Your customers are a lot more than data points. Today’s consumers want to feel understood and appreciated by the brands they support. Here’s how to focus more on the customer experience.
Key Takeaways
- Customer experience drives satisfaction and loyalty
- Today’s customers care about aligning their values and brand authenticity
- 5 ways to blend values with data for a better customer experience:
- Shift the focus from yourself to the customer
- Ask the right questions about the data
- Focus on value for the customer
- Personalization is key
- Focus on an omnichannel customer experience
Data is changing the way marketers understand consumers. Big data can reveal buying behaviors, motivations, needs, desires, and when people are more likely to make purchases. Marketers now have the knowledge to make educated guesses about what drives people to act, helping them make better business decisions and predictions for the future.
But big data also poses the risk of forgetting the people behind the data altogether. That’s why focusing on your company’s and your customers’ values, and blending those priorities with the data you gather, can help you attract customers and improve their experience. According to data from PwC, 63% of U.S. consumers will share more information with a company that offers a great experience, so these are crucial considerations to get close to your customers.
Here is an overview of customer experience and how to create value for your customers with data, instead of targeting solely based on what the numbers tell you.
Why does customer experience matter?
The customer experience encompasses the feelings and impressions customers have when they’re making a purchase or working with your company. These experiences may include interactions with your team, the ease of using your website or purchasing tools, or the products themselves.
Customer experience is an important part of customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. When your audience has a positive experience working with you, they are more likely to become repeat customers, refer others to you, or become loyal supporters of your company.
On the other hand, when they have a negative customer experience, it can quickly turn them away to work with your competitors. They may also leave negative reviews or damage your company’s reputation in some way. Most importantly, you will have failed to make meaningful connections with customers and lost their business.
Why customers care about aligning their values to brands
Modern consumers have access to so many brands these days, it’s hard for them to know who to trust. Which brands are genuine and have good business practices? Which only care about consumers’ wallets and not about their experience? These questions become more complicated when digital marketing relies on consumer data, further separating the person from the information received.
Big data doesn’t have to create this separation. In fact, data can actually provide more insight into what customers value, helping them connect those values to your own. Customers are more inspired to support a brand if they feel they share ideals and standards with it. This presents an opportunity for you to showcase those similarities when targeting specific people. Doing so allows you to connect on new levels and foster the kind of relationship that will be long-lasting and based on trust.
5 ways to blend values with data to create positive customer experiences
Now, let’s walk through five ways you can start aligning customer values and data to improve the customer experience:
1. Shift the focus from you to the customer
It’s easy for marketers to ask: What can this data do for me? Instead, shift that thinking: What can the data do for your customers? What value does data create for customers? This is a completely different strategic approach to the way we usually use data.
2. Ask the right questions about the data
Think about how you will really get to know a customer. Questions to ask when you’re dealing with consumer data include:
- What commonalities do loyal customers show?
- What turns this customer off?
- Does price always drive the customer’s decision-making?
- How long do they research before buying?
3. Focus on the value your customers will receive
Part of shifting your focus from yourself to the customer is identifying the real value they’ll receive from what you have to tell them. Based on their past behaviors, for example, how will you make their lives easier? What pain point are you addressing? How are you different from your competitors, even if they offer a better price than you? View everything from your customer’s eyes, and you’ll be able to plan using empathy and understanding as your guide.
4. Personalization is key
Personalization and personalized content are major buzzwords in the world of digital marketing. Why? Because they are tied directly to customer experience. Personalization is ensuring that you are using data to cater your messages to specific people, who have needs and desires that you can help solve. When creating your targeting approach, make sure you only include content that is relevant to your customers. You can find out what they care about by closely examining data about their behaviors.
5. Omnichannel customer experience
Finally, getting to know your customers across their digital channels is an effective way to understand what they care about. An omnichannel approach means you view each interaction, no matter the device or platform it’s made on, as part of the same buying journey. The way today’s consumers shop isn’t limited to walking into a store and making a purchase. They may research a product on their laptop, switch to their phones, read reviews on Google, and ask a friend for advice, all before getting close to visiting a store or putting something in their shopping cart.
When you can create powerful omnichannel experiences, you are there for those customers throughout their journey, showing that you care about finding them the right option.
How BDEX helps you build a better customer experience
The effort you put into improving the customer experience simply won’t give you results without access to the right data. You need to use a data platform that focuses on data quality and real-time delivery.
Work with the team at BDEX to discover how our BDEX Data Exchange Platform (DXP) will be a game-changer for your digital marketing strategy. We help you connect with the real people behind the data signals, so you can make better connections with your customers.
