While traceability has deep associations with food sourcing and sustainability practices, it can be used for a variety of B2C and B2B applications as a way to strategically improve your customer experience (CX). The core concept is simple — it’s the ability to “verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification.” While that’s straightforward, the impact can be powerful. By intentionally designing an experience that accounts for the full duration of a customer’s experience and optimizing helpful touchpoints along the way, you can cultivate a deeper connection with your most valuable asset: your customers.

This month, we updated a new traceability experience for our client GNP Company™ and their Just BARE® brand of chicken. It allows their customers to enter a simple code found on-pack to find out where their chicken was raised and meet a few of the Just BARE family farmers. This Internet of Things technology gives their customers what they care about: Concrete information about the purchase. And it makes it possible for Just BARE to differentiate itself in a competitive market. And this is just one example of how traceability can positively impact a business.

The Power of Traceability

Traceability technology can enhance retail and ecommerce experiences, make manufacturing or product fulfillment experiences more meaningful, and enliven B2B relationships and experiences. More access to information earns loyalty and confidence. Take a logistics example like supply chain visibility — having greater ability to watch that journey gives people clear insight into timing, manages expectations, and provides data for businesses. Or take a brand accountability example like Just BARE Chicken. By making the information accessible to everyone, they are shaping their story and letting their customers participate in it. Lastly, traceability can be applied to product lifecycle assessment. Individual components of an item can be tracked and managed for upkeep or replacement notifications, giving customers a value-add to the product they are already purchasing.

Ultimately, traceability can improve the connection customers have with an organization and increase business insights within an organization. In every case, it’s putting the power of information into people’s hands — and quickly.

The Benefits of traceability

As customer expectations evolve in both the B2C and B2C spaces, organizations will have to increasingly set higher and higher bars. Traceability can help:

  • Build trust — Verifying where and how products across sectors are sourced builds confidence and demonstrates responsibility.
  • Increase transparency — It increases sight lines into your process and products.
  • Grow engagement — It creates opportunities for your customers to engage with you around information that benefits them.
  • Optimize — Businesses can implement traceability for internal process and to acquire information about their products lifecycle, and learn from all that data.

Applying Traceability to your Business

If you’re wondering if traceability is important to your business, consider what your customers’ expectations are with regard to the origins of our products. Ask yourself: How can we engage customers on product origins or processes to build trust and loyalty? And what can you learn as a business using traceability technology?