Every click and purchase, every like and share — in today’s vast digital world, each of these customer actions holds untapped value for your business. But harnessing this deluge of data isn’t always a straightforward process. Businesses often stall or fail in the process of collecting, interpreting, analysing, and arriving at valuable insights from consumer data.
As consumer privacy regulations tighten and signal loss continues to expand, you need data collaboration. Data collaboration helps you create deeper connections and greater brand value by connecting your data for better customer insights. The first step? A proactive plan and marketing strategy centred around first-party data that holds customer privacy and data security in the highest regard. To truly capitalise on the wealth of data that lies between each engagement, you need to invest in a holistic consumer data strategy.
What is a consumer data strategy?
A comprehensive consumer data strategy is your business’s blueprint for how it will collect, analyse, and use data generated by consumers. Consider all of the ways your customer engages with your brand – from advertising touchpoints to the purchase experience to the product itself. How is your first-party data maintained and de-identified? Are you reaching your customers on the platforms and channels they love? What partners are you working with to build on your first-party data? These questions are central to developing a consumer data strategy that drives brand and business value.
The many types of consumer data
There are many types of data that make up the mosaic of a customer profile. Each is unique and plays a critical role in building your knowledge and understanding of your customers.
Personal data
Includes names, phone numbers, date of birth, social security numbers, and email addresses. This data is key to correctly identifying and categorising individuals.
Behavioural data
Includes purchase histories, website browsing patterns, searches, email interactions, and product views. This data indicates how a customer interacts with your brand online.
Identity data
Includes social media profiles, website usernames, loyalty program details, and customer IDs. This kind of data helps you link what you already know about a customer to their broader online presence.
Demographic data
Includes age, gender, marital status, occupational details, education, and income. This data can allow you to be more precise with targeted marketing and better understand the diversity of your customer base.
Attitudinal data
Includes survey responses, website reviews, loyalty program selections, and brand feedback. This data helps you understand customer sentiment, brand perception, overall satisfaction, and can help identify areas of improvement.
Engagement data
Includes data about website visit frequency, time spent on websites and across social media platforms, social media likes and shares, and email open rates. This functional data allows you to analyse and segment customers based on how they interact across your brand’s channels.
What are the benefits of a consumer data strategy?
A focused consumer data strategy is key to better understanding your existing customers – and helping acquire new ones.
Build trust and brand affinity with your customers
In an era of increasing digital privacy, consumers expect the brands they engage with to collect, manage, and use their data in a responsible manner. Not only is it best practice to define guidelines for data governance concerns, including data management and permissioning, but an opportunity to show your customers that you respect their privacy, building brand loyalty that can lead to higher spending and referrals.
Expand your audience
First-party data is powerful but limited. Strengthen your first-party data through privacy-centric data collaboration that helps you connect with trusted second- and third-party data partners in order to deepen existing customer data and engage new audiences.
Improve customer experiences through personalisation
Customers have come to expect personalised experiences in an age of algorithms and targeting – so much so that over two thirds of consumers say they’ll abandon a brand if it uses poor personalisation tactics. Show customers you know what they want, add value to their lives, and help them navigate to your product in the way that’s best for them.
Deepen your understanding of your market
Your customers’ preferences and behaviour can change in an instant. A consumer data strategy helps you connect with customers on all the platforms and channels that matter to them, helping you uncover new insights and opportunities.
Improve your marketing strategies
One-size-fits-all marketing dampens engagement and accelerates churn. A robust consumer data strategy helps you improve the quality and richness of your first-party data, helping you better segment, target, and analyse the results of marketing campaigns and strategies.
How 2 leading brands build an effective consumer data strategy
What does a consumer data strategy look like in action? Discover how leading brands expand their audience, uncover new customer insights, and make better business decisions.
Kraft Heinz: Delivering personalisation at scale and fueling innovation
Kraft Heinz reveals powerful new insights by consolidating and augmenting billions of consumer data records with hundreds of attributes. Learn more.
Danone: Boosting customer intelligence and reach
Global food and beverage innovator Danone collaborates with retail partners to fill in data gaps and discover a high-performing new audience. Learn more.
Transform your consumer data strategy with LiveRamp
These are just the first steps to building a holistic consumer data strategy. Most modern businesses need a data collaboration partner who can help enhance and activate first-party data and transform it into brand and business value for their organisation. With an expansive global ecosystem of partners and the highest standards for privacy, security, and compliance, LiveRamp has the experience and tools to help you craft a robust consumer data strategy that supports your goals.
Let’s talk about how we can help.