Technology

Needle in a haystack: Learning to prioritize your customer data

Brian Cluster, director of industry strategy, CPG and retail, Stibo Systems, explains how to leverage customer data, why retailers can't get caught in the data deluge and the need to make a plan and ensure it places a deep focus on the customer's point of view.

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July 1, 2020 by Brian Cluster — Director of Industry Strategy for CPG & Retail, Stibo Systems

Every minute of every day, retailers collect massive amounts of customer data — but they're far from determining how best to leverage it.

In fact, an estimated 44 zettabytes of data is created daily, according to the World Economic Forum. (A zettabyte has 21 zeroes.) And in one internet minute, Google receives 3.8 million search queries, consumers spend $996,956 online, and 87,500 people tweet. Every one of those actions could have an impact — positive or negative — on your global business.

Therein lies the challenge: Staggering quantities of data are generated, but it's the quality that counts. Therefore, retailers must create a plan for tackling data that includes narrowing your focus on the customer, analyzing customer feedback and putting that feedback into context across your business. Doing so will allow you to make better sense — and better use — of your data so you can deliver a top-notch customer experience.

Focus on the customer

When companies start to dig through customer feedback, business intelligence analysis and visualizations often dominate the discussion, causing their team to lose focus of what's really important — the customer. Personifying customers in the discussions will help keep the focus on the buyer. Always look at data through the customer's lens and try to anticipate what they want before they ask. This is crucial in maintaining a competitive edge.

By understanding transaction activity and knowing what your customers add to their cart and purchase, you are better able to personalize the shopping experience — which is key in their eyes. In fact, two-thirds of consumers responding to the State of the Consumer & Retailer Data Survey 2020 agreed that the more personalized the experience a retailer offers, the more positive the relationship with that retailer.

Analyze various pertinent data

According to Pointillist, high-performing CX-focused companies are more than nine times more likely to integrate data from multiple sources, analyze customer interactions across channels and engage with them favorably.

It's important to collect information from all relevant sources –— surveys, social, website reviews, email – and build a robust process that can be reviewed over time. By analyzing and categorizing all feedback, you can quickly see positive or negative trends across platforms that would highlight an opportunity to drill further. Are you seeing the same topics brought up across channels? What's the sentiment of customer tweets or Yelp posts? Do you know what words and sentences your customers are using to describe various emotions relating to your business? Are they using the same words to describe your business?

Having a quality foundation of mastered customer, product and location data will help you find opportunities to improve CX. With a 360-degree customer view and the underlying work completed by improving, cleansing and enriching of customer data, your teams now have a trusted view of customer data. They will be able to analyze feedback across specific demographics, customer profiles, geographies, product types or services along the customer journey.

Put feedback into context

You should consider your customer feedback as one piece of a bigger master data puzzle — as it can often help you prioritize and solve challenges in multiple parts of the business. Consider this scenario, for example: Customers are failing to complete your e-commerce checkout process. They're getting to the second-to-last screen, where they must select shipping options, and 20% don't make it past that page — instead abandoning their cart.

Evaluating customer feedback from both internal and external sources can help you find sentiment around the word "shipping." You may find customers are upset that what qualifies for free shipping isn't clear until too late in the process (free shipping for purchases of $100 or more). By relaxing the guidelines or making them clear before the customer begins the checkout process, you solve a problem that touches both user experience (UX) and CX. Look for opportunities where one set of data can inform your understanding of another.

Don't wait –— take action

Most companies analyze customer feedback but drop the ball when it is time to make changes that help improve the customer experience. A Microsoft study found that nearly half of people worldwide (48%) say companies need to do a better job of taking action on customer feedback. Retailers that excel in implementing changes based on customer feedback have a clear process, executive alignment and prioritize CX projects. They know that data needs to deliver value to the customer and the organization.

As you implement your data-grounded CX initiatives, don't forget to set a plan in motion to evaluate progress. Schedule some time each month to deep dive into your data as a team and see how customer sentiment has changed — that will help you determine you've taken the right course of action, or if adjustments need to be made.

Data, used wisely, will improve CX

The amount of available customer data will continue to rise, particularly since today's consumers are staying away from public places and increasingly engaging digitally. But don't get caught in the data deluge. Rather, make a plan and ensure it places a deep focus on the customer's point of view, gathering data from various sources, putting feedback into context and continually adjusting your solutions based on additional feedback.

Loyalty is no longer based on price, product or even brand. It's based on the customer experience you provide. And data, used correctly, can give you the key to continuously improving your CX.

Brian Cluster is director of industry strategy, CPG and retail for Stibo Systems.

About Brian Cluster

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Brian Cluster is Stibo Systems' Industry Strategy Director, specializing in the Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail industries. He has a strong 20-year track record of collaborating on strategy, building and delivering analytics, and business & digital transformation. At Stibo Systems, Brian is putting his varied industry expertise to good use, providing direction, strategy and relevant insights for our field teams and ·helping driving customer value for master data management solutions.

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