Customer data is not static — interests and shopping habits change with the season. One moment your customers are shopping mobile, the next they're calling directly. When customer relationship management was first on the rise, businesses had no idea about the technology it would take to truly understand their customers from a 360-degree view.
Getting more than a one-dimensional concept of your customers is still possible — even as trends change. With the right tools and executive buy-in, this type of enterprise breakthrough is achievable.
New to the concept of customer 360? Let's take a look at what this phrase means, why it should be a goal of every business, and how to finally achieve it.
Features of a 360-degree view
A full view of your customers means that you're taking into consideration every aspect of your shoppers. The goal of such a comprehensive view is to transform the relationship they have with your business from something transactional into something more personalized.
There are many different terms to describe this type of relationship, from "inbound marketing" to "the buyer's journey." But, in general, a 360-degree view of your customer dives into their past experiences, how and why they interact with your business, and how these decisions affect their shopping experience and expectations — both now and in the future.
Achieving this type of understanding means every department needs to work together to establish a base and consistently update and improve their efforts. Therefore, customer-facing departments are faced with the task of setting a foundation for who their customers are — using both structured and unstructured data. Then, it's the responsibility of the entire business to develop this customer as they change and shift.
Let's take a closer look at this process.
Shopping history and patterns
The customer journey with your business has to have started somewhere. Based on your past marketing campaigns, how did they fair, and in what ways did customers interact with your brand? You can pick up on activity across channels, and what types of customers interacted with your campaign. Ask yourself which campaigns did the best, and what parts of that campaign were most attractive to customers.
How do shoppers come across your platform or service?
As shoppers discover and interact with your brand, you need to track who they are, how they got there, and why they're on your platform. The present moment of your marketing campaign and business can inform a lot of different aspects of the shoppers you're attracting. How they interact with your brand tells you where they are on their journey as a customer.
Using information to reach customer retention
By diving into a customer's history and the way they interact with your brand in the present, you can develop a full understanding of what might come in the future. Using business intelligence tools, you can predict inventory interest, shipping information, when to upsell or cross-sell, and so much more. Data analytics can help to understand the customer's past and present buying behavior and attitude, and with it, marketers and salespeople can make better predictions about their next move.
But, with all of the effort and data crunching necessary to achieve a 360-degree view, is it all actually worth it?
Why you need to aim for a 360-degree view
Offering your customers a personalized experience means presenting them with exactly what they're looking for before they even ask for it. While attracting customers is everyone's initial goal, personalization is ideal for retaining repeat customers as well.
A November 2021 McKinsey report found that personalized marketing is vital across the entire customer journey. The report found when businesses personalize, customers are:
- 76% more likely to make a purchase.
- 78% more likely to purchase again.
- 78% more likely to recommend a friend.
Enable predictive analytics
Just like getting to know someone in real life, you want to get to know your customers over time to truly understand them. Predictive analytics can help your teams make judgment calls based on past performance.
Customer loyalty
When customers feel seen and heard, you can build a long-lasting relationship with them and even gain a positive reputation. Improving the customer experience helps enhance their lifetime with your brand. However, the key, according to a 2021 CMSWIRE article, is looping in the entire executive team and ensuring that everyone is on board. "[Customer experience] leaders cannot do this alone. What the leader can do is outline strategic [customer experience] objectives, their impact on loyalty, and how that creates measurable value for customers and results for you."
What the CMSWIRE article aims to convey is the importance of setting up processes and programs to reach sales and marketing goals.
Improve cost efficiency
When your entire organization is aligned on what customers want, you waste less time on failed campaigns, and gain more time for improving customer experience. All of these benefits work together to help your business save time and money, all while meeting customer expectations.
How to achieve a 360-degree view
Want to reach your business goals without juggling a million different platforms and apps? SFG's database management platform can connect your channels together, monitor behavior, and give you a real-time view of your entire customer base. This system works together with SFG business intelligence solutions to offer an all-in-one platform — the one you'll need to get ahead.
To get started, contact an SFG database management specialist today.
