crucial to gain a clear and comprehensive understanding of your current state. This encompasses various elements such as your go-to-market strategy, brand and audience narrative, assets, structural capabilities, customer and client value proposition, user experience, legal framework, commercial yield and technologies. These are some of the components which plays a vital role in shaping your monetization strategy.

Expect Trade-Offs and the Unknown

It's crucial to understand that trade-offs and uncertainties are inherent in the process.

You may need to make choices that impact other aspects of your business. Additionally, there will always be pockets of unknowns - unexpected challenges and opportunities that can shape the course of your journey. Embracing this uncertainty with the right mindset will be important. 

Prioritisation and Change Management

While prioritisation is an obvious aspect of these programs, what often goes hand-in-hand is the need for change management. Some initiatives may require significant shifts in your business operations, structure, staffing, products or culture. Being prepared and accepting of these changes will be essential to ensure a smooth transition into rapidly realising the monetization potential of your owned and operated assets.

Don't Forget to Have Fun

Amidst the challenges and changes, it's important not to lose sight of the excitement and rewards that come with monetizing your assets. The journey can be incredibly fulfilling as you see your efforts translate into revenue – especially with your C-suite and Board! Remember to celebrate your achievements, both big and small, and enjoy the process.

In conclusion, monetizing your owned and operated assets is indeed a journey, and having a clear, holistic view of your current state is the critical starting point. Expect trade-offs and embrace the unknowns with the right mindset. Prioritize and be prepared for change, and most importantly, enjoy the process.

At Reserata, we understand the complexities of this journey, and we can help you navigate every step of the way and empower you to unlock the full potential of your assets.

Balancing UX and Advertising Solutions: A Recipe for Success

In the journey to monetise your owned and operated assets, striking the right balance between User Experience (UX) and advertising solutions is a constant balancing act a business will perform. However, it’s not as daunting as it may seem or appear. In this piece, we'll explore the core principles and statistics behind UX and advertising solutions, highlighting the importance of contextual relevance, personalisation, meaningful advertising, A/B testing, data-driven experiences, the customer journey, and the interplay between formats, functions, and emotions.

UX Golden Rules & Advertising Solutions Golden Rules

Both UX and advertising solutions adhere to a set of principles that guide their respective fields. Some UX principles, as outlined by the Nielsen Norman Group, include consistency, visibility, user control, and error prevention, ensuring seamless and user-friendly experiences. On the other hand, advertising solutions often revolve around capturing attention, delivering persuasive messages, and driving user actions. 

Contextual Relevance: The Key to Engagement

Contextual relevance is a linchpin in both UX and advertising solutions. Users expect experiences and ads that align with their current context. Google's research shows that 63% of users are more likely to click on ads tailored to their online activities. The ability to provide contextually relevant content greatly influences engagement and conversion rates.

Personalisation Powers Performance

Personalisation has long served as the cornerstone of digital advertising solutions. Multitude of studies has been conducted echoing this point. Such the 2018 study by Accenture Interactive (now Accenture Song), that an astonishing 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that offer personalised experiences. We purposefully use this to illustrate personalisation is not new news.  

A/B Testing / Experimentations: A Data-Backed Approach

A/B testing and experimentation is a powerful tool for UX designers and advertising capabilities alike. In its most simple explanation, it involves comparing two versions to determine which performs better. There is behavioural science which informs how testing and experimentations should be planned and measured too. HubSpot's research reveals that A/B testing can lead to a remarkable 16.9% increase in click-through rates. This method enables continuous improvement in both UX and advertising solutions. Its worth noting, experimentation is not just above having the right tool, it’s also about having it baked into the culture of the business for the benefits of experimentation to be fully realised.

Data-Driven Experiences

Data-driven decision-making is fundamental to UX and advertising solutions. UX designers rely on user data and analytics to refine designs, while advertising harness placements, creative, call-to-action and audience data to be effective. This is where your architectural enablement and data assets plays a vital role in how meaningfully your business can deliver these experiences.

Mapping the Customer Journey

Understanding the customer journey is pivotal for both UX and advertising solutions. UX designers map out the user's path to ensure a smooth experience, whilst advertising identify touchpoints where ads can influence user decisions.

Formats, Functions, and Emotions 

In the convergence of UX and advertising solutions, the choice of formats, functionality, and the campaign’s ability to illicit positive emotional responses are the plates you simultaneously spin. The format of an ad or placement can significantly impact its resonance with the audience. Functionality must align with user expectations for a seamless experience. Emotions, triggered through creative, design and messaging, are essential for both user engagement and persuasive advertising. 

Putting it into practice

To provide some practical application of the above when thinking of how they could make monetising your owned and operated assets meaningful. The below is assuming you are just beginning your monetisation journey.

Start small with repurposing some current assets, select one or two placements on your homepage or category homepage and pick one channel. This will ensure you’re working with the existing UX and minimising user disruptions, it will give you a baseline on how those placements can perform – bear in mind, performance is a collective of the creative, placement, targeting, offer and or call-to-action.

Make sure you have the right tracking in place, so you are collecting the critical data you need to inform your iterations. Targeting is vital, same mindset here, start small – select categories you feel may provide the right size and opportunity to deliver outcomes. In doing this, you are essentially executing a light personalisation capability. Especially if your segmentation and targeting is not quite ready. 

Make sure you have a clear plan for how you want to test and learn, how many campaigns do you have to test with? What are the success metrics? Not all campaigns or creative are equal as we know, measuring them correctly will allow you a balance view of how your journey is going, and what, where and how you can and need to improve.

Finally, how you leverage the above elements depends on the organisation’s maturity levels, the exciting aspect - no matter where the business is on that curve, you always have room to iterate and improve.