Customer data: Turn data into valuable insights
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Jun 1, 2023

Customer data: Turn data into valuable insights

There’s a lot of talk about customer data in the world of e-commerce, but not everyone understands what it is. Or perhaps they do know, but they struggle to see how to gain actual value from it. In this post, I’ll help demystify the topic and share why it’s so important for your e-commerce business!

What is customer data?

Customer data is information about your customers, collected from many different sources. It includes everything from basic contact details (name and address) to more complex information like purchase history, requests for support, and feedback on products or services.

Data can be used to make better business decisions, improve customer experience, and increase revenue.

Data is a strategic asset because it can help you make better decisions about your organization’s direction and future. The more information you have, the better able you are to make informed decisions. This can be especially helpful when it comes to planning for future growth, determining the right pricing strategy for your products or services, and improving customer satisfaction. According to McKinsey, being data-driven nets big results in performance.

The importance of customer data

Think of data as the fuel for your e-commerce engine. It’s a key differentiator and a strategic asset, providing you with an advantage over competitors in the marketplace.

If you’re not using data to its maximum potential, you’re missing out on many opportunities to improve your business processes and strategies for growth.

Data is the lifeblood of any business. Companies that are able to use data effectively have a competitive advantage over those that can’t. This blog will explain what data is, why it’s important and how you can leverage it to grow your business. The key to unlocking the value of data is having the right people, technology, and processes in place. It’s important to understand that no one tool or technology can solve all your business challenges. But by collecting data in one place, you sure do make it easier to make data-driven decisions.

CDP reporting custimy

Types of customer data

There are five types of customer data:

  • Demographic data focuses on who the customers are. This includes age, gender, race, and ethnicity. It also includes factors like education levels and household incomes.
  • Behavioral data describes what customers do when they interact with your company or product. For example, how often do they visit your website? Do they regularly use a particular feature of your product? What pages do they click on most often?
  • Transactional data tells you what actions are taken by customers during a single transaction or series of transactions—for example, payment methods used in an e-commerce purchase.
  • Attitudinal data indicates what people think about products/services (or any subject matter) based on surveys or interviews conducted by researchers after being given specific questions to answer; this type of information helps companies better understand their target audiences wants/needs so that companies can make smarter decisions about new services/products that might benefit those individuals most appropriately! A common question asked during these types of studies is “why?” You’ll want to focus particularly closely here because it’s important not only to know what something means but also why something happened–those answers will help guide future projects effectively too!

When you’re looking at your data, there are a few things to keep in mind:


1) Data should be accurate and thorough. Don’t rely on just one source of information. Use multiple sources to verify results.


2) The data must be relevant and timely—meaning it should provide information about people’s needs or desires at that moment in time.


3) It’s important to look at trends in the data over time so you can see how things are changing and how they might continue to change over time as well.

How to turn your customer data into valuable initiatives

  • Use data to improve customer experience
  • Have you ever had a terrible customer experience? Then you know how important it is to make sure that doesn’t happen again. And sometimes, the best way to do that is by using data. With the right tools and practices in place, you can use the data your customers provide when they interact with your brand on social media, through product reviews, and more. Then, use this insight to create better experiences for future customers.
  • Use data to improve customer decisions
  • One of the most valuable things we can do with our customer data makes better decisions based on what we learn from it. Not just as individuals but as an organization as well. By using insights from past interactions and campaigns, we can be more deliberate about setting goals for existing relationships or building new ones in order to drive loyalty over time without having any hiccups along the way (like losing contact information).

Make data-driven decisions based on what you already know about your customers. Start with the basics like demographics and interests, then branch out into behavioral data. This will help you better understand who your customers are and what they want—allowing you to create more relevant experiences that build deeper relationships over time.

Side tracking

You must understand your customers and this means collecting accurate and comprehensive data.

The first step in understanding your customers is to collect accurate and comprehensive customer data. This means more than just demographics and buying habits, it’s about the customer journey from awareness through purchase to loyalty. It’s about the customer experience along that journey and how they feel about your brand at each stage of their life cycle.

It also means collecting preferences for things such as frequency of contact, preferred channels, product types, etc., so your team knows how best to communicate with them (and what not to do).

The next step is to apply this data to your marketing efforts. This means knowing which customers are most likely to convert and reaching out to them accordingly. It also means segmenting your audience into smaller groups based on what they like, so you can send more relevant content that will interest them.

Conclusion

Customer data is a valuable asset that can be used to develop effective strategies and generate revenue. The key is turning your data into actionable insights and implementing them so they create tangible results for your business. This will improve customer retention, increase sales and help you compete with other companies in the market. A Customer data platform can make your e-commerce life much easier. It makes working with data a breeze. And with the benefits of that, its clear to see why the CDP is such a popular tool for marketers today.