People running digital commerce businesses are in superhero mode right now. They manage the day-to-day demands of tech, merchandising, content, marketing, SEO, customer service, and more while also continually evaluating new partnerships, trends, and features.
But for all their powers, digital business leaders lack the time and tools to step back and see the big picture.
The big picture is not about continual optimizations and separate fiefdoms—it’s about driving substantial business and customer value through a connected and evolved digital commerce ecosystem. It is not an easy or brief undertaking—but it is essential to maturing as a digital business.
How do you get there? Start by understanding where you are and what you need to focus on to evolve with a digital commerce maturity assessment.
Big Picture = Big Results
Despite going through a major redesign or replatform every few years, most digital commerce businesses do not evaluate their entire ecosystem simultaneously. This means separate lines of business––say social or delivery––are evolved in a vacuum. The lack of a holistic view and process hampers the ability to create an optimal path to success.
By evaluating every key area of the business at the same time, you can pave the way for digital business designed to drive continuous, connected customer journeys that result in better relationships and better revenue.
The Astound Digital Commerce Maturity Assessment is rooted in an omnichannel approach by enabling businesses to score their brand, customer experience design, commerce features, technology and platform, content, customer service, omnichannel, marketing, and personalization.
Yes, it’s a lot to look at one time. But to evolve your digital business, you must go beyond your “site” and “optimizations” and make changes that pave the way for a single view of the customer, omnichannel integration, and the notion that every channel and touchpoint is essential to every stage of a customer lifecycle.
Don’t Go it Alone: Ensure Collaboration and Buy-In
Often a vice president or director of ecommerce initiates a digital maturity assessment, but they should involve stakeholders across the entire business for the best results. With multiple stakeholders at the table, you can not only better assess each area but really begin to build the relationships needed to create better connections across channels and customer touchpoints.
As the big-picture roadmap emerges, you will need buy-in from every corner of the organization to evolve into a truly mature digital business. The sooner people are involved in the process, the more deeply they will understand the pain points and payoffs. It is exponentially easier to get buy-in on the long-term roadmap when all stakeholders have been part of creating that roadmap.
Accelerate Your Roadmap and Implementation
A Digital Commerce Maturity Assessment is just a first step, but the good news is that it accelerates the rest of your hike. By starting with a collaborative, holistic assessment, you will have a clear understanding of where you need to focus for maximum value. This understanding will accelerate the digital roadmapping process and potentially save weeks of benchmarking and third-party assessment.
Check out our model or contact us at partnerwithus@astoundcommerce.com to take the next step!