The primary goal of almost every business is to get customers to buy something. It doesn’t matter if that business is the little dress shop on the corner or the online giant Amazon. There are of course many factors that go into whether a business will succeed or not, but the number one reason a business will succeed is whether or not they know their customers and can engage with them at a personal level.
That engagement may happen face to face and on a first name basis, or on social media, email or any number of ways. The brand perception of your customers is how well you are able to engage with them and give them what they need.
But as more businesses have moved online, that personal touch has been eroding. Consumers can find what they want online without hassle and pushy sales people, but shoppers are less than wowed by the page after page of stuff they don’t want. Its a frustrating experience. Getting someone to help is nearly impossible and very rarely in real time.
How do we start fixing the e-commerce experience?
Data is the beginning of the next e-commerce revolution and only those with the data can bring the personal touch to the online world that is so badly needed.
Need some evidence of the power of data? There are many examples but here are a few.
Mailchimp reviewed its accounts for companies segmenting their lists into unique groups and found open rates from 10-25% higher and click rates on average 50% higher.
JD Sports saw an increase of over 300% of ecommerce conversion rates when products were shown based on the profile of the visitor.
A study by Harvard Business Review found that personalized ads were much more likely to be clicked on, even when recognized as an ad.
Shopify says their customers experience up to a 75% improvement in conversion rates when content is personalized.
Without the right data, or worse, the wrong data, a business stands a much lower chance of succeeding. It is estimated that 61% of businesses use some type of customer data to personalize their online experience. But using the right data at the right time is of course a challenge. Customers often try their best to mask who they are and any personal info.
Getting at data can be tough and expensive. Many companies resort to renting lists to reach new prospects. These are usually just a comma delimited file downloaded off of an FTP server somewhere that they have to then integrate into their database to even make use of it. It can be a mess, but the proof is in the numbers.
Data is the lifeblood of businesses and organizations that engage with consumers. The effort is more than worth it. There are a lot of tools out there to help you. As a business, you need to find out how to get the data you need to drive your business forward, especially if you are experiencing a slump in new customer acquisition.
