Using Customer Data to Increase Trust

We live in a world that is constantly watching us. Almost everything we do is recorded or “on camera,” Alexa and Siri can seemingly hear our thoughts, and every move we make appears to be tracked. If we go online and search for red sneakers, we’ll likely see footwear ads for weeks. If we’re lucky, we may even get a few emails on the latest sneaker trends and have recommendations pop up for red apparel on our favorite sites or apps. In a world that can sometimes feel isolated, we’re very aware that information about our habits, interests, purchases, online and offline behavior, and even location are being shared for all to see. 

As consumers, this sharing of our personal customer data can be exciting and terrifying at the same time. On one hand, it’s great when companies and brands we trust use this information to share information, products, and promotions that matter to us. We feel important and valued when the cashier at our favorite retailer knows our name, comments on our last purchase, recommends a new product we may like based on our interests, or offers us a discount for our loyalty. 

At the same time, there’s a line that can get crossed when it comes to customer data. None of us appreciate unwanted solicitations, junk mail, or spamming from an online retailer we only visited once. We find it creepy when Google shows ads for products that we mentioned to a friend three days earlier. We get annoyed when companies email or text us too many times, send us messages that are not relevant, or interrupt our day with app notifications.

As marketers, it’s our challenge to find that perfect balance. We want to ensure our customers feel valued, appreciated, and taken care of. We want to elevate their experience with our brand and make sure we’re being helpful, not irritating. We want to use their information respectively and carefully, being mindful to focus on personalized messaging that targets them at the right time. None of these marketing goals are new. Good marketers have followed this mantra of “using customer data to build trust” since the beginning of time. However, with data proliferation at its highest, we have a new responsibility to manage and harness data in a way that builds trust and rapport with our customer. We’re no longer marketing, we’re building long-lasting relationships with our customers.

Data to Enhance Customer Experiences

Personalization has been a hot topic in marketing for a very long time. As our ability to harvest immense amounts of customer data has grown exponentially, personalization has not only become a priority, but a “must win.” Consumers know that their data is available, and many of them have become skeptical about sharing it. To compound the issue, they are conflicted by its benefits and drawbacks. As we said, consumers like to feel heard and valued, but they don’t like to feel harassed. Therein lies the great marketing hurdle. How do we best utilize the customer data we have? How much is too much? How much is too little? How do we structure our marketing technology to ensure we have the right data points to personalize appropriately? 

Marketing Technology to Build Trust

The first step in creating these hyper-personalized experiences is to assess your data structures. A big hurdle for marketers is often access and aggregation of data across multiple systems. Depending on your type of organization, data can be siloed in various platforms – CRMs and/or ERPs, financial systems, loyalty programs, ecommerce tools, reservation and point-of-sales, apps and online media, and the list goes on. While the number of data points grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to aggregate this information, stitch identities, and create unified customer profiles that can be used for marketing experiences. Even when a CDP is utilized, it can be daunting and difficult to create campaigns and programs based on real-world situations and scenarios. Where do you start?

• Begin by reviewing your various data platforms. Where does your customer data live today? Audit your various sources of customer data. Keep in mind all of the ways customers interact with your brand, both online and offline. Depending on the size of your organization, this may be a large-scale effort across multiple teams and departments. 
• Take the time to put together a marketing and sales technology map. Understand the data points in each, and begin to document how that data is collected, utilized, and stored. Delineate how this data is shared. Call out potential duplication of data points, barriers to sharing, privacy concerns, etc. Ultimately, you’ll want a full view of anywhere and everywhere your customer’s data is collected, stored, and shared along with the data points utilized. 
• Look for ways to bring this data together, which could mean the use of a customer data platform (CDP) such as Oracle’s Unity, Salesforce’s Data Cloud, or Adobe’s Experience Platform. Choosing and implementing a CDP is a massive undertaking worthy of a full digital transformation initiative. The lift is high, but the benefit is huge. Once your data is tied together in a meaningful way, and you’re able to access customer profiles that include demographic, behavioral, commerce, social, and offline behavior, your world as a marketer changes.

Building Trustworthy Experiences with Customer Data

If you already have access to unified customer profiles, you’re ready for the next part of the process. Even with the power of customer data at your fingertips, it’s challenging to find the right balance of messaging, outreach, and personalization that will win over consumers. Your best bet is to put yourself in their shoes. What’s it like to live their journey? What are their touchpoints with your brand? How can you make these micromoments that much more meaningful and personalized?

Before contemplating campaigns and programs, start with a strategic review of your customer’s interactions with your organization. Truly audit every possible touchpoint, so you can define ways those moments can be personalized. There will be obvious ones – visiting your website, liking a post on your Facebook page, talking with a customer service rep, visiting your store, etc. There may also be surprising ones – ads they see while browsing other websites, signs they see in your store window, and decisions they make while using their phones. Document as many of these possibilities as you can. The opportunities you uncover may surprise you.

Similarly, list all of your potential customer journeys. Some call these “use cases.” Consider the various situations that your customers will experience. Let’s use our previous example of red sneakers. Perhaps your customer, Stephanie, needs a new pair, and she has started searching online for various styles. After a few days, she narrows her choices to a few pairs, and she wants to try them on for size. She decides to visit your store. While in-store, she finds the shoes she wants and buys them along with a few matching accessories. She tells the cashier that red is her favorite color. She also mentions that she’ll be looking for a red dress in a few weeks – she has a holiday party coming up. She then leaves the store, goes home, and shares pictures of her new finds with her friends through her social media profiles.

In this situation, by using customer data, we’ve already uncovered a lot of ways to provide value and personalization to Stephanie: 

• We can use retargeting initiatives to offer her ads and discounts on red sneakers at our store. On our website, we can use recommendations or other means to keep red sneakers and her other interests top of mind. 
• If she adds any to her cart, we can send her reminders if she doesn’t purchase. 
• If she places anything in her “favorites,” we can send her emails when they go on sale or reminders of where she can try them on. 
• When entering our store, we can send her a text or in-app message helping her find the sneakers she likes or offering her discounts. 
• Our friendly cashier can access all of Stephanie’s information on screen. This way, when Stephanie checks out, the cashier can see her loyalty status and offer her a special discount. 
• She can also enter Stephanie’s interests in a red dress, so we can use that information for further targeting and communication. 
• Post-purchase, we can send Stephanie a thank you email or app message, asking her to review her purchase or share socially with her friends (and maybe offering her some loyalty points to boot).

This is just one example of a typical retail use case. You can likely define a dozen or more critical paths in your customer’s experience, each one having multiple variations. Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with a few journeys and build from there. Even with 2-5 examples, you’ll uncover many ways you can personalize.

Using Customer Data to Build Trust

Once your processes and use cases are defined, and you’re able to aggregate and access the data you need, marketing technology makes it happen. Again, a marketing technology audit and assessment is a large-scale initiative that takes time to develop. You’ve already built your “current state” model as part of this process. Now, you need your “ideal state” to make your dreams a reality. This will require a lot of people, even more conversations, and an unthinkable amount of late nights. 

That said, focus on the capabilities you need, the customer data you need to harness, and tools you need to connect. At the bare minimum, in addition to your CDP, you’ll need marketing automation, analytics, business intelligence, and a host of other enablement tools that drive your customer experiences closer and closer to seamless.

Conclusion

Consumers today know they are being watched and tracked. They may not always like it, but they expect it. The brands that win their loyalty are those that harness that information to provide meaningful and personalized experiences. It’s the brands that go the “extra mile” to put a smile on their face, make them feel like part of a larger community, offer them timely discounts, and reinforce their passions. It’s also the brands that listen to their preferences and don’t over-communicate or solicit. We live in a consumer-controlled world – customers need to decide when, where, and how they are spoken to. Give them control, make them feel special, and go out of your way to impress them. None of that is possible without customer data, and it’s certainly not possible without building their trust.

If you’re looking to ramp up your customer experiences, give us a call. Relationship One is here to help.