If you’re working in product commercialization, and you’ve never used a Product Information Management (PIM) system, you’re probably experiencing a high volume of day-to-day headaches.
Sales and marketing teams who aren’t using PIM typically struggle when it comes to gathering all the data needed to create the robust customer experiences that today’s digital omnichannel market demands.
Manual Entry Mayhem
Taking a wild guess, you probably have a shared spreadsheet bookmarked that you expect the product teams (engineering, development, quality, etc.) to keep up to date, only to realize half the fields you need are missing information when it comes time to create content.
So you’re dealing with a lot of manual entry, you’re Slacking and emailing back and forth, or just waiting on confirmation—all of which causes a tangible delay in your time to market.
More to the point, these chaotic workflows are liable to cause lower quality customer experiences.
Believe it or not, this is a very common problem among product companies. Research shows that most organizations use laborious, time-consuming methods in their efforts to produce reliable product information, with nearly 80% still dependent on spreadsheets to manage product records.
Given the notably critical role of customer experience when it comes to brand loyalty, there isn’t any wiggle room for getting product information wrong—especially the basics. More than that, the ability to engage with customers on a granular level is increasingly important for outpacing the competition.
Fueling the Engine of Engagement
Product commercialization is the engine that powers strong customer engagement by connecting the product creators with the end users.
When fueled with a constant stream of robust product data, this engagement engine will inevitably:
- Grow revenue & profits
- Accelerate time to market
- Boost loyalty & lifetime value
The importance of PIM software is that product teams work in the same system as the commercial teams, so any updates that are made to the data along the way are instantaneously visible to use in commercialization efforts.
In other words, a common product information platform can significantly improve data accuracy and consistency while simplifying and accelerating omnichannel commercialization.
According to Forrester’s latest research report on PIM, “Enterprises need flexible data models to empower business users to create compelling content and keep up with changing channel requirements by enabling easy attribute creation—without sacrificing governance, security, or a system of record.”
PIM establishes the framework to aggregate, manage, enrich, and distribute product information, enabling the engine of engagement that feeds customer experiences.
Expand Your Content Horizons
As previously stated, when using PIM, commercial teams won’t have that daily headache of hunting down even the most basic product information. In fact, a robust product data hub enables marketers to expand beyond basic information, so their product content includes in-depth descriptions with brand messaging, extensive image galleries, videos, and resource documents.
According to Jupiter Research, this enriched content boosts customers’ intention to purchase by 25% by tailoring localized and contextualized customer experiences in each sales channel.
To recap, PIM empowers product success, giving companies the ability to:
- Speed time to market by reducing manual re-work and streamlining transitions between functional silos
- Drive revenue by providing customers compelling product information and increasing conversions
- Build brand loyalty and increase lifetime customer value through engaging omnichannel experiences
- Capture opportunities for new growth in global or digital markets
(And that’s not to mention the savings on Tylenol.)
Looking for more info on the pitfalls of disconnected product information workflows? Learn how to “Win the Product Race with Tandem Team."
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