Exponea, the global market-leading Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP), launched its “New Normal” framework in response to COVID-19. The framework includes a comprehensive self-assessment exercise, placement on the New Normal Ecommerce Quadrant, and a tailored step-by-step guide to improving a company’s position based on results.
Volatility in customer behavior patterns has drastically increased since the global shelter-in-place mandate, making an already challenging landscape even more unpredictable. In order for businesses everywhere to sustain and grow during this time — particularly those being forced into digital transformation out of necessity — Exponea advocates for maturity improvement in two primary areas:
- Understanding customers: a continuously updated view of how customer behaviors are changing moment to moment
- Understanding capabilities: implementing the digital capabilities needed to execute on understanding; specifically those related to omnichannel communication and quick response times
The New Normal assessment aims to gauge a company’s standing in these two areas and deliver the next steps needed to immediately begin improving their odds of survival.
“Retailers are going to feel the effects of shelter-in-place for a long time, whether or not the mandate is lifted,” said Peter Irikovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Exponea. “Just in the last few weeks, our users have seen an influx of customers, fewer touchpoints to purchase, traditional channels outperforming ‘smart’ or AI-powered channels, wildly different email behaviors, and so on. Their success in the face of all this has been the ability to repeatedly pivot in an instant. We released this framework because we believe it delivers a powerful, yet simple directive for surviving and thriving in the ‘new normal,’ and we want every retailer to be able to take advantage of these insights and launch their digital transformation with the right steps.”
One such example of Exponea’s ability to enable quick pivoting is OluKai, a footwear company with a rich history in Hawaii. In response to COVID-19, they wanted to create supportive messaging that still fit within their brand values, rather than simply address the pandemic. The team initiated a brainstorming session and came up with the idea for a new campaign on Thursday, March 12th. The campaign went live on Friday, March 13th and managed to surpass their average campaign performance.
“OluKai is committed to doing what it takes to overcome COVID-19,” said Steven Johnson, Director of eCommerce. “As health and safety are paramount in every aspect of our business, we’re currently working from home (in sandals) and offering unlimited paid sick leave. Instead of leading with that, our goal with this campaign and everything else we do is to keep sharing our aloha with you, no matter where you are. Exponea allows us to communicate more personally, directly with our consumers in record time. This campaign would have been much more challenging to execute before integrating Exponea into our team.”
