Tag: Expert Up Close

Omnichannel solutions have become essential for organisations hoping to provide smooth and consistent consumer experiences in today’s quickly changing digital market. In contrast to conventional multichannel methods, which frequently function in isolation, omnichannel tactics incorporate every consumer interaction point—website, physical store, social media, and mobile applications—into a single and seamless experience.

In more recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) to these solutions has been monumental in terms of effective reach to customers by brands. By leveraging AI, brands can analyse vast amounts of data from various touchpoints to gain deep insights into customer behaviour and preferences. This data-driven understanding enables brands to personalise interactions at an unprecedented scale, offering tailored recommendations, targeted marketing campaigns, and proactive customer support. 

To learn more about the role of AI in optimising current omnichannel strategies for both brands and marketers, we sat down with Asnawi Jufrie, Vice President & General Manager of Southeast Asia at SleekFlow as part of our Expert Up Close interview series to discuss the trends and technologies influencing the future of omnichannel, and how is SleekFlow contributing into developing new measures for effective omnichannel strategies.

What will influence the future of omnichannel

To begin the discourse on improving omnichannel experiences, Jufrie stressed that the use of AI in omnichannel experiences is based on doing more with less, as brands are looking to increase their revenue while also reducing costs.

For him, there are three key trends for the future of omnichannel: all-in-one, referring to unified and integrated communication channel solutions for brands; AI-powered conversations that refer to smart choices made by AI model integrations to deliver appropriate messaging to customers; and automated workflows that refer to the seamless communication to customers through integrated messaging like call-to-action and quick replies.

Much of these trends for the future of omnichannel are rooted in the rising success of social commerce, with Jufrie citing a Statista study of how global social commerce sales is forecasted to reach USD$8b by 2030–and certainly a promising space to watch out for.

“Since the e-commerce industry has been growing on a monumental scale, social commerce has been a game-changer, it has reshaped the way people discover, engage with and purchase products online. Consumers are now more than ever inclined to interact with brands on social messaging platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, because that’s where most of their daily personal interactions take place,” he said.

How SleekFlow is responding to omnichannel trends and challenges

Jufrie further noted in the interview that SleekFlow’s strength in providing efficient omnichannel relies on hitting the marketing and sales aspect of the ideal customer persona (ICP). In order to hit the target of ICPs for businesses, he enlists three things that should be on top of mind for marketers: lead generation, lead qualification, and lead nurturing/engagement.

These key takeaways–which are part of the overall omnichannel experience–revolve around the ideal acquisition of a potential customer, sorting out using AI on quality leads for sales, and having current customers stay for the longer run through retention and loyalty strategies.

Meanwhile, the three things that should be on top of the mind of marketers in terms of sales revolve around the SCD acronym: speed to lead, collaboration, and data ownership. As sales teams chase quality leads to convert them into retaining customers, there should also be a system where there is a unified solution that encourages collaboration within an organisation in terms of support and marketing.

“Besides sales and marketing, we also recognise the impact that customer support can bring in lead procurement, engagement, conversion and customer retention. SleekFlow aims to help businesses stay competitive and be closely connected with customers from the beginning to the end, and maintain healthy repeat customer cycles,” he said.

Interestingly, he also shares data that customer conversion from a landing page only accounts for 2%, and only 17% converted from those opening an EDM. However, in the case of chat channels, opening rates on WhatsApp specifically account for almost 98%. The question is: how do you execute an omnichannel strategy that will get addressed immediately by the customer?

“The most important thing here is to make sure [that] you’re giving the right copies, the right people with the right messaging. If you can infuse [with] AI as well, you’re saving a lot of time which reduces your cost [and] enables you to increase your revenue, because you are giving people relevant things,” he explained.

By having an effective chat-driven omnichannel strategy, it relieves the business’ pain point in having to switch between different platforms or tools, so employees can focus on faster, more accurate, and streamlined communication on one single platform. On the other end, customers will also experience a smooth journey from discovery to purchase, increasing sales conversions and brand loyalty.

“SleekFlow incorporates both automation workflows and AI chatbot, along with other AI features such as writing assistant, smart reply and data-driven AI insights and analysis. Sales & marketing teams and customers can benefit from this, as it saves a significant amount of time on all ends, enhancing productivity, optimised engagement, and the overall chat experiences,” Jufrie further explained.

Engaging with customers effectively to build loyalty through AI integration

When there’s a discussion about building loyalty, Jufrie stresses the importance of having the support team also aiding in the process, as they will be responsible for promoting repeated purchases–the ultimate goal of loyalty. For that to happen, brands need to understand customers and let their voices be heard, whether through ratings, surveys and even direct messaging.

“We should be building and improving products and services based on the voice of the customer so we can continually evolve, and continually give the customers what they want so that we promote the whole idea of repeated purchases which allows brands to have better lead procurement, engagements, conversions, as well as retention,” he stated.

Bringing up his previous points, he then stresses how AI integration for these solutions will help brands focus on making data-driven decisions for their omnichannel strategies for customers, adding that leveraging AI data analytics allows brands to gain exclusive insights into customer behaviour, preferences, and market trends. This will then enable brands to make informed decisions and anticipate changing consumer needs.

Moreover, he shares that brands can also invest in AI talent and partnerships, to build a team with AI expertise or partner with AI service providers to embrace newer technologies and place greater attention to the implementation of AI solutions.

“My last advice is “better late than never”. I believe brands should continually position themselves at the forefront of AI integration, drive innovation, and meet the evolving needs of their customers in a rapidly changing market landscape,” he concluded.

Learn more about his insights on omnichannel strategies by checking out the full interview below:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for a long time. But for the past few months, it has accelerated and taken the marketing industry by storm, giving marketers unprecedented opportunity while opening more doors on how to distil its power to full capacity. Although iterations of the use of AI are now being witnessed, there are still some questions surrounding the technology. 

In the world of marketing, MARKETECH APAC wanted to uncover how brands can use AI for success, and in doing so, what challenges they can prepare for, as well as what opportunities can be gained through AI innovation.. For that, we turn to Konrad Feldman, CEO & co-founder of Quantcast–the adtech that specialises in AI-driven real-time advertising, audience insights, and measurement.

In the latest Expert Up Close interview, we sat down with Feldman to learn his expert insights on the emergence of AI and how marketers can use it as a powerful tool to deliver excellence in their marketing initiatives. 

Firstly, according to Feldman, the innovation of AI has moved past itself, it is not just ‘one thing’ but an umbrella of approaches. What makes it a true mark of growth in this digital age is the fact that it can interact with what has been democratised for everyone; information on the open internet.

Right off the bat, productivity is the biggest benefit of AI, and for marketers, this means being able to have more room to do the jobs they were meant to do, better..

“There’s going to be all sorts of companies launched and tools that sit on top of these [large language] models that will help us with productivity and that will help us get through our work quicker, freeing up marketers to be more creative and more and more innovative. I think everyone should be testing these things to get a feel for themselves,” he said. 

Konrad also added that the more we can set these tools to understand the data patterns to be able to predict the right audiences and to autonomously optimise campaigns, it frees people up to do things that people are still much better at doing.

“One of the more intricate use cases of AI for marketers is being able to narrow down which audience segments are best to reach for an advertising campaign”, stated Feldman. 

“So one of the key benefits [of AI] is helping [to] decide which set of consumers would be best to reach for an advertising campaign. In any market, there’s a large potential [audience], but the reality is, very few marketers want to reach the entire audience.”

Many advertisers have an increasing amount of information on their customers. Feldman gave the example of an airline that has a route to San Francisco and is promoting tickets for that destination could have many hypotheses by which someone could become a customer. But even with a large number of people, it would only be able to identify a subset of those motivations. 

And this is where programmatic advertising enters the picture and leverages machine learning, which can more systematically assess the characteristics of customers that may be interested in a brand’s offer. 

Ultimately, Feldman said there are different types of AI for different types of problems, but just like any other technology, one should start not with the goal of simply using technology. 

“You should start with the goal of solving a specific problem,” he said. 

Overall, machine learning and AI algorithms work as an optimisation process where they are trying to minimise some errors and maximise some value, so one must be able to provide the incentive for the way the algorithm learns. 

“Be really clear about the problem that you want to solve and how you’ll measure success. I think that’s an important framing – having a clear understanding of what success looks like.” 

Another important thing — the willingness to experiment. 

“Be willing to experiment, recognise that not everything you try with new technologies is always going to work straight off.”

He elaborated by saying that if something doesn’t work and you can understand why, that’s how you learn in advance.

He then concluded, “So getting a model where you’re able to experiment and learn quickly is powerful. And that’s the last thing I’d say – experiment. These new products that are available based on [breakthroughs] and the availability of data is such that we’re seeing some really interesting, emergent properties from these models. And they’re available, and they’re accessible. And anyone can go and use them. Just try them out!”

Watch the full interview with Feldman here. 

As the post-pandemic shapes the way where brands should go, MARKETECH APAC features a leader in the advertising industry to share with us what companies should do and improve upon after these unprecedented changes.

Originally from Asturias in the North of Spain and currently based in Dubai, MARKETECH APAC features Alberto Canteli, the chief executive officer for Havas Group in the Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the CommonWealth of Independent States, Turkey, the Middle East, as well as Southeast Asia, Korea & Japan. 

A truly-frequent flyer, Alberto joined the group in 2000, and he has been a key pillar on the international expansion of Havas Group during the first decade of the new millennium. 

In our conversation, Alberto mentioned that the pandemic has obliged us to be fully digital, to become fully technological, and to become much more flexible and ready for the next changes that are coming in the next decades.

“I think the pandemic has strengthened several values. I think what we all want is to build a future that is a bit more balanced, and a future that takes care of nature a bit more, a future that is focused more on health and well-being,” said Alberto on what brands should be aware of after the pandemic. 

On sustainability, Alberto commented, “The backbone of our core positioning is sustainability. We are a meaningful brand agency. This is how we position ourselves. We want to build a better world through the construction of brands as well as the construction of meaningful connections between brands and society.” 

In the interview, Alberto further discussed his insights on sustainability and purpose and how it goes hand in hand in running a business. 

Head on to Spotify to listen to the full conversation. 

If you are a marketing or tech leader who wants to share your industry journey and insights, email us at [email protected].

As digital experiences continually see unprecedented changes, MARKETECH APAC sat down with a leader in the tech space to share with us how it is to carry leadership at a time of great transformation on the internet and among digital consumers. 

Steve Tzikakis, the global CEO of Sitecore, one of the leading digital experience platforms (DXP), conversed with us to share his principles as a tech and growth leader as well as his insights on the further realisation of Web 3.0 and the evolution of customer experience management (CXM). 

Watch some of the highlights of the interview with Sitecore’s Steve Tzikakis

Steve, who’s had extensive leadership in the tech industry, and was formerly president of software development SAP for EMEA South, joined Sitecore as its CEO in 2020. 

“We really wanted to push the company forward towards innovation,” Steve says of his jump to Sitecore.

Products innovation, customer-centricity, and the partners in the ecosystem are what Steve believes to be the three most important focuses for any company eyeing innovative growth. 

“For me, it’s not just about the leader’s mindset, but it’s what the leaders do to enable [and] accelerate growth,” he said. 

With the inevitable pivot of businesses such as Sitecore to strategising for the new Web 3.0, Steve imparts his views on the new dimension of the internet. 

“It’s all about democratising data on one hand, at the same time, accelerating the metamorphosis of content, and how you go into augmented realities, how you have more uses of artificial intelligence – all of these things are core parts,” said Steve. 

In the conversation, Steve shared further about his significant learnings as a tech leader, his views on the looks of CXM in the post-pandemic as well as the role of the evolving corporate work structure in delivering excellent customer experiences. 

Head on to Spotify to listen to the full podcast on the interview.

If you are a marketing or tech leader who wants to share your industry journey and insights, email us at [email protected]. 

In a close interview with MARKETECH APAC Founder Joven Barceñas, Shahid Nizami, the new regional vice president for Asia-Pacific of US-based SaaS unicorn ActiveCampaign, shares the career journey he’s had in the marketing tech space, and bares with us his professional stand on current issues in marketing as well as the biggest learnings he’s gained through his longevity in the industry. 

Nizami, who is a Google, Oracle, and Hubspot alum, boasts more than 17 years of experience in the marketing tech space. 

Of what makes him stay, he shares, “All [these] years, the love for marketing has only grown, especially having been at Google, and [seeing] how marketing can really change the world and [seeing] the impact of that.” 

He continues, “Over these years, the MarTech world has changed a lot. Every single year that graph only grows bigger and bigger. This means that there are more complex problems which need to be solved.”

During the conversation with Nizami, we also didn’t let the opportunity slip to ask his opinion on the recent OCBC catastrophe in Singapore – the phishing scam that had nearly 500 customers losing their money amounting to at least S$8.5m. This drove financial bodies in the country to order the removal of all clickable links in emails and SMSes sent to retail customers – an action that has now become an important matter of customer experience. 

“As a marketer, you might think at the first go that – what does it mean for us? But I believe, and I strongly believe that anything that improves the end customer experience is actually a good thing,” said Nizami. 

“And it’s about how do you convert this opportunity where customers are losing trust in their banks? It is a problem into an opportunity where now the banks are like, how can we earn their trust back?” he added. 

Listen to the full conversation between Barceñas and Nizami over at Spotify, where Nizami shares further on what has been his biggest challenge as a marketer in the past 2 decades and whether he, in the future, also plans to join others who have decided to establish their own companies.

If you are a marketing or tech leader who wants to share your industry journey and insights, email us at [email protected].