News

Retailers mining data to offer tailored customer experiences

August 2, 2012

New software is available to help retailers figure out what makes consumers buy rather than browse.

MicroStrategy, a provider of business intelligence software, recently launched Wisdom Professional, a free analytical app that explores consumers' Facebook data — including demographics, interests, activities and preferences — according to wwd.com.

Facebook users opt in by liking the Wisdom page; retailers can use the market research to better understand their consumers, and to provide more targeted products and services. The program complements MicroStrategy's Alert platform, which harnesses Facebook data and promotes viral activity.

A retailer can do a promotion with Facebook fans by using the system's "alert" program to send offers, coupons, polls, and more. Before beginning the campaign, however, Wisdom to creates a psychographic profile that looks specifically at Facebook users' age, educational background, income bracket, relationship status and other factors.

"With Wisdom, I can merge the customer relationship management and Facebook data and look at past transactions," said Microstrategy's David Bieber. "With all this aggregated information, I can personalize the marketing to that specific channel."

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