Our partners at Iterable share the latest benefits to consolidating your tech stack to help you work smarter, not harder.
There’s nothing worse than when your manager announces yet another marketing tool that your team will have to become familiar with. Don’t get me wrong, there’s an abundance of helpful marketing tools that exist today, but trying to become a power user of multiple platforms is an almost impossible task. Not to mention, you’re probably going to miss out on some crucial—and even overlapping—features. As they say—jack of all trades, master of none.
When we say “consolidated martech stack” we’re referring to a tech stack that makes your life, as a marketer, easier. Rather than having a tool for email marketing, a tool for mobile marketing, and a tool for web marketing, for example, go for the all-in-one tool that can execute all of these functionalities cohesively. Sure, there will still be a learning curve, but there are tremendous benefits to consolidating your tech stack. Let’s dive into them.
First, there’s the obvious benefit: streamlined expenses. There are a bevy of costs that come with a new tool. Rather than paying those new-user costs multiple times, you can consolidate to one platform and reduce the total recurring costs. One vendor means one contract and one contract renewal to negotiate. In fact, according to Forrester, brands saw a 40% reduction in costs associated with subscriptions, data storage, integrations, and maintenance when consolidating platforms.
Next, is improved efficiency. By having all of your information in one place, it’s easier to find what you’re looking for. Rather than switching back and forth between platforms, having to reset each time you type in a new login, you’ll be able to easily and efficiently move from task to task, all within one platform. According to Progress, the average enterprise uses upwards of 120 marketing tools. Clean out that LastPass, you won’t need 120 different logins anymore.
We’ve all heard “one team, one dream,” but let’s reimagine it for martech consolidation—one team, one tool (give or take). When your team uses a handful of tools to accomplish a variety of tasks, the most logical way to get the biggest ROI is to divide and conquer. Everyone takes a tool they think they can master and eventually become power users. The issue is when you take a vacation and no one on the team knows how to get at the data you have so artfully organized in your tool. According to a survey by Airtable and Forrester, “30% of respondents’ weeks are spent trying to find the right data and information – sapping 2.4 hours daily.” But, with a consolidated tool, everyone knows how to use the same tool, everyone speaks the same language—whether you’re a team of one or a team of 100.
In the same vein as increased productivity is having a single source of truth (SSOT). As we defined, “A single source of truth, or SSOT, refers to the practice of aggregating all of your business data from a variety of systems into one centralized data platform.” Having centralized data means having all of the same customer data, performance data, analytics, etc. in one location. With multiple tools you may have different user data, for example, across the various platforms—how do you know which is correct? A SSOT gives your team the confidence to move forward and develop campaigns that will resonate with your customers.
Lastly, we wouldn’t be Iterable if we didn’t mention cross-channel data. Developing a cross-channel marketing strategy starts with the data you have access to. The way each individual user interacts with each marketing channel is different. Say you have a customer who shops in-app, opens only transaction SMS messages, and only clicks through abandoned cart emails, with three different marketing platforms (one for each channel) you wouldn’t have an understanding of this holistic view.
Instead, you’d see someone who shops in-app but doesn’t open transactional push notifications or abandoned cart push notifications. Maybe it’s the wrong time of day, so you test some at different times. You’d also see someone who doesn’t open promotional SMS—maybe the format is wrong. Maybe adding a coupon will fix it. You’d also see someone who only clicks through abandoned cart emails. Maybe they’d click through a transactional email if the subject line was different
Without the ease of seeing this data in one platform, you keep trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist—not to mention frustrating the customer with numerous, likely redundant, marketing messages—when really, the user likes all of these message types, just on different channels.
There are really no downsides to a consolidated martech stack. Reducing expenses, improving efficiency, increasing productivity, maintaining a SSOT, and enabling cross-channel data are just the tip of the iceberg.
Of course, there are going to be areas where gaps still need to be filled. No one platform can encapsulate the capabilities of 120 different tools. That’s where integrations and partnerships (like the one we have with Indicia Worldwide) come into play. You likely already have a stack of tools in place, so by using a customer communication platform that integrates with your existing tools, you’re consolidating in a way that allows you to work smarter, not harder.
To learn more about Iterable’s AI-powered cross-channel communication capabilities and how you can start to consolidate your martech stack, schedule a demo today.