How to use data driven insights to boost customer relationships

Photo credit: Cottonbro

The current market dynamics are driven by consumers’ volatile needs and wants. In order for businesses to respond to the volatility of consumers’ needs, they have to understand the consumer behavior patterns. However, with the technological advancement in E-Commerce in the recent years, businesses have realized that advanced data analytic and data intelligence capabilities can give them deeper insight into their customers’ behaviors. Since all of customers’ digital behavior is recorded, businesses can use data analytics and mining, to strategically use this data to boost their operations.

In a webinar seminar by Aberdeen, they found out that organizations are rich in data but poor in insights. They asserted that data alone is not enough; organizations must be able to take clear action from their data if they are to succeed. The following are ways in which data analytics can be used to boost customer experience.

1. Increase data capacity

For businesses to realize the comparative advantage of data analytics, they should increase data capacity by incorporating data analytics into the existing technologies and processes. This will provide real time information across the business that can be used by the management to make a strategic decision.

2. Personalize content for customers need

It is the responsibility of a business to get to know their customers as well as they know themselves. This proves vital, as it enables a business to personalize their content to respond to specific needs of customers. The personalization of content to suite customers requires that a business should be aware of the specific need that they seek to respond to, hence making it easy to decide on what form of marketing strategy implemented.

3. Set behavioral triggers

By analyzing customer habits and purchasing patterns, it gives you new perspectives on how to engage with them in response to your brand. For instance, when a customer clicks a link or subscribes to your mailing list, their behavior should signal a reaction from your team. This requires going deeper with embedded artificial intelligence and predictive analytics that will help the business generate, analyze and act on data. Such things as, behavior triggered email campaigns, engages consumers and converts them into potential buyers.

4. Create ongoing conversations

In a virtual world where customers interact with your brand, being silent is as good as being dead or a closed business. Whether you are expecting feedback or not, the customers always need to hear something from you, and in return, the customers will share opinions about your brand. Ian Lurie, in his book Conversation Marketing: Common Sense Internet Strategies, reveals that, conversation marketing is direct and conservative. It requires no sales pitch, since it involves asking the customers their likes and dislikes. This is akin to using technology to maximize sales and establish long term relationship with customers.