Paul Writer launches The Rise Of The Modern Marketer, 
Video interview series of CXO’s highlighting best practices and trends in the use of technology for marketing.
Vineet Sehgal
Chief Marketing Officer
Quikr
Use of customer analytics in driving a better marketing plan
Customer analytics is actually the core of what we do at Quikr. Every campaign and decision that we take strongly questions the key matrix. So, no campaign goes out without stating the campaign objectives, continuously monitoring it, taking course correction about basing the performance of the campaign and finally, of course evaluating the campaign in its entirety from an overall delivery perspective. For example, we’ve had cases where we’ve cut down certain campaigns or we have removed bits of the campaign based on the performance of a particular campaign or taken up the spents vice-versa where we believe the campaign has delivered a lot. So, we continuously change the channel mix or the media base that we have based on the performance of the campaign.
” It’s absolutely critical in today’s day and age of social media with real-time information available to consumers all the time. We have very strongly integrated what we call ORM systems, where we have a dedicated team which actually monitors not just social media but also emails, telephone calls and all other means of consumer interaction. We have some of the lowest numbers in terms of consumer complaints actually coming on a social media channel. And our ability to resolve those in a quick time is something we are very proud of.”
Role of technology from customer & organization point of view
We being a digital company, technology is the core or DNA of the organization. If you look at Quikr, it is a platform where come with a specific intent to search, buy, sell and browse stuff. Now if we do not provide a unique and great experience for the consumer, i.e, a seamless journey for the consumer to ride through the entire platform, then the consumers are not going to come back. That’s one.
Secondly, these consumers are a rich source for us to get insights. We use it for revenue generation. So therefore, a lot of the information that we capture about the consumers whether it’s the entire consumer journey, the time they are spending on the site or the kind of content they are consuming on our site are very critical pieces of information for our business. Therefore, technology plays a big role.
Thirdly, as marketer ourselves, these consumers are the ones which are the most critical for giving us revenues. We do profiling of the consumers and reach out to them on other platforms based on the details that we have about the consumers. So both from an organisation and a marketing perspective, the use of technology in giving a seamless consumer experience is very critical.
Incorporate voice of customer into a real-time response
It’s absolutely critical in today’s day and age of social media with real-time information available to consumers all the time. Any brand that feels or thinks that they can get away with not listening to consumers and actually not responding in a near real-time basis is living a fool’s paradise. We have very strongly integrated what we call ORM systems, where we have a dedicated team which actually monitors not just social media but also emails, telephone calls and all other means of consumer interaction.
If you go to our Facebook page, you will actually see the fact that we are pretty quick in responding to any consumer comments. Whether it is a positive comment, consumer complaint or its information that the consumer is seeking; we pretty much reach out to the consumer within the first hour and create a conversation with the consumers. Typically this conversation will be taken offline or to the inbox space, not necessarily on the social page itself. As a result, we have one of the lowest levels and we have done the benchmark with some other e-commerce players in the industry today. We have some of the lowest numbers in terms of consumer complaints actually coming on a social media channel. And our ability to resolve those in a quick time is something we are very proud of.
Biggest challenge with respect to Marketing data and analytics
Data and analytics are a double edged sword. Now today there is so much of data and information that is available. One of the biggest challenges that we, the marketers of today face is to sieve through this data, be able to define what is meaningful and what is not meaningful, what are the key insights one can derive from this data, otherwise, we will be looking at data for the heck of data. One can often get deluged or swamped by the amount of data that is available.
The second big challenge is to really convert that data into meaningful insights. Based on those meaningful insights, take some key decisions. If we have a wrong set of data or if you are looking at the wrong kind of metrics, you will make a wrong decision based on that. So that’s a big challenge about data.
The third thing, I think, which is important from a data perspective is the sources of data. Are you getting the right data from the right source? And there is a lot of technology that is involved in getting the right sources in the right kind of plugins that we have. But sources of data is also a very critical challenge. We look at it all the time. We do not want to over engineer and have too much of information and too many tracking mechanisms. But at the same time, it’s a constant balance that we have to strike between the right information, the right quality and quantity of information.
Role of Marketer changed with focus on Tech and Automation
With the advent of digital, technology and measurability; one of the biggest changes that has happened in Marketing is about accountability. Now, you would have heard about the classical statement, i.e, 50% of marketing is a waste, you just don’t know which 50% is a waste. Now, with the advent of technology, marketers like myself can be directly held accountable. Earlier, a lot of times, the metrics were so much fluffier, there was stuff like, “Oh, the brand engagement went up or the consumer excitement went up.” Now, it’s straight. When you do a campaign, it is asked, did you see a rise in research results? Did you see a jump in your traffic or conversion levels? What was the cost in conversions that you do? Are you able to optimise that over the period of time? So I am actually more accountable now, being a marketer. This is a great thing because that keeps me on my toes, it keeps my team on their toes and there is a thrill in actually knowing the results as well. It’s almost like getting the same feeling as seeing the direct impact of the campaign in real-time basis. So that’s a big shift.
