The Big Data & Customer Engagement Divide

7 Tips for Bridging the Gap between Big Data & Customer Engagement

We all know the importance of data and engagement… but how do these two work together? One is analytical and the other is emotional. So, how to bridge the gap between the two.  We captured insights, best practices and lessons learned from top Industry leaders.  Here our some key points.

1.  CLUSTOMERS
Focus on your “clustomers”, hyper-segmented customer groups, and make everything you do about them. When you lose focus, and your marketing is about you instead of your customers, you miss a huge opportunity. Take risks, stand for something, and don’t ever give up on uncovering opportunities to delight your customers.

2.  CALL TO ACTION
Give your customers a reason to get off the fence. Direct marketing communications must include a clear call to action, a relevant and targeted message, a specific timeframe and an enticing incentive to be most successful. Target those fence-sitters with creative and smart messages and campaigns to get them to get off the fence and take action.

3.  STRUCTURED DATA
70% of mobile searches lead to action within one hour. This creates a huge opportunity for marketers to connect with consumers where and when they are looking for them. Structured data is critical to be contextually relevant based on actual location and what’s relevant.

4.  AGILE CAMPAIGNS
Marketers must develop agile marketing campaigns in order to have the flexibility to change course in this uber fast-paced digital world we live in. It’s never been more important for marketers to test early and test often in order to be able to adjust to the ever-changing needs and desires of consumers.

5.  CRM FOR OUTREACH
Defining your CRM contact strategy and truly understanding your customers is critical in being able to predict what will drive customer engagement. Careful analysis of affinity and behavior of your customers makes for greater personalization and testing of new programs by response.

6.  CUSTOMER JOURNEY
The customer journey continues to increase in complexity. There are several touch points before a final decision is ever made. Don’t forget to market during the “in-between” moments of your customers’ journey. Using a customer experience map can help to identify the phases of that journey and allow you to uncover untapped opportunities for engagement.

7.  AN ART & SCIENCE
Big data and brains… it’s not an either or scenario (at least yet!). Smart marketers think like Scientists. We can utilize the information and the processing of computing power, but not without human analysis and decision making coming into play. It’s a balance. If you don’t need to analyze something to make a decision, then it’s because you are making the same mistakes over and over.

Summary 
Some really big and thought-provoking ideas were shared at Momentum: Big Data & Customer Engagement — Closing the Gap, and my biggest takeaway is that we are only at the forefront of the possibilities with big data and how we as marketers can improve upon true customer engagement. If you liked this article, we encourage you to join our community to receive our email updates. Thanks for reading!