CareCloud CDP Tips & Tricks

Today’s marketing revolves around retaining loyal customers through personalized communication and automation. To power these marketing efforts, you have to collect relevant data. This article will describe the different types of customer data and how to obtain it.

TODAY’S MARKETING FOCUS

In the current marketing climate, brands are shifting their strategies to focus on existing customers rather than prospective ones. Pouring excessive resources into acquiring new customers is, after all, a risky venture — all the while, 65% of revenue comes from existing customers, according to Zippia.

Your knowledge of customers’ behavior, preferences, and potential holds tremendous value. Fueled by first-party customer data, personalized communication, automation, and analytics become your most trusted retention tools. Nevertheless, gaining access to this precious data may prove difficult.

THE TYPES OF DATA AND HOW TO COLLECT THEM

Below are the types of data to collect, their use, and the method of acquisition. Let’s dig in.

1. Contact and Personal Data  

Kicking off this list is the most basic and essential type. Without customer information such as name, email address, phone number, or home address, you cannot create customer profiles and segment customers. Additional data, e.g., occupation or social media activity, may further aid in personalization and is often worth collecting.

Usually, personal data is collected automatically when a customer makes a purchase, requires service, or subscribes to your newsletter. Creating special sign-up forms is a viable option, but arguably the most convenient option is to motivate customers to join your loyalty program.

2. Transactional Data

This crucial data determines most of your customers’ purchasing habits, informing which types of customers you engage and the types and frequencies of communication you should send. You can collect data on product types and collections, brands, sizes (clothing, shoes), colors, season/off-season purchases, and so on.

With this information, you can determine the average purchase value, purchase frequency, and, in turn, Customer Lifetime Value. If you also use a CDP with a recommendation system, the more transactional data you have, the better, as the AI-powered recommendations will precisely determine which product the customer wants.

There are multiple software solutions that track and record purchase history, ranging from database software to CRM systems. The Customer Data Platform (CDP) is even more advanced as it automatically collects data from all the channels your brand uses: an app, online shop, brick-and-mortar POS, or information kiosks.

3. Engagement and Interaction Data

Purchases aren’t the only thing that make up customer’s journey. Every interaction, such as website activity, registration, social media activity, product reviews, participation in events and challenges, or customer complaints, is valuable for automation and personalized communication. 

Where did your customers discover your brand? Did they use click & collect? How many abandoned carts did they leave? All this data serves as grounds for tailor-made communication and as an indication of future improvement.

4. Communication Data

This type of data is quite self-explanatory. Every email, SMS, push notification, and communication from other channels provides valuable knowledge of customers’ habits. The data you will collect and analyze includes CTRs, click elements, open rates, and the number of inbound and outbound communications.

You can track how quickly customers respond to your communication, what channels they frequently use, or if they even open emails sent by you. This, in turn, informs how frequently you should engage in targeted communication, when the best time to send it is, and which channel is most likely to engage customers.

Communication data is usually collected by the same software you use to create that communication, like an email designer. Still, when you use multiple channels, any good CDP can collect and unify data from all software and store it in one place for easy use.

5. Loyalty and Automation Data

If you use CDP like CareCloud, which can integrate and collect data from various systems, you can also collect additional customer data. As CareCloud lets you create custom loyalty programs and automation workflows, you can easily access additional information to optimize communication with each customer. 

For example, how your customer uses vouchers and rewards indicates how engaged they are with your brand. If the customer is frequently active, you can determine their loyalty status and plan your communications accordingly.

Since CareCloud has built-in apps for loyalty programs and automation, it is an intuitive, simple option for collecting this data.

CDP IS THE PERFECT FOR CUSTOMER DATA MANAGEMENT

As was apparent from the listing, CDPs are the ideal way to collect, unify, and store customer data, regardless of their type. Moreover, they comply with GDPR (in Europe) and CCPA regulations. There has been a skyrocketing increase in GDPR-related fines, so to avoid them, it is vital to collect this data properly and lawfully to benefit from it fully.

CDP & CRM CareCloud offers both customer data management and a set of apps to target your marketing efforts. Whether it is a campaign designer, marketing automation, customer program management, or advanced analytics, CareCloud is here for your brand.