Digital promotions are a hot topic in the world of ecommerce right now. More and more brands are looking for creative ways to offer their customers a better shopping experience, and differentiate themselves from competitors. But, it’s not just ecommerce where promotions are making a difference to businesses in their efforts to stand out.
Berlin-based Talon.One is the company at the centre of the ‘Promotions as a Service’ space. Talon.One’s Promotion Engine is the software platform behind a number of large, high-visibility promotional campaigns that have launched over the last few years. We discussed the topic of digital promotions, how they help businesses, and what to expect from this field over the next few years, with Talon.One’s founder, Christoph Gerber.
Q: Why did you make a platform specifically for digital promotions?
A: Before Talon.One I co-founded Lieferando, which is now the biggest online restaurant delivery service in Germany. Promotional campaigns were an important tool for Lieferando – they helped us market our service, and offer our customers a more enticing meal. But any promotional campaigns we wanted to run had to be developed in-house.
Depending on the project, this could involve hundreds of hours of developer time. There wasn’t a single software platform on the market that allowed us to set up promotional campaigns as we wanted. I quickly realized this was an issue many other businesses were facing, and it would only become more apparent given the way the online marketplace was headed.
I founded Talon.One specifically to offer the all-in-one promotions package that I imagined, and that’s how the Promotion Engine was born.
Q: Can you explain the concept of a ‘promotion engine’?
A: We originally coined the term ‘promotion engine’ because it sums up precisely what our software does in pretty simple terms – powering digital promotions. It allows our customers to set up, manage, and monitor any kind of digital promotion they want. This could be a bespoke, tiered loyalty program, a referral program to bring in new customers, or a reactive discount campaign to offer customers personalized promotions. The point of the Promotion Engine is to give businesses the power and flexibility to launch any promotional campaign they want.
Ultimately, the real power in our platform is it’s limitless customization. That has made it attractive for businesses in all different industries. Often SaaS platforms are only applicable to a selection of specific use cases or businesses. But our Promotion Engine is being used in practically every industry you can think of. We knew our all-in-one promotions concept would be a valuable tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes, so we added features that can give businesses an edge, no matter what they do.
Q: What do you mean when you say ‘limitless customization’?
A: When we mention limitless customization or unlimited customization options, we’re talking about the ability to customize and fine-tune every part of a promotional campaign. This is one of our software’s USPs, and it’s something that all of our customers really value.
One of the main motivations for starting Talon.One was a lack of options for businesses who want to set up their own promotional campaigns. There are platforms built specifically for loyalty programs, or specifically for referral programs, but there’s not a single one that can do everything.
That’s why we made sure that the Promotion Engine doesn’t restrict you in any way when it comes to fine tuning and customizing your promotions. Our customers can set up campaigns for coupons, discounts, referrals, loyalty programs, product bundles, gift cards and more. They can also use geofences and digital wallets to create highly complex promotional campaigns. These features can also be interlinked any way you like.
Q: Why is customization so important?
A: I think customization is the key to maximizing the value of any promotional campaign in any given situation. The more rigid the setup restrictions, the harder it is to shape a campaign specifically to the needs of an individual business. This is the same with most software – flexibility is key.
But it’s not just about our customers. Flexibility and customization are essential for building personalized promotions that will attract and retain consumers. Ultimately, it’s about giving our customers the ability to choose exactly how and when they want their promotions to work. This way, they can get the best results for their business.
Q: How does Talon.One fit into your customers’ software stacks?
A: Our Promotion Engine can be integrated straight into your existing software stack. It fits into the backend of your online shop, and allows you to set up promotional campaigns that can roll out immediately to customers across many different channels. Our solution also auto-scales to accommodate increased demand, so you’ll get the same real-time promotional capabilities whether you’re a smaller business or a full-scale enterprise.
From the beginning of our journey to create the ultimate all-in-one promotions software we maintained an API-first approach throughout the development process. With platforms like ours, which integrate straight into our customers’ existing infrastructure, the API is one of the most essential parts of the software build. Our flexible, easy-to-integrate API is what allows our software platform to be integrated with so many other systems.
Q: So Talon.One can be used alongside other platforms?
A: Absolutely. We’ve integrated our system with a number of third-party technology partners which provide a range of valuable services for ecommerce businesses. This way, our customers can use Talon.One in tandem with other tools for an even more powerful business solution.
Our current technology partners include commercetools, mParticle, Braze and Vue Storefront, among many others. We believe these partnerships are essential in helping us make Talon.One as effective as possible for our customers.
Q: What do you see in store for the field digital promotions over the next few years?
A: Obviously we’ve seen huge changes in all sorts of industries over the past year, some more positive than others. In general, it looks like the pandemic has been the catalyst many businesses needed to take the online marketplace seriously. It’s certainly driven huge changes in the ecommerce sector. And we’re welcoming many new customers who are looking to get started with online promotions.
On the operational side of things, more and more businesses are moving towards an omnichannel strategy for their marketing and online sales. The omnichannel approach is vital for businesses that want to give their customers a seamless online experience, regardless of how they choose to shop online. The Promotion Engine allows businesses to manage all of their promotional campaigns from one central platform. In that sense it’s a true omnichannel promotions solution that can fit perfectly within a wider omnichannel strategy. This is another key draw for many of our customers, and it’s something we think many more businesses will prioritize over the next few years.
Then there’s loyalty, which has been talked about a lot recently. Loyalty programs are helping businesses incentivize the buying journey, while making the experience much more enjoyable for customers. Loyalty programs are getting more complex, with a wide range of reactive features to keep customers engaged. Some of our customers have launched really ingenious loyalty programs recently, and they’re reaping the rewards already. So I think loyalty will continue to grow a lot in the next few years.
Finally I’d say gamification is another big one to keep an eye on. Gamification isn’t really a promotion in itself, more a technique that you can use to complement any type of promotional campaign. Gamification helps add an extra dimension to campaigns, with fun features and goals that customers can work towards. It plays a key role in attracting customers to online deals, so we’ll definitely see more of this going forward.
About Talon.One
Talon.One is the market-leading, all-in-one digital promotions software provider. It powers promotions for household name businesses around the world. Through its huge range of promotional campaigns and customization options, the Promotion Engine helps businesses work towards any business objective.
Talon.One is a truly all-in-one promotion solution. It offers limitless campaign options, connectivity via webhooks, and a variety of analytics options to help businesses fine tune their campaigns. Talon.One also integrates with a wide range of third-party business software platforms, allowing it to fit neatly into any software stack.
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