Data Analytics: Paving the Way for Personalized & Sustainable Digital Customer Experiences

This article was written by Sriram Sitaraman, Director of Technology at Material

Regardless of its size or market area, customer experience and satisfaction should be primary focus of every business. According to Hubspot, businesses with a customer experience mindset are 60% more profitable, on average, than their non-customer-centric competitors.

The most impactful and effective customer experience (CX) is often the result of personalization. This means offering the right thing at the right time, in the right way and in the right order. And, in this digital age, data plays a key role keeping businesses well-informed about the trends and preferences of their customers, enabling effective personalization.

Data is an Asset for Businesses

Data flows from every direction and more data is on its way every second. The World Economic Forum estimates that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally by 2025. The speed of data generation is growing because of the increasing number of devices connected to the Internet of Things.

The usage of the right data promises an automated, agile, personalized, omnichannel experience that most customers want. Data helps businesses stay ahead and understand who their customers are, how they shop, what they prefer and how they wish to engage with the organization. It can also help businesses understand which tools they should use, buy or build to retain current consumers and draw new leads.

But not all data a business has is relevant for its customer experience. Businesses can’t enrich customer experience by leveraging just any data that they may have. It’s important to concentrate only on data that is useful and actionable for the business. Here, data analytics helps in defining which data is of paramount importance and which may be unusable.

Data Analytics Unlocks Customer Centricity

Data analytics is valuable for businesses to boost customer experience because it offers massive opportunities to positively affect customer relationships. Once an organization leverages the correct target-specific data strategies, those strategies can be the prime factor in maintaining productive communication between a business and its customers. It also helps a business grow considerably in terms of revenue generation and, perhaps more importantly, goodwill.

Companies leverage data analytics to learn about customer behavior, record the customer support team’s interactions and address any consumer dissatisfaction. But data can help improve the customer journey only if the organization is inclined to follow the data it gathers. If it wants to succeed in the current market, an organization must collect the data and learn from it.

Once a business conducts a data evaluation, it can analyze what it did right and how it can further enhance its service and where it should focus more. In the absence of analytics, those moves will only be guesses.

Data Can Fill in the Gaps

If an organization uses data responsibly, it can significantly improve the association between its business and its customers. With the right data, driven by data analytics, a business can see the world from the perspective of its customers. This deeper understanding can enable businesses to fill in the gaps in their communication strategies, services and products. Also, with customized campaigns, businesses can create a sustainable customer experience.

But remember, some data that a business may want to use can be sensitive, personal and increasingly regulated. Maintaining customer trust through transparency about data collection and how their data will be used is crucial to a successful data analysis strategy that will assist and not harm a business.

So, an organization can score major wins in its market if it maintains the subtle balance between transparency and customer trust while leveraging data analysis for insights to create memorable customer experiences.

360-Degree View of the Customer Journey

Clearly, sales, marketing, customer service and operations all function separately, but customers interact and engage with a brand and not the organization. Customers should always see a single seamless interface – no matter where they are in their journey.

For example, a company should consider a customer buying products online as the same customer across all channels, such as over the phone, in-store, on social media and so on. To do this, it needs a 360-degree view of the customer journey by associating all the customer’s identities, touchpoints and preferences with a brand. When this view is used across all the areas in a company, only then can it offer a truly connected experience. This can best be achieved by applying data analytics to a customer data platform.

Stay on Trend

Data analytics can help a business recognize trends and new customer behavior patterns. For example, many companies are experiencing a marked increase in online sales because of digitalization. Once a business has this information, it can transfer resources to its e-commerce unit and arm the sales and service teams with revenue-producing opportunities like web or online-only promotional offers for specific customers.

With more detailed data, the more accurate a company’s analysis of emerging trends and possible results will be. Furthermore, it is the primary reason the marketing, sales and customer service teams should log customer interactions and share real-time insights through collaboration and messaging capabilities, providing a combined view of customers across multiple segments.

Stay Informed About the Behaviors that are Here to Stay

The changes in customer behavior driven by the pandemic showcased the growth of unexpected trends, the emergence of new preferences and a full reversal of some long-held routines. Collectively, this blend will continue to evolve and create the foundation of the next “normal.”

The great news is that businesses now have the potential to not only guide future customer behavior by digging into the data, but also proactively encourage behaviors that are likely to last for years to come. This will also allow businesses to position themselves as innovators in shaping the customer experiences of the future.

Successful businesses today are adept at understanding which customer behaviors and experiences are increasing. They are already making targeted investments to address customers’ evolving needs. It’s not easy, because the organization needs to simultaneously check consumer trends, familiarize itself with their shopping patterns and plan for business continuity. All this is possible with data analytics. Once businesses analyze the data, they can customize their ways of working to fulfill the specific needs of their customers and users.

The Future of Customer Experience Lies in Data

Data is essential because organizations need the flexibility to adapt and alter their business at short notice to keep up with the ever-changing digital needs of consumers. The most successful businesses will be those that make the most effective use of their accumulated digital data to develop digital solutions aligned with their customers’ needs. Emerging use cases include:

• AI can enhance the customer experience by customizing content to a customer’s needs and offering a more robust and responsive customer support system. It can boost a sustainable digital customer service experience. AI is already altering the way brands and businesses engage with customers by making it convenient for businesses to create personalized customer experiences and foster long-term relationships.
• Machine Learning can access and evaluate big data to find incongruities, give instant insights and analyze how consumers might behave online. This technology’s data analytics capabilities can unlock insights to help companies enhance the customer experience.

The Bottom Line

Data analytics has an essential role in ensuring a sustainable customer experience. With data analytics tools, businesses can be sure that they allocate their resources to the places where they have the greatest impact.