Innometrics, the customer data specialists, today unveils its insightful research on the Single Customer View (SCV) in partnership with eConsultancy. The research deep dives into the realities of creating the utopian state of a 360 view of a customer’s journey across the lifecycle of the brand and whether the technology is capable of achieving this.
Customers today use an average of six channels during the buying process, and the number of channels available to them is only increasing. Add to that the increased frequency and sophistication in consumer use of mobile devices and social networks, and the goal of creating a SCV can become an almost impossible task.
Econsultancy Research Director, Linus Gregoriadis, adds: “Companies are still striving for the single customer view, but it’s more elusive than ever because of the complexity of the customer journey and the complications relating to technology and data integration. Simultaneously, the customer experience has never been more important given the opportunities for competitive marketing advantage for those who can target customers with on point information in the right channel.”
Andy Walker, UK MD, Innometrics, concludes: “We’re seeing companies striving for this nirvana of the 360 view and, whilst it’s not unachievable, it’s expensive and time consuming. Rather than forever seeking the SCV, companies should focus on making sure that the data they need about individuals is there when they need it in order to make marketing interactions as effective as possible. Investing in technological solutions that will empower existing systems is a perfect step towards the SCV fairy tale.”
The research, available to download here, looks at the following areas:
The gap between digital and retail
Building a bridge between the retail and digital worlds is proving a significant challenge for many brands and businesses as online transactions make up 13 per cent in the UK, capturing the data remains a priority.
The battle against legacy systems and big data
Data silos, multiple systems and misunderstandings in using the technology all lead to a complicated and fragmented customer view. Learn how businesses admit to this being the biggest problem to creating the SCV.
The importance of real-time
Only a few companies are achieving the SCV in real time. Without these technological processes in place, organisations are unable to take advantage of the immediacy of their customer relationships, irrespective of how well the customer journey is understood.
Creating a contextually rich view of the customer
Customers expect personalised experiences, but a complete SCV is not essential to achieving this. For those struggling to obtain buy-in and investment for a SCV, audience profiling, audience segmentation and propensity modelling might be sensible alternatives. There is a key difference between SCVs and customer profiles. The SCV can only show you past activities, but profiles include data such as social information to show intention. This provides marketers with the ability to anticipate and predict customer behaviour.
Additional resources:
Find out more about Profile Cloud
Understand how big brand names are using Profile Cloud to personalise their customers’ experiences
