Jonathan Loriaux: A few weeks ago, Dolist unveiled a new logo, along with a new base line, formerly Email & Data Marketing, which now becomes Data & Messaging Solutions. Why did you decide to change the logo and especially the slogan associated with it?
Jean-Paul Lieux: This evolution comes to sign a reflection that was already in progress for a few years. Our new activities of data optimization, Omnichannel Marketing, Datamining, Analytics or operational and marketing support on third party technologies are no longer in line with the historical positioning of Dolist, focused only on email & SMS routing. This new corporate strategy needed to be accompanied by a new symbolic identity. Our new website fully reflects this new approach.
JL: Did you get the impression that in the industry, among your clients, prospects or advertisers, this change wasn't something that was clearly defined?
JPL: This was certainly already perceived by some of our audiences. But we clearly realized that, as far as communication is concerned, there was still a very strong inertia among many of our potential clients who considered us only as an e-mail router. Our strong reputation on the subject remains both an asset and an obstacle to the development of our digital consulting, Data Driven Marketing and omnichannel marketing offers.
JL: Over the past few years, how have you materialized the evolution of your products, what new features have you been able to implement on the platform?
JPL: Before answering this question, I would like to come back to the evolution of e-mail to Data. It seems to us that today it is more interesting to focus on the quality, the analysis and the exploitation of the data that allows us to increase the relevance of the content of the messages sent, whether they are e-mails, SMS or other forms of messages. This is the first reason why we have decided to evolve by putting data at the center of our concerns. Because, whatever the technologies we deploy - their fluidity, their capacity to deliver messages correctly, to offer a thousand functions to do everything - if the data introduced into the system does not allow for the right triggering, at the right time, a good personalization or a good measure, the whole system put in place is then inoperative and ineffective.
As far as Data and Messaging Solutions are concerned, while remaining faithful to our historical base, which is e-mail, we are now working on other channels for sending messages, such as SMS for example, mobile applications or messages displayed on a site where people are connected and recognized. We are aware that today's messages can and must take other forms to build loyalty. The personalized message is a service that interests us, regardless of the envelope in which it is conveyed. The customer is by nature omnichannel and must therefore be addressed in a judicious way via his favorite channels at the appropriate times.
JL: With this change, do you feel like you are anticipating the market? Is this something that is really in the air today and that advertisers are really looking at?
JPL : I find it very difficult to make a generalization or to draw a global statistic from the evolution of the market. What is certain is that there is a real maturity among certain players, even if each one evolves in a different way. Clearly, there are very different levels from one player to another, but what is certain is that the trend today is towards omnichannel. This is a central issue for some advertisers who are trying to adapt to new consumer behaviors in order to be more efficient and who have already initiated reflections, or even projects, on the subject.
It becomes very complicated for them to have on one side a solution dedicated to e-mail marketing, another one for SMS, another one that uses iBeacons to send messages. In such a context, it is imperative for them to make the link, to connect their palette of tools.
JL: You also recently announced a 10 % growth in revenue over 2015. What type of products and services are driving this growth?
JPL: What we consider essential today is our ability to support our customers in the operational implementation of their technologies. It is really the service part that has driven this activity. Service includes consulting, production, training, skills transfer, etc. Service supports our business and that of our customers. And this is clearly visible: in general, our customers and their strategies are developing and maturing much faster than others.
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JL: Do your customers express a real need for closer support, perhaps not like an agency, and to be taken by the hand to exploit the technologies?
JPL : Yes, we feel it and they confirm it. By the way, why do you say "?not like an agency"? Yes, it's really the same as what a good agency would do or what you would expect as a client. In a more general way, the evolution of the technological markets shows a real paradox: a multiplication of tools and their functionalities but also a real difficulty to go from strategic thinking to operational implementation on the advertisers' side.
JL: Does that mean that today companies are more and more willing to outsource if it can improve performance?
JPL: Yes, although I don't think it's always total outsourcing. Above all, there's an apprehension of what the company really needs. outsourcing of email campaign production But it can also mean regular support to show them the way, training to boost their skills, or occasional subcontracting on certain subjects or during periods of high activity. In the same vein, changes in teams can be disruptive and require the help of third parties. There are many reasons, but in any case, what we know today is that technology alone - even the best in the world - does not necessarily, or systematically, bring results to the company that tries to use it.
JL: Speaking of technology, you announced a partnership a few months ago with Marketing 1 by 1, a company specialized in trigger marketing and customer knowledge. Why did you want to make a partnership rather than developing your own tools on the subject?
JPL: We are in this frame of mind: in relation to the needs of the market, what interests us today is to provide technological and service solutions. On the technological side, yes, we have our own platforms, with which we are capable of doing a number of things. But what interests us is the interconnection with other tools that are more specialized in this or that field of expertise. Our idea is not to redo what exists when it is well done, but simply to bring added value because we are able to couple two technologies that we think are relevant from a usage point of view. Marketing 1by1 has an efficient Datamart and Dolist its expertise in customer loyalty.
We had the same reasoning for Scoring, for example. So we entered into a partnership with BVA Data Sciences. This seems to us to be a more efficient and quicker way to respond to requests and expressed needs. And above all, we benefit from our partner's experience and the complementary nature of our activities rather than trying to create a new business.
JL: After all these important steps you have taken, what do you see for the future? What are your next goals?
JPL: We consider 2015 to have marked a certain maturity with a clear formalization of our offerings and how we wanted to deliver them. Now, we still have to verify that the trends observed in 2015 on the development of our business continue, namely more mature customers, average baskets and larger customers. This is very concretely what we are aiming for in 2016. We are clearly moving towards omnichannel and, beyond our partnership with Marketing 1by1, we now have the solutions to get there. There is a real challenge, not only in e-commerce, but also in retail. Advertisers in certain market sectors have realized that they may have fallen behind and they want to save time. Saving time means not only being able to select technologies, but also to save time in acquiring experience. And that's what we can bring to our customers.
