Having access to information in today’s consumer goods world is not much of a challenge. Finding the right information, at the right time, however, is.

We recently surveyed global product content leaders to find out what they thought about the customer experience (CX) and digital transformation around product content, as well as their business priorities to grow. We commissioned Forrester Consulting* for this study.

Here is what we found around the types of information digital leaders require for successful product performance online.

According to the study, when organizations need to build their online businesses, it’s the customer experience that gains greater importance. And the real-life laboratory to study the impact of digital transformation happened globally in 2020.

As we covered in an earlier post, decision-makers listed the most important elements to executing on top business priorities as: improving the customer experience, driving growth, and growing their eCommerce presence – all ranking higher than reducing costs and customer retention.

Brands must win through experience on digital channels to promote growth.”

The challenges – and creative solutions – utilized in the past year helped to drive digital transformation at an accelerated pace. And helping to win in this environment requires certain types of information to be available.

Leaders were asked about the types of data that helped them best execute on their business priorities.

The three most important business priorities were eCommerce analytics data, Shopper/consumer behavior data, and Market/competitive data according to the Forrester Consulting study.

These digital marketers are looking to gain a more complete understanding of their shoppers by using both behavioral and sales data to understand how to make the most of their programs to engage customers throughout the buying journey. Winning the digital shelf is a brand priority.

However, it is not necessarily a similar priority when looking across global regions.

For example, Shopper/consumer behavioral data was ranked in the top 3 significantly more by EMEA decision makers (73% top 3) than either North America (55%) or Latin America (59%). While all regions ranked this highly, it’s clear that there is an opportunity to deliver more behavioral shopper information to brands in EMEA markets.

ECommerce analytics data was the highest-ranked need, equally across all regions, with no significant differences between them. The same was true of Market/competitive data: Although not as highly ranked as eCommerce analytics, it was rated equally highly across regions.

One interesting data point of note: the fourth data need highlighted in the study was Descriptive and engaging product data (including images and rich media). It was just behind Market/competitive data for the top-three slot. Within this group, leaders in North America ranked the need for Descriptive product data as the number-one need significantly more than their EMEA and Latin America counterparts. This could be an indicator of the more advanced content programs in North America – as well as a potential sign for where growth could come from in the future.

* Commissioned study of 360 global directors and decision-makers for product content management strategy, by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Syndigo, February 2021