5 Ways Data Integration Improves Your Customers’ Experience

Take a moment and picture the flashiest car you’ve ever seen. More than likely, it has a sleek chassis, a flawless paint job and a few petrol heads hanging around taking pictures for their social media accounts. This car may look a million bucks, yet if you peeked under the hood and saw that it was boasting the engine of a 50cc moped that sounds like a 1980’s hairdryer, your overall impression would quite quickly fade into one of confusion and disinterestedness. The exact same can be said for the experience a customer has when using a company’s eCommerce website.

Instead of a sleek chassis, the website boasts an innovative navigation bar. Immaculate paint job? Compare that to the smooth animations when changing between product and season pages. However, the company’s products page information isn’t up to date, and there are no order tracking details when purchasing an item. The customer’s likely reaction will be to jump ship and buy their products at a competitor because they offer features that contribute towards a positive buyer’s journey.

In the competitive world of eCommerce, it’s an integrated end-to-end tech stack that gives a retailer the best engine on the market to power their business operations. At the heart of this tech stack sits the ERP, such as NetSuite. The free-flowing of critical data generated from every aspect of a company’s operation is visible under one roof, providing countless benefits from an internal and customer experience perspective.

ERP platforms such as NetSuite work as the central hub where companies can act on the numerous benefits of data integration. Let’s take a look at 5 ways you can improve your customers’ experiences by having an integrated tech stack with NetSuite acting as the control room of it all.

Greater Operational Control and Insight

Understanding your customer, their needs, and the level of engagement can take up a considerable amount of time for companies. By utilising a solution such as NetSuite, any eCommerce data generated is immediately available, providing the retailer with decision-making insights and data reports.

This granular level of understanding makes it easy to answer any question a company may be asking, such as what is the most in-demand product according to demographic? Finding the answer becomes incredibly easy as long as the data is relevant to the question asked. Data integration can also help with budgeting or planning requirements that support the creation of more effective marketing strategies that can focus on improving the customer’s overall experience.

Eliminate Human Error

Companies using solutions such as NetSuite correctly should be able to eliminate the chance of human error from their business operations. By automating their backend systems, businesses can eliminate common errors associated with manual processes. From wrongly ordered product quantities, incorrect shipping addresses, missing or incomplete information or even the accidental updating of false prices (customers love a bargain!) – the list of potential manual errors goes on. Through the automation process, the chance of a company falling short to these manual errors goes away and with-it overhead costs, lost sales and most importantly, disappointed customers.

Customer Satisfaction & Improved After Sales Service

With varying degrees of truth to the old adage, ‘the customer is always king’ – the fact is that satisfied customer feedback can help the reputation of a business tenfold. Now, of course, new companies do not gain great customer reputations with the wave of a wand! An excellent reputation comes from the customer’s satisfaction during the buyer’s journey and the continuing support of the after-sales service. These factors are bolstered by a robust and integrated solution that prepares the retailer for any eventuality that may crop up, such as the nightmare of returns and exchanges!

Easily accessible systems such as NetSuite make handling any issues that may arise significantly easier. By integrating your data sources, all the services needed to help the customer while on the buyer’s journey sit nicely under one roof. So, in the occasion of an issue arising, a business can quickly come to the help of the customer without any delays. This efficiency reduces the stress of having to deal with multiple systems and will resonate a positive effect on customer engagement.

The Availability of Real-Time Data

A retail business using an integrated NetSuite can gain access to the data generated by their operations in real-time. Not only does this integration keep the correct inventory balances updated on the eCommerce store(s), but it also stops customers from purchasing out of stock items. Additionally, it factors in the quantity of products sold/ordered in the inventory data held within NetSuite – All in real-time! The level of insight a retailer gains from accessing their real-time data allows more flexibility in a company’s buying decisions, which reduces the chances of losing out on sales or customers to competitors.

Lower Operation Costs

Cloud ERP solutions such as NetSuite not only drastically reduce the amount of human involvement in a business’ daily operations (and the amount of human resources needed) but also cuts operating costs. By automating the process of keeping items, prices and images updated on a company’s online store, there is no need to hire additional staff to manage basic eCommerce operations. Expensive tasks such as downloading orders, updating fulfilment information to the warehouse, and taking payments from the customer can all be automated through an integrated end-to-end retail solution. By saving time on these processes, companies can spend more of their attention and budget creating a positive customer experience that leaves them returning for more!