A company’s relationship with customers is much more than providing products or services merely. Not any more, at least. When the market is full of great products, it’s all about the customer experience you deliver: customers’ expectations are rising and companies that fail to meet those demands will eventually be defeated.
Know Your Customer
We’re now in the middle of a so-called ‘Age of the Customer’– the period when customers do not only expect flawless experience, but also demand consistent experiences across multiple channels (both in-person and digital) which is the reason why today’s customer experience requires a combination of customer insights from various platforms. After all, data is what matters – especially since it’s the source of information for improvement.
Thanks to analytics and on-site behavior data, meeting (and even exceeding) customers’ expectations have become possible. Data-backed customer experience delivers just as much of a positive experience to customers as it does to organizations: the approach becomes personalized and a lot more intense, which translates into increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Since customers are expecting more from their interactions with brand, data-driven personalized communication based on customers likes, dislikes, hobbies and needs can initially fuel the growth of the company.
Transform Big Data into Smart Data
To base your decisions and shape customer experience having all possible data is not enough; data on its own is neither dynamic nor smart. Data is just data – and the outcome of it depends on one’s interpretations of data. If you remember the famous Vs of Big Data – Volume, Velocity, Variety and Veracity, Smart Data is about Veracity along with yet another often used V: Value. Veracity and value aspects deal with the quality and the usefulness of the data leading to the point, which is the reason why companies should shape customer experience based on Smart Data analysis.
Transforming Big Data (i.e. thousands of both necessary and unnecessary data points) into Smart Data (i.e. useful, value-adding information) means aggregation and specific analysis – i.e. investing in technology that allows you to gather data inputs from multiple sources and analysis that lets you to extract insights. Turning Big Data into Smart Data takes collection optimization and insightful analysis. For some business, this translates into the need for more detailed and systematic tracking of customer analytics, however with ever-improving analytics tools analysing customer’s attention, habits, interests and browsing histories have become easier than ever. And once you have the whole background information along with on-site behaviour data you can base your decisions on, you are free to offer products tailored to specific customer’s needs.
React & Act
In order not to not fall behind the competition in 2017, it is advisable to reconsider your options and implement new, modern ways of data gathering to support decision making & excel in customer experience. It’s a no brainer – happy customers lead to growth and every single company wants to see the business being prosperous. Leveraging the power of Smart Data these days, when all the options are here, shouldn’t be a question. In other words – track your customer, know or your customer and his/her expectations or go home.