What’s new – Emarsys Customer Engagement – SAP Marketing 

A new product, new features and of course a new approach. 

In my previous article, we talked about SAP’s cooperation with Emarsys and the comparison of both marketing solutions. What’s new – Emarsys Customer Engagement! SAP made the planned acquisition and added a new member to the CX family, Emarsys Customer Engagement. Subsequently, in the first quarter of 2022, SAP signaled that it would continue its path on the Marketing side only with SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement. On top of that, I would like to talk to you about what will change in the time to come.  sap marketing what’s new SAP emarsys customer engagement

Position of CX Products / Product Change in Marketing

The marketing solutions currently offered by SAP are SAP Marketing Cloud and SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement. We will now have a look at the SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement product within the Marketing section of the CX portfolio.

In fact, it was anticipated that SAP would follow the strategy of SAP Marketing Cloud for B2B-oriented customers and Emarsys Customer Engagement strategy for B2C-oriented customers. However, it was stated that by 2022, only the Emarsys Customer Engagement product will be offered to both B2B and B2C customers. 

Changes

With this evolvement, Emarsys, which was previously purely B2C focused, will now serve both customer portfolios, with SAP UI adaptation and necessary B2B developments. In the  following “Autumn 2022” upgrade, one of the biannual product upgrades, B2B-based SAP CX integrations & some business scenarios – such as SAP Sales Cloud and Commerce Cloud – will be implemented to the platform.

Most likely, these will cover the topics like Out-of-the box B2B Tactics to be used to win, succeed and grow customer engagements. Next, we can talk about integrations that help sales teams to receive more information about Marketing campaigns. Moreover, segmentations and personalized campaigns for customers’ behavior across all customer touch points on Commerce platforms are created. 

SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement as SAP’s One and Only – Marketing product?

From now on, the SAP Marketing Cloud Plattform just needs to be upgraded twice a year instead of every 3 months. It is not known when exactly, but if Emarsys’ dominance in the B2C field will continue after B2B add-ons – which is expected – it seems that Emarsys can be announced as SAP’s “One and Only” product in the Marketing field in the coming years. sap marketing what’s new sap emarsys customer engagement

Approach with Emarsys and Customer Engagement Advantages

One of the most important things that Emarsys brings with it may be the way of marketing. Furthermore, we can evaluate Emarsys from many different perspectives, but in the shortest and most concise way, we can define it as an Omnichannel Marketing platform. More than that, it draws enough attention to the same point as the product name, Customer Engagement. Here, in fact, one step beyond the pre-existing Multichannel Marketing concept; We are talking about customer centric, a form of marketing in which different communication channels work in cooperation. 

Websites as one of the most important touchpoint to improve Customer Engagement

Especially the communication of the system with the Web channels is one of the aspects that makes it the most powerful. After tough Covid process, it can be seen that the importance of online shopping has increased exponentially and it has become perhaps the customer touchpoint that provides the most revenue for companies. With Home Office occupying a large space in business life, people have almost completely indexed their lives to their homes. This increased the usage rate of digital channels and especially the percentage of visiting E-Commerce platforms for online shopping. That’s why Websites became the most important Strategic Transactional Touchpoint.

“Post-Pandemic Reality” is the new term which describes  this impact. Consequently, companies which use this channel effectively and correctly, will increase their revenue. Emarsys’ powerful standard E-Commerce integrations such as Magento, Shopify and SAP Commerce Cloud provide a fast and secure connection on key issues such as real-time data exchange, personalized recommendations and offers.  

Customer Engagement Tactics

For each of the strategies such as reaching potential customers, directing them to their first sale, keeping the customer active after sales, Emarsys offers Ready-to-Use Tactics. These tactics allow us to create unique ready to deploy customer journeys. Online and offline channels can be included in a single campaign automation, which provides users with a wide variety of communication with the customers. For example, while sending a personalized voucher code via E-Mail, it is possible to send the same code as a print advertisement to your customers’ homes by mail, thanks to Deutsche Post integration. 

Emarsys as centralised personalization platform

Emarsys, on the other hand, is a centralized personalization engine and has strong potential for D2C. In today’s marketing, the most critical point of communication with customers is “1:1 personalization”.  This is based on taking into account their wishes and bringing them one step closer to their wishes in every shared content. Companies that use advanced personalization are seeing a $20 return for every $1 spent, and 95 percent of companies that implement personalization see 3x ROI in the year after the personalization investment, according to Emarsys.

Omnichannel Data collection for improved Customer Engagement

The key here is to collect as much necessary and accurate data as possible. For example, collecting data from multiple channels to evaluate the customer’s behavior in digital channels along with their purchases in the In-Store. This is the necessary starting point for the realization of omnichannel understanding. Subsequently, interactive – effective – impressive content with personalized product recommendations that drive sales & revenue will be delivered to each customer group separately. sap marketing what’s new sap emarsys customer engagement

More about SAP’s D2C reports and articles, here. Also, we will be sharing some great examples about D2C possibilities within Emarsys on our website. 

Important integrations for an omnichannel approach

APIs establish an  integration with third-party systems, as well as with standard integrations with SAP CX products. This is one of the best ways to collect data accurately, quickly and synchronously. An  Integration with SAP Customer Data Cloud can help to operate on a single source of truth for digital consumers and messaging consent.

In addition, as interactional data sources, SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Commerce Cloud will have a very important place in knowing the customer and gathering information about their behavior. Reporting is the last step of the Marketing journey that should not be forgotten. Moreover, a HANA-based SAP Analytics Cloud is one of the integrations that should be preferred in terms of profit and earnings. Additionally, it contributes to see the measurable results of all marketing efforts and to determine new strategies before and after follow-up sales.   

In the picture above you can see some specific pre-built Tactics as an example for SAP Commerce Cloud-based scenarios. They can be activated to share your actions with your customers by just a few clicks regarding your wishes. Extremely timesaving! 

Further Advantages

It should be mentioned that with Emarsys, it is possible to send operational content, next to Marketing content from the system, via SMS, E-Mail or Push notifications channels. For example, one can determine the status of the order and the actions to be taken in the customer’s journey in advance. This helps customers to combine operational and behavioral data. Here, too, the integrative feature of the Omnichannel approach draws attention. sap marketing what’s new sap emarsys customer engagement

This schema shows exactly the meaning of working with inbound and outbound as harmonized within the system. Most important key step is to gather the most valuable and useful data into the Emarsys Platform. After that, all you need to do is to work on your marketing strategies and business processes while enjoying user-friendly UI screens. As a consequence of all your effort, just watch the growth on your sales revenue, brand awareness, and your customers’ satisfaction. 

The future of SAP Marketing Cloud 

With this strategic change of SAP in the CX area, the product focus in the market will be on Emarsys. However, this change does not mean that every company has to switch to Emarsys immediately or give up the SAP Marketing Cloud solution. In the next few quarters, the SAP Marketing Cloud product will continue to receive scheduled updates at 6-month intervals.  

Summary

In this direction, naturally, companies that are already using the SAP Marketing Cloud will have current and potential needs for sure. As Codeitlabs, together with our consultants who have taken part in many different SAP Marketing projects before, we are ready to use the current possibilities of the system for both technical and process-based requests of our customers (we are happy to use them). All you need to do is contact us. 

You’re not alone 🙂 sap marketing what’s new sap emarsys customer engagement

I hope this article has helped you in the best way possible. I will include more articles about this new strategic structuring in the CX area. You can follow articles like this both on our Codeitlabs website and on our Linkedin page. I will also be sharing important projects, market data/statistics and enjoyable functional exchanges that have been implemented specifically for the Emarsys product. 

We would be pleased to share our knowledge and experience with you. Please get in touch, if you are interested to get more information. 

Written by Dogan Denizci