How “Real-Time” is Changing Online Business—for the Better

The web has been responsible for many changes to the way companies do business since companies started using it actively as a business tool. Because it is so widely used there is a constant stream of web trends and innovations, some that stick and some that fade away like the thousands before them. Today however, we’d like to talk about a trend in B2B web marketing that will certainly be around for a while because of the significant benefits it can have for the way that companies do business online.

We’re talking about the increasing availability of real-time data and how this can impact a businesses’ online strategies. In this new business environment it’s all about how quickly you get data and act on it, how fast your respond to your customers, contact leads and address issues. As popular blogger, David Meerman Scott, pointed out, “…public discourse is no longer dictated by the mass media, size is no longer a decisive advantage. Speed and agility win.”

What does that mean for your business? It means that public opinion and brand sentiment is no longer controlled by the large mass media conglomerates of the past. You no longer have to be the biggest to get people to listen to you. It’s all about acting fast and flexibly.

How can real-time data help your business?

Connect with your customers instantly. It’s not always easy to get a hold of your customers. We’ve all been there, people are busy, if your organization is international then some of your customers are in a different time zone, emails get lost or forgotten, things happen and customer-vendor relationships suffer. The real-time web can help change that. Using social media applications like Twitter, allows a constant stream of customer interaction with your social media representatives. Not only does this allow you to instantly communicate with your customers, but it allows you to instantly respond to questions, concerns or simple comments, helping to build and nurture your current relationships.

Address issues as they occur. It’s impossible to address an issue the instant that it happens, but, with real-time web, you can deal with problems a lot sooner than you were able to in the past. Immediate customer support and issue resolution is now possible almost immediately after a problem occurs and it has been shown in several instances that the faster a company addresses a glitch, the better it ends in the long run. No matter what the issue, your customers and fans like to know that a) you’re aware of the problem b) you’re doing your best to handle it quickly c) you care about their concerns.

Understand exactly what’s happening, as it happens. As mentioned in a recent Mashable post, “For a while, a big limitation of online optimization tools was their lack of real-time reporting. Google Analytics, the most popular analytics service out there, can easily take a full day before displaying your data. This was acceptable when the web was static, but as websites become more and more dynamic, the rate at which we analyze and iterate based on collected data has dramatically increased.” Thanks to new applications and awareness, many industries are taking advantage of newer real-time reporting tools. Using applications like Facebook’s “like” button and email software with real-time clickthrough and conversion tracking can help you to see exactly how effective your campaigns and initiatives are, as they’re occurring, so you can optimize your strategies on the go for better results and ROI.

Have a real conversation. Offline conversations don’t take place over a few hours, or a few days like they do often do in business settings via email or phone, and your online conversations shouldn’t either. Your customers want to feel like they’re talking to a real-person and using social media and other real-time tools is the best way to achieve this. Having a real conversation with a customer or lead is invaluable to your lead nurturing and demand generation strategies.

Be forced to optimize your web presence. This is one of the best things about real-time data. The fact is that if you’re website isn’t optimized with the most up-to-date analytics tools, if you’re not testing to see what works and what doesn’t and if you’re not integrating social media into your web presence, then you’re going to fall behind your competitors. It’s no longer acceptable to create a static website and let it sit there and hope that customers will come to you. The need to be constantly optimizing your website based on what’s happening, as it happens is now the strategy of best-in-class business websites, and it should be part of your strategy as well.

Image by n.zeissig on Flickr.

Posted by Amberlie Denny at November 9, 2010 8:00 AM

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