Using Customer Data to Improve 3 Key Strategies

Even though most companies have access to troves of data about their customers, they are using only about 20% of it to target new customers or improve their relationships with their current customers. With so many different options and competitors to choose from, customers now expect to have a seamless customer experience (CX). 41% of customers will switch brands if they have a bad experience. Now more than ever, companies must collect, analyze, and understand their customer data in order to learn how to improve on these three key business strategies.

Marketing strategy

Companies can now use social media to track reactions to their products or the products of their competitors. By using analytics to record reactions to product release announcements or company posts, they have greater insight into how their consumers are responding. This data can be used to tailor marketing content—from post type to channel—and products to potential consumers.  

There is a treasure trove of data about customers available to companies. It’s almost a little frightening when you think about what personal information companies can learn about you, but I for one don’t mind that my ads are personalized. I actually enjoy seeing a pair of shoes I might buy or tickets to a soccer game I might want to go to in my Facebook feed. By creating very targeted advertising campaigns, based on age, income, interests, and location, brands will increase the number of customers they attract and ultimately increase their amount of conversions.  

Now by using “Geo-Targeting,” companies can also use location data about potential customers to better target them with relevant offers. For example, a specialty organic coffee shop could find customers who frequent the major chain coffee shop one block down the road in order to appeal to their demographic of coffee drinkers.

Sales Strategy

Now companies can mine data of their existing customers in order to build very specific profiles. By knowing how many of their potential customers hold graduate degrees, how many of them are married, or how many of them plan to retire in the next five years, brands can target their customers with more relevant offers.  

By mining the data of customers, companies can find ways to re-engage them with offers, discounts, and loyalty rewards. Brands can easily increase their conversions by providing relevant offers to their customers. You might not even realize how frequently this information is used. Think about the last time you shopped on Amazon. You always see “Frequently Bought Together” or “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” below the product you are looking at. Those recommendations have convinced me to buy something, and I know I’m not alone. Amazon estimates that 35% of its revenue comes from cross-selling features. The goal is to know your customers so well, you know what they want before even they do.

Consumer Service Strategy

By using advanced analytics, companies can provide a highly personalized customer experience and thus cultivate true brand evangelists. Apple, a brand I’ve been loyal to for years, is a great example of a company that personalized their product to suit a specific type of person and then created a customer service experience—i.e. “The Genius bar” rather than “IT help desk.” As a result, Apple has some of the most loyal brand customers.

Companies should be constantly analyzing their user experience for better service opportunities. By analyzing data, such as how quickly their customers leave a particular page, they can know which pages need improvement. Brands can use data to see how their customers interact not just with their platform, but with their competitors’ platforms, determine the specific ways their competitors may be winning their customers over, and make changes as needed.  

In addition to analyzing user experiences, brands must get client feedback. By harvesting client feedback, through reviews and surveys, companies can determine how to improve CX. At the end of the day, customers just want to know that they are being heard.

The truth is that most companies have all the data they need, but they now must learn how to prioritize and engage with all this data. Data about your customers can help you identify which customers should be considered “high valued” and be served immediately or which of your customers are expectant mothers and help you optimize offers around this information.

When you consider how CX drives customer acquisition and increases conversions, you will understand the importance of optimizing your CX. One of the easiest and most underutilized ways to improve CX is with data from potential or existing customers. Ultimately, data mining can help you show your customers that you understand their desires and needs, improving engagement and increasing brand loyalty.