Boyle
Software
A Beyondsoft Company

Revolutionizing data analytics using Adobe Experience Manager

Overview

We have been working with this major automobile manufacturer in North America since 2008, providing expert support for platform operations, digital enablement, and marketing analytics. This case study looks specifically at the role of a Content Management System (CMS) in transforming the company’s relationship with content, and marketing analytics - how data analysis has helped this automotive giant gain greater insights into its marketing efforts.

This company has been a market leader in the deployment of online car configuration tools – the ability for a consumer to customize their car’s component features online prior to purchase. Our aim was to increase engagement and conversion with this tool, since the existing content management system was a legacy platform that simply was not capable of providing usable analytics beyond mere reports and was not providing an efficient way to manage content.

Project Outcome Metrics

  • 30% reduction in bounce rates

  • 55% increase in pages viewed per visit

  • 30% of all product configurations converted

A cool looking car in an underground garage

Challenge

Use data to reduce inefficiencies and increase value-add activities

The Automotive sector is hugely competitive, and major brands are consistently looking for ways to gain an edge over their competitors. This industry is also extremely innovative and has seen major advancements recently in the way that consumers interface with these major brands. The time when the automotive sector would rely heavily on intermediary sales teams is disappearing and the reliance on solid marketing data and brilliant digital direct-to-consumer experience is increasing.

This leading brand has been at the cutting edge of automotive innovation since the 1950s, when they introduced their revolutionary ‘Production System.' This system highlighted eight areas of waste in a typical manufacturing process and heralded a seismic shift from mass production to lean manufacturing. This corporate philosophy continues to this day: how can we continue to reduce inefficiencies and increase value-add activities? The challenge could only be met if they could move away from their legacy open-source CMS. But this meant infrastructural change within their IT system as well as organizational behavioral change. It also required the careful migration of data since the legacy system had been in place for some time. Finally, we would be required to ensure that every ounce of value-add could be garnered from the new system in order to move this automotive giant not only to parity, but beyond what their competitors were achieving.

Solution

Assessing needs and picking the right technological solution

As is always the case, we began with a consultative overview of the project. There was already a healthy and trusting relationship in place between the two parties, but any new project needs focus and accurate articulation. Our team’s role was to service the client’s in-house analytics team whilst ensuring that the client's other relevant 3rd party partners and stakeholders were also involved.

The client demanded a best of breed CMS solution for their upgrade. Our team is packed with experts in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) and knew that its functionality would be ideal, so it was decided this was the most appropriate platform. From years of experience, we know that AEM provides a number of advantages:

  • The AEM platform is extremely efficient

  • The platform provides opportunities for reusability

  • The user interface is very simple and error-proofed

  • A template approach means content can be published much more easily

Outcomes

This project produced a variety of brilliant results for our client:

  • Content could now be uploaded directly by the marketing team, rather than having to go via the development team. Not only does this remove one process step, but it also means greater ownership of a key marketing tool by its rightful team. This means more transparency, accountability as well as time savings.

  • The process of checking content became a much lighter-touch process of validation, which is both more cost effective in the long term, and produces fewer errors.

  • New, dynamic content could be used by content authors which was much more likely to appeal to the target audience.

  • Analytics were more insightful and easier to obtain. Their production no longer needed the intervention of data analysts who instead were free to concentrate on their own value-add activity.

Perhaps the most valuable outcome is that the quality of the insights themselves was far higher than before. Information about user behavior on the customer configurator was much more detailed and granular. The client could see exactly which parts of the web application were working and why…and which were not delivering. This in turn informed SEM/ SEO decisions about the use of tactical keywords.

At last, this company had an efficient, accurate CMS providing real insights that they know they can rely on. The client reported back on greater data accuracy, lower cart abandonment, and better conversion and improved user feedback. What really appealed to this client was that this project linked right back to their original TPS from the 1950s: the removal of waste. They were able to have the right people working on the right jobs – marketers doing the marketing, developers doing the coding. Additionally, they gained insights that they were not expecting at the start of the project. A key example of this would be the ability to view analytics through the eyes of the customer: they were able to discern how many people are actually scrolling all the way down each page on the car configurator. We even went a step further by developing and executing a brand new tool call ‘decibel insight.' This is a session replay tool that enables on page activity to be analyzed in great detail. This means that pages can be tweaked and adjusted based on large data samples in order to better respond to user requirements dependant on their intent.

30%

reduction in bounce rates

>55%

increase in pages viewed per visit

>30%

of all product configurations converted