Historically, the role of marketing at retail and B2C brands was laser focused on creating product awareness in order to sell the product. However, as Amazon continues to breathe down the necks of retailers, it’s clear that they can no longer just compete on a transaction-by-transaction basis. The reality is that if a consumer is just looking to purchase at the lowest price, Amazon will most likely be their first, and last, stop.
The good news though, is that there are many consumers who are looking for more than just the lowest price. These consumers want to purchase from brands that echo their values, elevate their status and create a community. So how do brands do this? They need to know their customers. Completely.
What is a 360-degree customer view?
A 360-degree view of the customer is a summary of all the known data points about each customer throughout their journey with a brand. This view is constantly updating and refreshing as new data is created or discovered.
In addition to knowing their customer profile in terms of demographics, it’s vital for marketers to understand a typical customer’s buyer’s journey, behavior and how they interact with the brand. In order to do this, marketers need to be able to manage, manipulate and analyze all customer data available to them. Unfortunately, this is typically easier said than done.
As a marketer, imagine your boss walking into your office to ask for the number of customers who have bought a specific product in store in the past three months, who have also made a purchase online within the same time frame and received a direct-mail piece. A marketer that has access to this 360-degree view of the customer has a leg-up in knowing how to target these customers for their next purchase.
Why a 360-degree view?
With a 360-degree customer view, organizations are able to market to each customer based on where they are within their buying journey. This allows marketers to step up their game and stand-out in the following ways.
- Consistent messaging across all channels. Customer data platforms use advanced algorithms and business rules to manage identity resolution, which differs from other systems like CRMs, that typically match on an email address. Using advanced matching rules means that marketers are able to control and track when a contact interacts with their brand across different channels, like digital, social, print, email, etc. This new level of control makes it easier to create a cohesive brand experience.
- Triggered marketing messages based on customer actions or data points. A 360-degree view allows marketers to trigger marketing messages based on a customer behavior across channels. Actions such as e-mail engagement, a purchase, the disposition flag from their call center support, a change in address from the post office, or a rouge weather pattern in their region can all queue up a relevant and personalized message or customer journey.
- Company-wide visibility into customer data. The entire company can benefit from a 360 degree view of the customer. Finance can see how each marketing channel impacts revenue, executives can see overall data trends, merchandisers can see inventory and purchase patterns, and call center support can see past purchases and brand interactions. Yes, marketers can expect huge benefits from a 360-degree view of the customer, but the business impact is much bigger.
How does a company gain a 360-degree customer view?
According to Gartner, the average B2B marketing stack is composed of 12+ technologies – so many that customer data ends up locked away in silos, resulting in an incomplete view of the customer.
A 360-degree customer view is best obtained by putting a Customer Data Platform at the center of an organization’s marketing technology. By doing this, organizations are able to break down departmental silos and centralize customer data to get a true, real-time view of the customer. With CDPs, marketing owns this data, so they are able to better identify how they should communicate with customers.
Interesting in learning how QuickPivot’s CDP can give you access to a 360-degree view of your customers, visit our website.
