Why Is a Complete Customer Record So Important for Marketing?
Let’s start with the basics. What is a Customer Record? Across the marketing industry, you will encounter this incredible concept with many different names, like the golden record, single master customer record, and customer profile, just to name a few. And what it is, is a compilation of data (demographic, purchasing history, location, preferences…) from multiple sources that give you a 360º view of your consumers.
Now that we got that out of the way, you can see why customer records are an integral part of the organization. This information can be used by key departments, including marketing, sales, purchasing, and customer service. Once you have a detailed record available for every single customer, your teams can use that data in multiple ways to improve your customer journey and with this, your business’s overall KPIs.
The Reasons Why
Customer records can be as basic as a spreadsheet with customer names, contact details, age, and gender (but more complicated in the long run because you have to manually update it), or they can be sophisticated Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) that can keep track of your customers’ preferences, sales history, spending patterns, contact details, and much more.
Let’s dive in further and explore how customer records can improve designing marketing strategies and their outcomes.
1. Better Customer Services, Online, and In-Store
With a clear customer record, you can serve your customers better both, in-store and online thus encouraging repeat business. You will not only be aware of the client’s history with your brand but also if he has a pending ticket or query that you need to address and of course this customer’s lifetime value.
Another recommended strategy you should implement is consistently running Net Promotion Score (NPS) campaigns or asking for suggestions from your customers after they purchase in your stores. These suggestions can help you make changes in your current offerings or improve your product assortment, user experience, and overall customer journey,
2. Personalized Marketing Effort
Maximizing the right use of customer records allows businesses to maximize opportunities and increase profits by making sure the customers receive the right messaging or nudge at the right time.
With a fully integrated customer record, you can understand the buying pattern of your individual customers, and use these trends to create dynamic segments to design special offers and discounts that are specific for them, such as a personalized coupon for their favorite wine on their birthday month.
When you launch a new product or collection, you can reach out to your customers with the highest affinity and inform them about the new product via email or through other means of marketing. Along with improving the chances of sales, it fosters a bond of trust between your customer and business.
3. Marketing Opt-in and Compliance
Businesses using customer records have a responsibility to prove that the data was collected and stored legally. Any marketing material sent via email or SMS, including special offers, promotions, or newsletters, requires explicit consent from the customer to ensure you are in compliance, avoid being fined, and engender customer loyalty by demonstrating that you avoid spamming your customers.
As a business, you will need to present sufficient proof that you have your customer’s consent to receive marketing messages. By utilizing your customer record management software or tools, you will also be able to keep a record of their consent, enabling you to comply with this legal requirement. For this reason, it is important that your customer management tool is integrated with your SMS and email marketing tools.
4. Real-Time Reporting
When using advanced and well-integrated customer records, your team can quickly access customer inquiries or any other actions they have taken such as cancellation as well as the ability to understand purchasing trends based on your products or specific promotions. And there is nothing more important than identifying and understanding what makes your customer buy!
5. No Duplicate Customer Record
If you have a duplicate customer record, it not only makes your data dirty but it will be an immense cost for your business. Analytical reports generated out of the record with duplicate entries are also not reliable and do not help in making sound decisions.
Also, when you think of taking advantage of “personalization” in marketing, it’s important to have accurate and clean customer data. Else it can be a very terrible customer experience. Imagine receiving 3 emails from any brand with exactly the same information… I would definitely unsubscribe asap.
6. Help You Test Your New Product Before Launch
If you are planning to launch a new product or campaign, the best way is to test it on a small segment. A/B testing the messaging, advertising assets, product information, and pricing. If you have a clean customer base, this feedback can be useful in improving your product or advertising campaign before launching it on a bigger scale.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a complete and clean customer record database can help businesses make informed decisions, adjust their digital and in-store marketing efforts, design more customized offers and improve the overall customer service. By doing this, businesses can leverage all the direct and indirect benefits associated with more satisfied and loyal customers.
Learn more about the benefits bLoyal can offer your brand by talking with our experts!