2017 was a challenging year for retail and restaurant brands. It seems consumers’ demands are increasing at an exponential rate just as brand marketers struggle to keep up with the rising surge of consumer data coming in from all angles in this new omnichannel world.
In fact, 50% of U.S. consumers said they ditched brands this year because of poor customer experience, according to a recent Accenture study.
How do you ensure that your brand is keeping up with your customers’ expectations? Smart data, that’s how.
More than ever before, consumers want to feel as if brands know who they are and what they want. While Amazon may lead the retail pack in offering a personalized experience, it is not necessary to implement a sophisticated artificial intelligence system in order to understand your customers better and deliver more personalized messaging.
To deliver the customer experience your customers crave and to get the most out of your marketing spend in 2018, follow these 4 steps:
- Update your customer data.
Start by fixing what’s broken in your current loyalty database and fill in the gaps with third-party data to help you better understand your customers. By using data hygiene services to clean your data and data appends to add additional information, your customer data can provide a wealth of information about your customers, including age, lifestyle, marital status, education level, communication preferences, interests, activities, and hobbies. - Analyze your customer base to understand their preferences.
Through descriptive analytics and predictive modeling, a new view of your customers unfolds as not only will you learn more about your customers as a whole, but also you can identify what type of customer will be most responsive to your message and most likely to be a loyal customer for years to come. Only after you have thoroughly analyzed your customer base can you truly identify your ideal target markets. - Once you understand your customer base, develop omnichannel strategies that include social media advertising, email marketing, and digital marketing to ensure maximum conversions.
Now that you know exactly how your individual customers will respond to your messaging and which communication methods they prefer, you can begin to develop the appropriate omnichannel marketing strategy for your current and prospective customers. Offline direct marketing paired with online marketing focused on email, social media, and digital display ads will ensure that your message is engaged with by your ideal target market. - Use competitive data to your advantage.
Transaction-level competitive spend data is now available to help your brand know exactly where your customers and prospects are spending their money, how much and how often. You can gain an unfair advantage by leveraging this information and developing custom offers targeted directly at your competitors’ loyal customers.
In conclusion, as consumers demand more personalized messaging, transactional data alone is no longer enough. Data hygiene services, third-party data appends, customer analytics, and data modeling will save you money in the long run as your 2018 marketing spend can be laser-focused and produce the highest marketing ROI possible.
AccuData Integrated Marketing’s system is fool-proof because we utilize smart data strategies at every point in our campaign development, thereby enabling your brand the ability to use hyper-personalized messaging and offer a better customer experience than your competitors.
Want to learn how we can help grow your brand? Schedule your free consultation with a data expert today.