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Being able to generate a single, 360-degree view of the customer is not a new concept. In fact, it’s actually quite old in the marketing scheme of things, having emerged as a catchphrase at the same time as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the early part of this century. Organizations have long sought a comprehensive, consistent and holistic view of their customers using all available data.
However, this notion of an integrated view of the customer has re-gained traction in recent years, fueled in large part by the combination of more user-friendly technology and the proliferation of consumer data. And the renewed enthusiasm for this aspirational goal is warranted. More than ever, consumers expect a consistent, omnichannel experience from brands. That expectation calls for an experience that encompasses not just customers’ transactional behavior but also their diverse needs, motivations, attitudes, communication preferences and other factors.
From a corporate perspective, the desire for an integrated customer view that drives customer experience excellence is more than just window dressing. It’s an imperative. When the Harvard Business Review calculated the value of customer experience, it reported that customers with positive experiences spend 140 percent more than those that don’t—and cost 33 percent less to serve. Therefore, the push for one view of the customer has both practical and economic merit.
However, reality remains a far cry from the desired state for most organizations.
On the one hand, the ability to develop a comprehensive view of customers has never been more accessible: much usable data (from internal or external sources), effective analytical tools and technical expertise already exist. On the other hand, organizations continue to face challenges in several key areas related to both data quality and organizational alignment:
* Data Completeness: Many organizations remain focused on the belief (in theory, in practice, or both) that their own databases and data they collect organically are the universe of available data. At the same time, a recent VB Insight survey shows that 80 percent of consumer-facing companies don’t understand their customers beyond basic demographic and purchase history. In reality, comprehensive databases that span demographics, financials, social values, media consumption and lifestyles exist that can and should be used—in the right circumstances—to enhance an organization’s internal customer data. Not taking advantage of these data sources fundamentally restricts the organization’s ability to flesh out a customer’s profile and develop more actionable insights.
* Data Availability and Integration: A major hindrance in the journey towards a 360-degree view of the customer is the accessibility of the data itself. More often than not, organizations have multiple, disparate databases often “owned” by different departments or business units. Due to the complexity of harmonizing the databases (usually resulting from issues related to data integrity, varying business rules and the absence of management prioritization), these databases remain siloed and unavailable to contribute their true capacity across an organization. However, no single view of the customer can happen without proper data integration. Adopting this corporate priority should begin with a realistic data audit and evaluation to determine what data exist (or do not exist) and what information is truly relevant to achieving an organization’s business objectives. Then analysts need to use best practices to integrate different data sources to correct for different vintages, levels of geography, hygiene or collection practices.
* Data Hygiene: Data management in its various capacities generally represents 80 percent of the effort in any analytical initiative, including segmentation (the methodology used for creating a holistic understanding of the different kinds of customers). It is therefore intuitive that “dirty data” (values that are misspelled, inconsistent, duplicated or missing) cause significant obstacles when developing usable data. Moreover, unclean data that is fed into any model or other analytics process can result in significant inaccuracies. Clean data form the essential foundation of a corporate database and serve as the building blocks of a comprehensive vision of the organization’s customers. Organizations need to apply a broad level of hygiene to their existing data right away so they can create the proper base on which the volume, variety and velocity of additional data can be layered as required.
* Strategic Data Leadership: The issues outlined above are largely tactical in nature and can be addressed with the right resources and expertise. However, they will not be achieved (nor will the desired understanding of the customer be created) without the necessary strategic and leadership support. Senior executive advocacy of these issues requires an understanding of how data supports the end goal, and therefore why a concerted focus needs to be placed on the various components of data quality.
Creating one view of the customer in order to deliver the desired relevant experience is not only an attainable objective today, it is a corporate imperative. It is a chasm that once existed, both technically and practically. However, it can now be bridged in large part due to the availability of data and analytics-driven insight. With data increasingly viewed as a significant corporate asset, and a bridge to engaging current and future customers, organizations would be well served by allocating sufficient resources to address the challenges on their journey toward a single view of their customer.
Evan Wood is senior vice-president of marketing and custom services at Environics Analytics
