Combining SCM Pricing Management with Commerce and Retail Discounts

In today’s competitive market, businesses need to leverage every possible advantage to stay ahead. Pricing is one of the most powerful tools at their disposal. Enter Unified Pricing Management, an innovative solution that merges attribute-based pricing with advanced Supply Chain Management (SCM) pricing management and comprehensive commerce and retail discount solutions. 

The Need for Unified Pricing Management 

Companies across industries face numerous challenges when it comes to pricing management. Traditional pricing methods often fall short in addressing the complexities of modern commerce, where factors such as customer segmentation, product attributes, market demand, and competitive actions all influence pricing decisions. The Unified Pricing Management solution addresses these challenges by providing a holistic and integrated framework that empowers businesses to make informed and strategic pricing decisions. 

What is Unified Pricing Management? 

Unified Pricing Management is a sophisticated attribute-based pricing solution designed to transform the way businesses approach pricing strategies. By considering a myriad of attributes and integrating data from SCM and other sources, this solution allows businesses to set more accurate, competitive prices that enhance profitability and customer satisfaction.  

The Power of Attribute-Based Pricing 

At the heart of Unified Pricing Management lies attribute-based pricing. This approach takes into account various attributes, such as product characteristics, customer demographics, and purchasing behaviors, to tailor pricing strategies that resonate better with the market. The ability to customize prices based on specific attributes ensures that businesses can meet diverse customer needs while maximizing revenue. 

Converging SCM Pricing Management with Commerce and Retail Discounts 

Unified Pricing Management supports SCM pricing management, enabling businesses to harness the full potential of their supply chain data. This convergence allows for more informed pricing decisions, ensuring that prices reflect real-time supply chain dynamics. The result is a more responsive and agile pricing strategy that can adapt to changing market conditions. 

In addition to SCM pricing management, Unified Pricing Management also incorporates commerce and retail discount capabilities. This means that businesses can manage discounts more efficiently, ensuring consistency across all promotional efforts. The unified platform streamlines discount management, making it easier to implement and track various discount strategies. 

Unified Pricing data model 

Unified Pricing Management introduces the concept of price trees, which are essential for structuring pricing models. These price trees support multiple versions, allowing businesses to maintain and compare different pricing strategies over time. This capability ensures that businesses can continuously optimize their pricing approaches to achieve the best possible outcomes. 

Activating and Utilizing Price Groups for Pricing Calculations 

A crucial element of Unified Pricing Management is the concept of price groups. This common concept exists in both SCM pricing management and commerce and retail solutions. In Finance and Operations, as well as POS machines, price groups can be associated with channels, loyalty programs, affiliations, and attributes from sales order headers. They can also be defined as an attribute within the header attribute group, providing even greater flexibility in pricing strategies. 

• Set Up Price Groups: Define price groups based on relevant criteria such as customer segments, or geographical regions. This initial setup is critical as it lays the foundation for your pricing strategy. 

• Assign Price Rules: Assign specific pricing rules to each price group. These rules can include base prices, margin components, and discounts. This ensures that each segment is priced according to its unique characteristics and market conditions. 

• Apply Price Groups to Sales Orders and POS: When creating or modifying sales orders, apply the relevant price group to ensure that the correct pricing rules are used. This step is essential for maintaining consistency and accuracy in your pricing. 

• Monitor and Adjust: Use the unified pricing management system to monitor the performance of your pricing strategy. Make adjustments as needed based on real-time data and analytics to ensure that your pricing remains competitive and profitable. 

Conclusion 

Unified Pricing Management represents a significant advancement in the field of pricing management. By combining attribute-based pricing, convergent SCM pricing management, and comprehensive commerce and retail discount capabilities, it provides businesses with a powerful tool to navigate the complexities of modern pricing. The enablement of price groups and the flexibility to use single and multiple price trees further enhance its adaptability and effectiveness. 

In an era where pricing can make or break a business, Unified Pricing Management offers a strategic advantage that can drive profitability, customer satisfaction, and long-term success. Embrace this innovative solution and unlock the full potential of your pricing strategies. 

The post Introducing Unified Pricing Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Attribute-Based Pricing  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

In email marketing, tracking metrics has been the key to understanding and improving campaign effectiveness. For years, one of the most reliable metrics has been the open rate, but as the digital landscape evolves, so do the challenges of accurately measuring this essential statistic. In this article, we’ll explore why open rates are becoming less reliable and how you can adapt. 

The open rate and the challenges of modern email clients

Traditionally, the open rate—the percentage of recipients who open an email—has been a fundamental metric in email marketing. This metric has been invaluable for marketers, helping them gauge the success of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions. 

Email opens are tracked using tracking pixels, tiny 1×1-pixel images embedded in the email content. When the recipient opens the email, the pixel loads from a remote server, sending data back to the sender. However, the reliability of open rates is increasingly under threat due to privacy concerns and changes in how email clients handle images. Here’s why open rates are becoming less dependable: 

• Image blocking: Many email clients now block image loading by default. Recipients can open the email and consume its content without loading images. Such opens aren’t counted, resulting in a lower-than-actual open rate being reported. Image blocking is even more prevalent now because of mobile devices that automatically block image loading for privacy, speed, and conserving data usage. This means that a significant portion of your audience might be missed in the open rate calculation. 

• Preview panes: Some email clients allow users to preview an email without actually opening it. In these cases, the open rate may register false positives, counting emails as opened when they were merely previewed. 

• Privacy concerns: To protect user privacy, email clients and webmail services are increasingly blocking tracking pixels, making it harder to track open rates accurately. 

• Apple privacy changes: Apple devices that run iOS 15 automatically open all emails, which can result in an inflated open rate.  

The future of email metrics is a dual approach

So, what’s the way forward for email marketers like you who rely on open rates to measure engagement and success? It’s essential to employ a dual approach: improving how to measure engagement and applying strategies to improve engagement itself. Here’s how you can adapt.

Measure engagement more effectively

1. Diversify engagement metrics: Instead of relying solely on open rates, evaluate other indicators such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI. These metrics offer a more comprehensive view of your email marketing performance.

2. Implement email authentication: Email authentication protocols like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM improve email deliverability and enhance your sender reputation, indirectly affecting engagement rates. 

3. Use alternative metrics: Consider using alternative metrics like measuring conversion attribution through unique coupon codes or UTM parameters. These tools can help track the direct impact of your emails beyond the open rate. 

Strategies for improving engagement

1. Personalization and segmentation: Tailoring your email content to individual recipients’ preferences and behaviors can drive higher engagement. By segmenting your audience and sending personalized content, you can increase the chances of your emails being opened and acted on. 

2. Expand your messaging channels: SMS has a 98% open rate. Start taking advantage of the SMS channel today!  

3. Test your content: Testing and refining content allows you to continuously improve email performance by identifying what resonates best with your audience using real data. Evaluating device data analytics, such as OS, browser, and device type, along with click heatmap analytics provides deeper insights into how recipients interact with your emails. Using this information, you can optimize design and content for the best user experience across all devices, boosting overall effectiveness and engagement. 

4. Use your own data: Rely on first-party data such as transactions and in-store visits that can be collected using a customer data platform like Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data. 

While email opens as a metric is not going away, it’s certainly less reliable. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights already provides an entire suite of capabilities for you to easily tackle challenges like this, and continues to invest in finding solutions that align with the evolving privacy landscape. Together, we’ll navigate these changes and continue to deliver successful email marketing campaigns, maintaining your connection with your audience while respecting their privacy in this new era of digital marketing. 

Next steps

Not yet a Dynamics 365 Customer Insights customer? Start your free trial today.

The post Beyond open rate: Rethinking email marketing metrics appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.