In an interview with Lindsay McEwan, CRO at imagino, he stresses that peak seasons are an excellent opportunity for retailers to take advantage of and interact with their customers.
What does your company do and what is your USP?
Imagino is a brand-new software company, that provides a composable revenue-first Customer Data Platform, for marketers who think big, but need to act fast. It allows brands to connect consolidate and activate their customer data to generate exceptional customer experiences.
Our ability to create an agile and customisable solution gives brands the flexibility to meet their specific data needs without the hassle of revamping or replacing their entire infrastructure, which is what sets us apart. The key is agility, imagino can help marketers respond to the market, economy, trends and even a piece of inspiration in a matter of weeks.
We are challenging brands to rethink their strategies on how to get actual value from their ever-complex channels and data. You don’t need all the data; you need the right data. It is about focusing on what will bring the most immediate benefit to the brands themselves and helping them be reactive to the market.
How do you deliver on this USP?
One of the ways that we deliver on this USP is adopting a use-case first approach. We solve the single problem you have today and build from there. We don’t want brands to start a digital project that might solve all the problems they could have at some vague point in the future. I mean, if they need to get from A to B today, they don’t start building a new transportation infrastructure that will be able to get you from A-to-Z next year.
The brands already have all the data they need, leave it where it is. Draw on it when it’s required for the specific use case, and then write it back to where it came from when you have used it, with the appropriate updates. It’s all about how we can accommodate your challenges and solve them. I truly believe that our approach fulfils its purpose and demonstrates fast returns especially in this busy and noisy Customer Data Industry that fails to deliver what it was set out to achieve.
How would you describe your vision? How would you describe the vision of imagino?
Imagino’s vision is clear: we aim to be versatile and composable marketing platform. Instead of forcing businesses to adopt large, inflexible products, we empower our customers to pick and choose components from our diverse range of offerings. Our approach revolves around seamlessly tying these components together to address specific use cases, providing tailored solutions that precisely match the unique needs of your business. In doing so, we ensure that imagino is a dynamic catalyst for enhancing your marketing strategies, rather than making your business adapt to rigid, one-size-fits-all solutions.
How would you describe your growth, what have been the main points in your expansion and what has been key to your success?
As a considered growth company, our journey is all about strategic expansion in a contemporary business environment. What sets us apart is our ability to thrive without the need for excessive VC investment and cash burn to achieve our goals. Our success story began in France, where we thoroughly refined our model, gaining the trust of over 40 valued customers. Now, having established ourselves in the UK for the past 6 month, we are committed to further building our customer base by adding 20 to 30 more clients before venturing into the expansive markets of the US and APJ.
What challenges are you addressing for multichannel retailers who aim to meet peak season demands?
Peak seasons are an excellent opportunity for retailers to take advantage of and interact with their customers. During these seasons UK customers tend to either shop online, in-store or window shop before they purchase in-store. Which is why retailers need to be able to anticipate not only the surge in customer activity, but also the changing behaviours both online and in-store. The question for retailers is, will they allow the customer experience to deteriorate? Retailers need to be able to respond to the market quickly but also add value to their customer’s experience.
Moreover, retailers omnichannel abilities will be put to the test with the surge in traffic and the customers’ expectations for brands to keep up. This is why with imagino’s composable/flexible solution, we help retailers be reactive to these changes with a use-case first approach. We draw on the data that you already have for the specific problem, then write it back with the necessary adjustments to the original location after usage.
An example of a specific challenge could be “reduce cart abandonments” where you would be expecting to deploy and demonstrate results within a few weeks. With this flexible approach you focus on the challenge that will bring the most immediate benefit to your customer’s experience, whilst reacting to the changing market at speed. These factors add up to a (greatly) reduced time to value. A lower initial investment, and faster returns. Imagino’s capabilities help retailers get proper value from the tools they’ve already invested in, whilst navigating the peak season hurdles.
What targets are you aiming to achieve in the next five years?
Our vision is to create a roadmap leading towards a global business ecosystem that excels in helping organisations overcome their cross-technology product challenges. Instead of presenting ourselves as a weighty monolith, we strive to transform how people interact with buying technology by embracing the role of a disruptive force. This philosophy serves as a guide as we navigate the market. Our goal is to enable the seamless connection of accurate data from the right individuals to the best execution layer, ensuring that the right message reaches the right audience precisely when it is needed.
One sentence elevator pitch to be used as a direct quote on how your company/system benefits retailers.
Imagino empowers brands to unlock the full potential of their tech, enhancing decision-making, personalising customer experiences, and driving ROI in 12 weeks, all with the flexibility to evolve one use case at a time.
imagino in brief:
HQ: France
Customers: over 40 customers including Diptyque, Clarins and Eric Bompard
Employees: 46 employees
Website: https://www.imagino.com/en/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/imagino-software/
Customer Case Study: Diptyque
Founders: Christiana Gautrot, Desmond Knox-Leet and Yves Coueslant
Founding year: 1961
HQ: Paris, Over 90 boutiques
Website: https://www.diptyqueparis.com/en_uk
Diptyque, the renowned French perfume company, has earned global recognition for its unique candles and exceptional fragrances. Founded in 1961 by Christiana Gautrot, Desmond Knox-Leet and Yves Coueslant, it now has over 90 boutiques worldwide.
With Diptyque’s continuous expansion they wanted to build a unified customer view of contacts to improve the customer experience in-store and on-line. Diptyque decided to work with imagino in order to solve this specific use-case.
In order to improve the online customer experience, a unique customer reference system was integrated into imagino’s CDP. This enabled Diptyque to customise and activate their ecosystem of tools directly from a single solution. The in-store customer experience was improved with a real-time display of customer data on the sale’s advisors’ digital tablets. This meant that even the in-store interactions were incredibly personalised with totally up to date and accurate customer data.
We have many more use cases to implement with Diptyque, and we can’t wait to see how our solution continues to yield value.
