How Specialty Chemical Companies Can Demonstrate Value for Customers through Website Improvements
Chris Mulvaney is the CEO of CMDS. I make things... I’m the creative entrepreneur with passion for (re)making brands and inventing solutions to problems no one knows exist.
Website improvements and digital presence can grant chemical companies the power surge they need to tap into additional earnings and capture competitor sales more than ever before.
But they must act now.
The Great News: The chemical sector is one of the strongest performers in its value chain, and its success in the global equity market makes its shareholders very happy.
The Not-So-Great News: History has shown that continuing down the same path over and over can sometimes wear it down. In response, a change, of course, is necessary due to all of the advances in productivity. And where are these new advances coming from?
Digital.
Hiring the right digital marketing team ensures that your company can extract the true value from enhanced digital services.
Digital Enhancements
With millennials entering the workforce in droves and companies evolving towards digitization, the elements of success have changed. This is also proving to be evident in the chemical industry, where digitizing commercial operations could be worth more than $200 billion in additional earnings. And until recently, one overlooked area where change is needed most is in the sales and marketing for chemical companies. The industry is evolving and existing efforts need to be challenged.
Truth be told, the chemical industry is not about to be upended by this new digital sphere. With comprehensive regulations and steadfast investment requirements, they are an industry sound in rules and barriers. That being said, there is still a great opportunity to tap into readily available digital approaches to marketing and sales that could mean the difference between upending a competitor – or yielding to one.
In addition, digital technology is becoming crucial because customers are demanding an integrated online-offline experience. In response to that, chemical companies must invest in these available digital solutions, both internally and in customer-facing relations, to amplify their competitive potency.
So what are the sources of digital value to the chemical industry? A great web designer can zero in on where the polarity plays out on a digital effort. They look at the scale of each opportunity and prioritize the focus.
Here, one can use the Focus Five method. Focus on five main areas of opportunity to transition your website from an “online brochure” to a fully interactive ethos.
Biopsy your current website.
Consider the value chain.
Enabling new organic growth by using enhanced digitalization could affect every part of the company’s value chain, from the product to the consumer. It is imperative that a talent pool of various trams be set up to strategize everything from marketing and sales to research and product development. This cross-referencing allows the findings to be turned into new opportunities for website value.
Catalyze new growth.
Capture the opportunity by understanding the needs of end-users.
Having an understanding of the needs of end-users serves the company best. Using teams to research, observe and understand what they are looking for in a product and what refinements they would like to see. An integrated and real-time website that is able to cross-match with existing offers and products can make a huge difference in profit via these digital enhancements.
Gain better access to your customers through digital osmosis.
Learn who your customers are, then identify what they need.
So far, chemical companies have not embraced online sales as much as they could. As much as consumers may like to speak to someone about a product initially, studies show that a fully integrated website that serves information with comparisons is preferred by up to 75% of customer-bases. It complements the sale and helps the end-user with research by encouraging ongoing interactions with the site. As a result, digital enhancements to keep up with the progression of this preferred approach is becoming more of a need than an option.
Extract the data for better decision-making.
Use analytics to make decisions, not guesswork.
The chemical industry, while still reliant on its shareholders and traditional history, tends to take this too far by using opinions of senior staff and not extracting analytic data. A huge cross-section of teams from various departments can highly benefit from a better decision making process. If the company was set up to use advanced analytics to mine data, it could improve the productivity of the sales force, distribution rank and supply chains. Senior leaders should not be relying on gut feelings when it comes to developing targeted initiatives. The benefits of advanced analytics to improve connectivity and sales growth are intelligent and can yield dramatic results.
Cultivate a better customer experience.
Make them like you, make them really like you.
Trust and value have always been the cornerstone of any industry’s success. And enhanced digital allows chemical companies to please their customers by improving their journey in the areas of research and sales. Customer experiences are optimized and more satisfactory.
Focus on the top digital weaknesses on the site. Service issues? Poor response times? Information not in real-time? Address those issues in order of priority. Redesign according to those weaknesses and strategically implement a focused digital effort according to scale. This will allow you to create an enhanced digital interface in order to achieve a seamless customer journey. This will not only increase sales and satisfaction to the customer but the increased sales and lowered sales and admin costs will make both the shareholder and company leaders very happy.
Take the steps now.
Digital is rapidly changing how chemical companies operate. Begin this journey by using an experienced web professional to assist your company in identifying digital enhancement opportunities. Prioritize in order of value. Set clear budgets, follow up on implementation and aim to excite proven value for your customer base.
Keep in mind that your digital platform will now be a huge part of your competitive advantage. How much value your company extracts from these important enhancement implementations will, like the chemical industry itself, depend on using a combination of the right formula to create the best result.