Know your customers wherever they are
Focus on the important data Even though your goal is to track all touchpoints, don't try to harness 100% of the data. Most companies already have plenty of customer data, but don't tie it together to create a richer picture of their consumers. In our experience, the most fruitful insights come from combining transaction data (such as purchase amounts over time), browsing data (including mobile), and customer service data (such as returns by region). Focus on data that will help you achieve specific marketing goals. For example, if you need to build customer loyalty, concentrate on gathering data from post-purchase touch points like customer service logs or responses to upor cross-sell emails. These data rarely exist in one place in the organization so you'll need to pull in people from multiple functions such as marketing, sales, in-store operations, IT, and beyond. We've seen companies create small "SWAT" teams that assemble people from these functions to break through bureaucratic logjams. Fill in the data holes There are three main types of external data sources that can be invaluable. Following are examples of each - but these just scratch the surface. Data you can buy 1. Broad census data from companies like Experian or Axiom can match hundreds of public and private sources to identify consumers, for example through credit card matches or telephone numbers.
2. Panel data from companies like Nielsen and Compete provide access to a full set of customer actions of about 2 million people. These provide granular views of the customer, such as records of every web page visited and consumer purchase made over a one to two year period. 3. "Traveling cookie" data build a digital footprint of a consumers based on their logins at popular sites (for example, on airline sites or Facebook). Once the customer logs in, the cookie follows that customer wherever he or she goes on the web. Datalogix aggregates data across hundreds of logins and matches it back to a database of more than 100 million households. This connection helps marketers identify consumers on their own sites and others' and link sales to prior behaviors. Data you can request from customers Retailers should encourage customers to self-identify by logging in to the website, using a loyalty card in store, or identifying themselves when calling customer care. Gap, for example, will always ask for your email address when you buy a product. Other companies provide mobile coupons in exchange for cell numbers.
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