Why data is still the force driving customer experience success

Data, a thesaurus might say, is units of information derived from the basis of measurement, reasoning, or calculation. Yet, what makes data valuable is not only its potential applications, but the insights organizations can draw from it to derive success at managing customer experiences.

In a world where options outnumber providers, companies relying solely on sales and marketing strategies will find themselves stagnant in growth. In retail, customer success is a rising methodology that proactively identifies and resolves consumer challenges, boosting consumer satisfaction and loyalty along the way.

While the shopkeepers of old may have known their customers’ tastes and needs individually, today’s businesses selling to tens of thousands of customers around the world can’t rely on familiarity. Even the world’s biggest brands like Coca-Cola must rely on the data they can acquire to provide clues and insights as to how their customers are interacting and how their markets are being affected by external forces.

Data can reveal the milestones that lead to customer success, by zooming into the economic behaviors of customers, including their consumption, engagement, enrichment, and retention records. Getting to the core of consumers and their desires can bring businesses on par (or surpass) what is being offered ‘out there’ by a diverse clutch of competitors, each with its own unique brand and marketing content. 

In this case, customer retention is the driving motivation of any organization in a fiercely competitive market. Research shows a majority (84%) of the economic value of customers comes from retention. 

Therefore, understanding what drives customer success through data and understanding customer journeys will help businesses increase up-sell opportunities and improve customer lifetime value. Data on the customer journey is poised to address any gap or lack of knowledge in the consumer market; however, if not leverage properly, data becomes redundant and would plague the organization with irrelevant insights. 

Without a comprehensive approach to data, organizations will be left with fragmented pictures of their customers. Siloed data that encapsulates the consumer’s past engagements with the brand, expectations, and feedback will put the brakes on efficiency, and hamper loyalty and satisfaction rates. 

Segmented data needs to be combined in an organized and filtered approach, and this can be accomplished through customer master data management, or cMDM if you will. The system manages central records of data and connects customer experiences in a collective space. Upon analysis, organizations are provided with a comprehensive view of all touchpoints of the consumer journey. 

The insights gathered from streams of data in a single pool can empower companies to leverage dynamic marketing strategies. With data readily at hand, organizations can utilize data if the time is right to kickstart marketing automation. 

For instance, an organization can devise marketing strategies framed in the right context, by pulling out a customer’s past purchases, preferred payment options, and shopping footprint. The information helps organizations identify and ‘profile’ a customer, unveiling suitable marketing strategies that will accelerate customer success. 

Ultimately, data integrated with the right tools and implementation can lead an organization to devise a more effective and impactful plan to boost CX.