Rumor has it that data are like crude oil (valuable) or like ore (need purification), but truly they are like breadcrumbs. In the fairy tale poor parents want to leave their kids in the forest to die, but Hansel and Gretchen use breadcrumbs to mark their way back home. They leave traces to achieve specific aim. You customers do the same, leaving their traces purposefully.
Hence if you monitor your customer behavior, know that users give you their data voluntarily and intentionally, counting for something in exchange.
Consumer is not a kid anymore
Consumers have been long treated like children: passive, dependent, with less knowledge, therefore easy to fool, distract, cheat (with too long terms and conditions) or spoil. It has changed forever with common access to internet (= information) and strong competition on the market.
Hansel: smart and independent
If customer reminds a kind in any way, it would be Hansel from the fairy tale: smart, resourceful, able to outfox adults and take care for his business – be it survival in the dark forest or buying running shoes for $40. He explores, learns and knows no fear.
He isn’t scared of asking questions or even being angry at salespersons. Willing to control 70% of shopping process, won’t let you make decisions for him.
Real dialogue
Many marketers find it difficult to abandon traditional mindset and see a real partner in customer. New model of communication is less hierarchic and more like an exchange: our customers have a lot to offer: expert knowledge and their data that allow us to address communication more precisely and improve the product.
Data as currency
Customer in the quest for fulfillment leaves breadcrumbs behind, marking his way. We can track him, see which way s/he chose, and use that information in communication or product design. But s/he does it for purpose, knowing what s/he can get in exchange. That trend will develop with growing popularity of wearables and IoT, providing new ways of collecting data.
For access to data we can offer benefits such as:
- Discounts (“Subscribe to get -20%”)
- Bonus (“Fill in to get…”)
- Premium content (“To download the ebook, please ….”)
- Comfort of personalized, relevant offers
- Sense of impact (when you use customer feedback and/or analytics to change product or website).
Hence customer data become a currency: clients, aware of their rights, want to exchange them.
Which data is valuable?
For marketer – ones that you can use. Most important would be obtaining information on shopping process, way customers use the product (frequency, how many people use it, with what is it used), factors triggering purchase or use.
How to collect data?
You have a lot of tools available:
- Analytics of website behavior (including viewability analytics – Web Beacons)
- Mobile app monitoring
- Beacons for offline tracking
- Wearables and IoT (smart objects – read our ebook on the topic).
Tips: are you ready for change?
- Care for data security. It’s users’ main concern.
- Invest in software
- Invest in talented data specialist
- Know what data are useful to you
- Know limits of Big Data: they just show you correlation, not causality (tell you what happens, but not why).
- Have something for your customer in exchange for their data.
If you monitor customer behavior, ask yourself: “What do I give in return?”. And take a look at the answer honestly – your customers will learn it soon.
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