Taking customer centricity to the next level with a CDP

people walking across zebra crossing

Can’t see the customer for the data?

Now, more than ever, businesses know the importance of looking after existing customers in order to retain them and increase their value.

The key to this is having complete and up-to date customer data that accurately depicts how your customers behave – both offline and online.

Equipped with a clear understanding of their needs and preferences, your marketing department will be more effective at increasing customer loyalty and sales. And just as importantly, your service teams will be able to provide more insightful, helpful and impressive experiences.

Of course, this all depends on how accurately your data is depicting your customers.

 

Customers in pieces

When it comes to capturing customer data, quantity isn’t the problem. Customers generate huge volumes of it as they engage via websites, apps, email, call centres and retail branches.

The real issue is where it is kept – often in divisional or channel siloes that few businesses can integrate.

This fragmented approach prevents businesses from getting a clear picture of their customers and a true understanding of their preferences and needs.

And it is compounded by the fact that customers are frustratingly random. They might buy online using their office address and mobile number, for example, yet their loyalty membership may be linked to their home address and personal email.

 

It’s like you don’t know me

A fractured data picture leads to decisions that are based on only a partial understanding of customers. Inevitably, it results in experiences that leave customers feeling unrecognised, unvalued – and yes, unloved.

The sense that ‘the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing’ can be all too evident during personal service encounters. When a customer talks to your service teams, they expect you to know the totality of their relationship, not just the last time you spoke.

A fractured data picture leads to decisions that are based on only a partial understanding of customers. Inevitably, it results in experiences that leave customers feeling unrecognised, unvalued – and yes, unloved.

The fact that your data is siloed is of no interest to them, but if you genuinely want to build customer loyalty and value, it should be critically important to you.

 

I want a complete picture, and I want it now

The ability to get a single customer view, and in real-time, is what’s preventing many businesses from becoming truly customer focused.

The problem is traditional processes and systems can’t keep pace with the volume of data being generated by today’s customers. This results in large amounts of customer data being overlooked and unused.

Even if data can be accessed, extracting insights takes so long that any commercial value is lost –particularly in dynamic, fast-moving markets. Thankfully hope is on the horizon, in the form of a new breed of technology platform.

 

With CDP’s everything is clear

The emergence of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) is giving service organisations the opportunity to see their customers as they really are – often for the first time.

Hosted in the cloud, a CDP integrates customer data from multiple online and offline sources, often in real time, to create a true single customer view.

This complete picture is available in dashboard format on the desktop of each user. It puts the awesome power of customer data in the hands of the people who need it most – your marketing and service professionals.

Equipped with true insights, your people can deliver personalised experiences that maximise opportunities and mitigate risks in the context of a customer’s entire relationship with your organisation.

The hottest topic in the world of data-driven marketing, Customer Data Platforms are being widely adopted as much for their ability to improve customer satisfaction as their capacity to boost sales.

 

Take customer centricity to the next level

Being customer focused requires more than good intentions. It demands a technology I want a complete picture, solution that lets your organisation recognise each customer individually and enables your and I want it now people to deliver highly personalised customer experiences. That solution – the Customer Data Platform – has arrived.

This guest article was written by Tony Rambaut, Co-founder of our partner UniFida Australia. Originally published in the FOCUS Quarterly March 2021 magazine by CSIA.

 

Are you considering a customer data platform? Find out how developing use cases can help you understand what your business needs from CDP technology.


UniFida logo

UniFida is the trading name of Marketing Planning Services Ltd, a London based technology and data science company set up in 2014. Our overall aim is to help organisations build more customer value at less marketing cost.

Our technology focus has been to develop UniFida. Our data science business comes both from existing users of UniFida, and from clients looking to us to solve their more complex data related marketing questions.

Marketing is changing at an explosive speed, and our ambition is to help our clients stay empowered and ahead in this challenging environment.