Business Banking

Taking Control Of Your Customer Data

Customer data is marketing gold. It provides the key to understanding customers’ attitudes and buying preferences and to building a truly satisfying customer experience. It also informs marketers when and how to communicate with customers to increase sales and deepen relationships.

But collecting and managing customer data can be a daunting task, particularly given the quantity of data being generated and the speed of its creation. Luckily, there are tools available to help.

A growing number of vendors now offer robust Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) that are easily integrated with businesses’ current technology stacks and offer comprehensive solutions to data mining, management, and application.

Most leading CDP solutions provide the following functions:

  • Customer data collection from a wide variety of sources, including the web, mobile, in store point-of-sale systems, call centers, internal CRM systems, applications, and Internet of Things.
  • Standardization of data to ensure that content is of value and conforms to a company’s business rules
  • Unifying and enriching data to create accurate 360-degree customer profiles in real time and then aligning those profiles with market “audiences” or groups that evidence similar buying preferences
  • Integrating data with a company’s other customer experience tools from email service providers to Facebook and updating these tools in real time
  • Applying customer profile and audience data to activate marketing campaigns and other customer experience improvement initiatives.

Like many technologies, CDPs are evolving rapidly. Vendors are constantly enhancing functionality, including adding machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to improve their ability to apply data and offer predictive insight into customer behavior.

Some businesses will benefit more from CDPs than others. If your customer experience revolves entirely around an in-store experience, then a CDP will be of less value. But if you complement your in-store experience with online transactions, engage with customers on social media, or engage in other forms of targeted advertising, then a CDP can significantly improve your marketing content and targeting.

As you devise your strategy to leverage customer data to improve your marketing effort and build your business, we at Washington Trust are here to help.

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For more information or to speak with one of our trusted advisors about your unique financial needs, contact us at 800-465-2265 or submit an online form.

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