Alex Hazell, Head of Legal at Acxiom
Today, customers are knowledgeable and are more empowered than ever before to take action based on that knowledge. Armed with information, their expectations are skyrocketing. They can easily research competing products and services and make purchasing decisions rapidly. Alongside this, digital technologies mean that businesses are now competing with rivals from across the globe. For businesses, this means that competition has never been higher.
Understanding customers has never been more crucial to business success, and data has become the critical ingredient in doing so. By getting closer to customers and understanding their preferences and past interactions, businesses can make more informed decisions and drive the kinds of personalisation and service that encourage repeat purchases, and grow consumer loyalty.
Entire business models have been built around collecting and making use of data in new ways, whether it’s online price comparison tools, or mobile-first banks that don’t have a single physical branch. Knowledge is power, especially for those fighting for market leadership.
Navigating data risks and regulation
As this spotlight shines on data, however, businesses need to tread carefully. Marketers have never had access to such a monumental volume and variety of data assets available today. But there are risks in not taking the collection and management of these assets seriously. Whether it’s hard regulation like GDPR, or the impact on brand image and customer trust, business leaders need to take caution. It’s a fine line between maximising the use of data-driven tools, and falling foul of data regulators, customers and partners.
There’s a need for a considered approach to data handling. The four C’s of data quality can be a useful framework here, helping ensure organisations not only work towards regulatory compliance, but are also making the best use of their investments in data. This includes making sure data is correct and complete – asking whether accurate data is to hand, in the right format. Life events such as house moves and marriage can make consumer data outdated, and so organisations need to be regularly refreshing and checking when records were last renewed.
Making sure data is current is the next consideration. Individual records might be complete and a database might be easily searchable and accessible, but if the data is several years or even decades old, it is likely of limited value, especially for consumer data. Keeping on top of updating consumer records is an ongoing task, to not only make sure that experiences are as personalised and useful as possible, but also to avoid errors like duplicating communications, or sending to consumers at an old address.
A foundation of trust
Finally, data must be ethically collected – the final ‘C’. Any transaction or business relationship is built on trust, and the business of building brands is no different. High-quality customer relationships rely on brand trust that they’ll go above and beyond legal compliance to make sure data is being used ethically and stored safely in line with any agreements made when the data was provided.
Marketers should remember they need to put the customer first, and that advancing their interests and maximising the value for them should always be front of mind. Approaching all activity with that mindset can go a long way to ensuring personalised marketing efforts will yield results.
Enter the data platform
Resolving all these issues, whether around format, integration or consistency can be a tricky task, particularly as consumer lives and preferences are constantly changing. It is very much an ongoing challenge. Using tools like a customer data platform is one way of consolidating and co-ordinating all this work in one place. Centralised locations can mitigate issues of losing data to siloes that are tricky to keep track of, and when everything is in one place, accuracy levels are higher. After all, data needs to be accessible and high quality for it to have any value.
Enhancement with third-party sources such as demographic data, or integrating insights from partners, can further enrich the view of the individual customer. For instance, the purchase and behavioural data from a credit card vendor could be immensely useful to a retailer, if these forces are joined. When all of this is in play, each interaction becomes more useful and relevant to customers, because the dots are connected to recognise every customer, no matter what touch point they use.
Businesses face a fragmented and noisy world. As they look to build deeper knowledge of their customers and aim to get closer to them through data in the race to foster loyalty, they mustn’t forget ethical and regulatory considerations. By taking the time to build trust, and acting in customers’ best interests to be relevant, useful and personalised, marketers can be confident that they’re not only doing the best thing for their brands, but also staying compliant with regulation.
