How to Capture Customer Data in Your Data-Driven Marketing Database

Data-driven marketing has evolved from an innovative approach to an integral part of advertising and business strategy. It refers to systems built on insights gathered from the analysis of big data collected through consumer interactions and engagements through which you can form predictions about future behaviors.

The process involves understanding the customer data you have and the data you can obtain. Also, knowing how to organize, analyze, and apply that data to improve marketing efforts is very important.

Data-driven marketing varies from traditional marketing by allowing you to connect with customers in the right place, at the right time, and with the correct offering. Since factual data and analytics do not support it, traditional marketing involves many trial and error methods. Marketing backed by data allows for further personalization, precise benchmarking, and enhanced targeting for marketers to continue improving their strategies over time.

There are some methods you can use to increase the amount of data in your data-driven marketing strategy.

In exchange for personal information, loyalty cards offer customers discounts. The customer fills out a form with their name, address, and other necessary details to create a record in your company's marketing database. Then, you give the customer a plastic card that they can use to make a purchase. The card accrues points towards a future discount to the customer's account and ties the transaction details to the customer's record.

Offering a newsletter is one of the best ways to generate lists of potential customers. Since most newsletters are delivered electronically, they require an email address for delivery to potential clients. Also, the customer signals some interest in your products by requesting a newsletter. It is vital that when you are designing your marketing communications, you already know that the customers have an interest in your services.

Even when a customer is not logged in, you can still tie future browsing behavior to that customer record if the customer is registered. Cookies are tiny files that you can put in a client's computer that allow you to link browsing sessions. Linking sessions is vital at www.cirrusinsight.com because it helps you to recognize every time the user comes back to your website, logged in or not. You have access to the pages they look at once they are registered. You can learn a lot from studying their behavior and what products they are searching for.

There is a wide variety of companies selling lists of names and addresses of potential customers. The level of targeting usually varies according to the provider of the list. The simplest and cheapest lists are mostly geographically concentrated, which means that you select addresses within a given set of zip codes. However, the list providers can be a great deal more sophisticated. They can use factors such as income, age, presence of children, marital status, and any other demographic profile information to select lists that meet precise profile parameters.

You can help your sales and services agents tremendously by making consumer profile information available to your call centers. Also, you can cut down on the length of phone calls, thus lowering the cost of running your call center. It is advantageous to enable your database marketing efforts to access information that call center reps collect from customers. Ensure that the agents are trained to ask for crucial pieces of information related to customers. For example, if a customer calls and inquiries about a specific product, it should trigger an offer from the call center rep. Likewise, frontline salespeople in your points of sale can significantly benefit from the availability of customer data. In return, you will find that the data they may capture is beneficial. A loyalty swipe card connects a customer's purchase data to the transaction. The cross-selling technique is effective in allowing the point-of-sale system to award coupons relevant to their buying patterns.

You will gain by sending a physical packet of some kind to the customer since it requires the recipients to disclose their name and address to you. Names and addresses are usually the core information you need to create a detailed customer record. Share physical collateral packets with information about your products. You can share items such as videos, planning guides, and product samples with your customers.

Businesses and consumers alike can gain immensely from taking a data-driven marketing approach. The marketing allows your brand to create a customized campaign that leads through a deep understanding of the customer profile. You can launch customer satisfaction surveys and identify specific areas for improvement. You will establish a better understanding of your target audience and develop better-suited products.