From customer experience to customer intelligence: the key to better customer acquisition and retention
In today’s digital era, where customer expectations are increasing and constantly changing, it is important for companies to understand not only how they interact with their customers, but also how these interactions influence long-term business relationships. A sound database and the correct analysis and interpretation of this information forms the basis for making the right decisions and implementing marketing measures in a targeted manner.
So what happens when we look beyond the customer experience and dive deeper into the topic of customer intelligence? We interviewed expert Martin Philipp from SC-Networks, the makers of Evalanche, the “Made in Germany” marketing automation platform, on this topic.
You can find the complete interview in our Podcast
Data must be structured in such a way that a 360 degree view of the customer is possible
Nowadays, data accumulates in abundance, especially in marketing. Buyers inform themselves digitally, communicate digitally and make their purchasing decisions digitally. Of course, there are still one or two non-digital touchpoints, but these no longer predominate as strongly in today’s world and are also much more difficult to evaluate than the digital touchpoints.
So the number one goal of a brander these days is to make the predominantly virtual journey an experience. If more is delivered at each touchpoint than is actually expected, you have optimally implemented the customer experience. But how does this happen? How can you know what the potential buyer expects at exactly this point in the customer journey? This is exactly where the collected data comes into play, because it must be structured and processed in such a way that insights can be derived from it and measures can be initiated for further prospects, which in turn then become the core of communication. This is called customer intelligence, whose primary goal is to have a 360-degree view of the customer and prospect throughout the entire customer lifecycle.
From strategy to implementation: Successful customer experience through data-driven processes
By monitoring and preparing KPIs such as conversion and churn rates , customer acquisition costs or customer lifetime value in a structured way, companies can make informed decisions and use their marketing budgets more effectively. In addition, managing data utilization processes and technologies enables the identification of opportunities and potentials to achieve growth and competitive advantages.
With the right tools and technologies, companies can also create comprehensive customer profiles to develop marketing campaigns that are also personalized in terms of content, which in turn track the entire customer lifecycle.
In order to move from a data-driven company to a data-led company, it is important that the data collected is structured and processed in such a way that it becomes the core of all communication.
Martin Philipp, Managing Director, SC-Networks GmbH
At first glance, this sounds very complex, and it certainly is. The prerequisite is that, in addition to a sound strategy for data management, the IT systems involved must also “talk” to each other. And this is a real challenge for many companies due to historically grown IT landscapes.
A sound strategy for data management is a basic prerequisite for successful customer intelligence
The expectation of many companies is that a system that they want to introduce or have introduced for customer communication, e.g. a marketing automation system, will alone ensure that new customers are acquired very quickly and systematically. And accordingly, the collected data can be evaluated in such a way that conclusions can be drawn for further campaigns.
But this is the wrong starting point. For one thing, customer-relevant data is not only available in software such as marketing automation, but, if you look at the entire customer life cycle, systems such as CRM, ERP and many more are also included, whose data can also be relevant for communication.
The key to a successful customer experience is digitized processes. In order to implement these, a strategy is needed on the one hand, and the appropriate systems on the other.
Martin Philipp, Managing Director, SC-Networks GmbH
And on the other hand, it is often not defined very precisely in advance what purpose the evaluation of the data is supposed to fulfill and how it can be used to increase the company’s success.
For this reason, every company – before even considering the introduction of any software – should think about data management as part of a strategy development process and ask itself the following questions, among others:
When it comes to the question of where most leads are generated today, for example, and which leads from which sources lead to orders, many companies still rely heavily on their “gut feeling” rather than substantiating this with reliable figures.
Robin Hartmann, Head of Modern Workplace & Business Intelligence, itmX GmbH
And if you are aware of it, to question again more closely:
As a golden rule, it’s better to capture less and interpret the data thoroughly first, and build proper dashboards and reporting instead, which you can then develop over time.
Integration is the be-all and end-all – for the customer experience and for customer intelligence
Another point that often makes a targeted strategy even more difficult is that the system landscape has grown historically and the IT systems do not “talk” to each other at all and customer data is isolated there.
It is therefore important to consider in advance at which touchpoints the analysis should begin, in which system the data for the touchpoint is located, how it is structured, and at which point in the customer journey this data could still be used. In concrete terms: what are the leading IT systems for master data, for address data and for communicating marketing messages, and what data should the systems exchange with each other. If the data collected in these systems is now harmonized, there is nothing standing in the way of 360° communication.
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