Sotheby's Customer Data Platform Implementation with Segment

Gangverk's partnership with Sotheby's, a venerable institution in the global art and luxury commerce sector, was conceived to spearhead a digital transformation initiative. The objective was clear: to harness the power of data and technology to modernize Sotheby's operations, focusing on enhancing data management and customer interactions in the digital realm. This collaboration sought to navigate the complexities of merging traditional luxury service with digital innovation.

Challenge: The Downstream Business Impact

Sotheby's confronted a multifaceted challenge in transitioning its bespoke services to the digital age. The issues at hand were not merely technological but deeply entwined with the core of Sotheby's brand identity:

• Fragmented Customer Data: Disjointed data led to an incomplete understanding of customer preferences and behaviors. This fragmentation resulted in missed opportunities for personalized engagement and tailored service offerings, crucial in the high-stakes world of art commerce.

• Inefficiencies in Data Management: The lack of a streamlined process for data utilization hindered Sotheby's ability to leverage insights for strategic decision-making. This inefficiency affected marketing efforts, customer service, and ultimately, the ability to innovate and stay competitive.

• Personalization at Scale: Maintaining the exclusive, personalized experience that Sotheby's clientele expected became increasingly challenging. The digital era demands scalability without sacrificing the personal touch—a balance hard to strike with siloed data and outdated systems.

Solution: Addressing Each Challenge

Gangverk's strategic implementation of Segment, a state-of-the-art Customer Data Platform (CDP), was crafted to address these challenges head-on:

• Unified Data for Comprehensive Insights: By centralizing customer data, Segment provided a singular, reliable view of Sotheby's diverse consumer base. This unification allowed for deeper insights into customer needs, preferences, and behaviors, enabling personalized engagement strategies that resonated with Sotheby's exclusive clientele.

• Streamlined Data Management for Operational Efficiency: Segment's integration streamlined the data management process, enhancing operational efficiency. This improvement facilitated a quicker, more agile response to market trends and customer demands, ensuring Sotheby's could adapt its offerings in real-time to meet the high expectations of its clients.

• Scalable Personalization: The solution empowered Sotheby's to deliver personalized customer experiences at scale. Through the detailed insights provided by Segment, Sotheby's could craft customized interactions for each customer, ensuring the brand's hallmark exclusivity and personal touch were maintained across digital platforms.

Sotheby's Website, Mobile, and Auction Management Applications

Results: Transformative Outcomes

The strategic integration of Segment at Sotheby's, overseen by Gangverk, yielded remarkable results across various metrics, reflecting the profound impact on digital engagement, platform growth, and overall customer interaction:

Data Integration and Enhanced Data Governance

The consolidation of disparate data sources into a unified platform facilitated a more coherent and actionable understanding of customer behaviors. This foundation enabled Sotheby's to streamline its data governance, ensuring data integrity and compliance across the board.

Increased Digital Engagement

The tailored customer engagement strategies, powered by deep insights into customer preferences and behaviors, led to a notable uptick in user interaction, including:

• Bidding Activity: Sotheby's observed a significant increase in bids placed through its web and app platforms, indicating heightened customer participation and engagement in auctions.

Digital Platform Growth

• Social Audience Expansion: From 2017, Sotheby's social media following surged by 69%, reaching over 2.8 million followers. This growth exemplifies the effectiveness of leveraging unified customer data to enhance social media strategies and content engagement.

• Onsite Registrations: The percentage of onsite registrations stemming from people engaging with editorial content rose from 33% in 2017 to 48%, showcasing the value of personalized content in converting interest into action.

• Email Registrants' Contribution: Registrants via email were found to contribute over $1 billion in annual spending, highlighting the significant financial impact of targeted, data-driven email marketing.

• Content Consumption: Monthly content consumption on Sotheby's platform saw a dramatic increase, exceeding 9.3 million page views, reflecting the success in engaging users with relevant and captivating content.

• Video Engagement: Video views across Sotheby's digital platforms doubled in Q2 2019 compared to Q2 2018. This period also recorded a 90% session increase and a 119% rise in unique visitors, underscoring the growing interest in Sotheby's video content and its role in driving digital traffic.

Conclusion

The successful deployment of Segment, facilitated by Gangverk, signified a milestone in Sotheby's journey towards digital excellence. By effectively breaking down data silos and unifying customer data, Sotheby's not only enhanced its marketing capabilities and customer insights but also significantly amplified its digital presence and engagement. These quantified improvements serve as a testament to the power of integrated customer data management in elevating the customer experience and driving business growth.

Sales Exhibition Display

Lessons Learned

This case study reaffirms several key insights:

• The critical role of a unified customer data platform in dismantling data silos and achieving comprehensive customer insights.

• The direct correlation between personalized, data-driven customer engagement strategies and measurable improvements in digital engagement and platform growth.

• The importance of leveraging modern data management and analytics tools to adapt to the evolving demands of luxury commerce in the digital age.

Are you ready to transform your data management and elevate your customer engagement like Sotheby's? Gangverk is at the forefront of digital innovation, leveraging tools like Segment to unify customer data and drive business growth. Our expertise in integrating cutting-edge technology can help you achieve a seamless, personalized customer experience that sets you apart in your industry. Reach out to Gangverk today to discuss how we can tailor a customer data platform solution that meets your unique business needs and catapults you towards digital excellence.