Find the right digital catalog creator - try reframing these 3 challenges

The best digital catalog creator out there? It may not be the one you pick.

On the surface, it’s easy to choose between…

• World-class support OR limited support
• Interactive, shoppable content OR a plain, static read-only experience
• Measurable business outcomes OR doing the head-in-sand-ostrich maneuver

So, what can hold you back from choosing the best digital catalog creator?

Well, things can get more challenging when you add budget + resources + timing to the equation.

But maybe, just maybe, those challenges can be put in a different perspective by asking the right questions.

And that could help you you pick the right digital catalog creator for your organization.

Budget constraints

Last year, we had a client who was eager to start optimizing their digital catalogs but faced budget issues, as it was in the middle of a budget-year.

Here’s some questions we asked them:

1. Are you perhaps thinking purely in cost instead of ROI?

When making buying decisions, it’s easy to get caught up in the cost-savings of paying 100 euros per month instead of 500, without considering the different results and potential ROI of the two options.

Ultimately, you may want to pay a little extra to get a lot more in terms of results and ROI, as Mr. Bricolage says:

“Compared to the effect that iPaper has, and the fact that it’s replacing the printed leaflet, we think it’s good value for money.” - Magdalena Kotupova, Marketing Director at Mr. Bricolage

2. Can the perspective be shifted to save budget on, for example, print?

Together, we reviewed the company's print budget and realized that by minimally reducing print for that year the cost of iPaper was easily covered.

The lower amount of print editions would then be compensated by the increased reach and activation by the online version.

As another company, Cristian Lay, says:

"For 1% of the cost of printing a catalog, we can create as many iPaper catalogs as we like."- José Antonio Del Pino, Senior Marketing Project Leader, Cristian Lay

Limited resources

Another company was confident that implementing a new digital catalog solution would boost sales and streamline processes for both their customers and sales team. However, they had very limited resources to implement iPaper.

Here’s what we asked them:

1. Can we, together, prioritize the most important features for your business case?

We reduced the initial scope of the implementation to focus on core features that would directly impact sales and generate feedback.

This allowed us to create a more lightweight account with a lower monthly cost to get them started.

2. How much of your manual work can we automate?

We also streamlined their setup process so that iPaper’s automations, along with our support team, handle most of the work.

All the company needed to provide was a PDF and an Excel sheet, and then they would have a published, interactive digital catalog in minutes.

So, switching to a digital catalog creator with automation may actually save you resources. For example, Rimi Baltics create weekly catalogs for three different countries:

“We save 4 hours per country per leaflet.” - Anda Latsa, Rimi Baltic

3. Is the perceived effort of implementing a digital catalog solution accurate?

The thought of switching a solution, learning a new system and changing processes can be overwhelming.

In reality, it might be as simple as uploading your PDF in a new platform, getting help from support as needed and then letting automation take over.

As Ji Sport, a Scandinavian B2B business, says:

“It’s easy and user-friendly to work in the iPaper platform. It requires minimal guidance, and everyone can get started quickly.” - Anne-Cathrine Jørgensen, Sales and Marketing, Co-owner Ji Sport

Timing and perspective

One of our clients wanted to implement iPaper but they were, at the time, also creating a new website.

The initial idea was to wait with implementing iPaper until the entire website was done, and then launch both the website and iPaper at the same time.

Here’s three questions we asked them:

1. Would there be immediate gains of implementing the digital catalog?

The company concluded that the gains of a new digital catalog would be more or less immediate.

A new digital catalog solution could…

• give a better buying experience in an inspirational format
• provide more opportunities for online activation of customers
• for a time “make up” for a less than ideal website and webshop

2. Is there a logical gain by launching the two projects at the same time?

Their website upgrade was about creating a visual upgrade and improving user experience.

Their new digital catalogs, on the other hand, would be less about a new visual experience, but more about facilitating a new business case and buying experience.

The purpose of the two projects weren’t the same.

3. If the benefits of a new digital catalog solution are immediate and independent of, for example, a new website, then why wait?

We met with the client and concluded that, given what they wanted, their ideal digital catalog solution could be implemented in days - while their website would require months of work.

The company ended up separating the two projects, and they launched their new digital catalog first, and got the immediate benefits of a better buying experience.

Later, they successfully launched the new, visually-upgraded website - and then simply added the digital catalog link on the new website.

Conclusion

The best digital catalog creator out there?

It may be the one you don’t pick - based on budget, resources or timing.

But if you ask the right questions about those challenges, then maybe you can put those challenges into perspective - and then make the best decision for your company.

That will increase your chances of getting increased ROI, reducing manual work and creating a proper digital catalog business strategy.

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