This informal CPD article Here is why your business needs Data Enrichment was provided by Terragon, a global marketing and data technology firm focused on driving intelligent connections to consumers in Africa.
Why Your Business Needs Data Enrichment
Data enrichment (with geographic, demographic and behavioral data sets) is what gives marketers better insights on customers which they otherwise have limited access to; it presents more ammunition to improve Brand presence and insights to make informed business decisions. As “enrichment” can only add more attributes and values to what is made available, the first step is always customer first party data collection.
Much has been said about business growth being heavily dependent on not just a “Customer-first” but “customer-obsessed”, “personalized” marketing approach. According to CMO by Adobe “67% of consumers say it’s important for brands to automatically adjust their content based on their current context for a real-time personalized experience.” Therefore, availability of enriched data to help businesses deliver contextualized engagement is critical.
e-Conomy Africa 2020 reports that “across Africa, 60% of the population is accessing the Internet through their mobile phones” - meaning that beyond first party data being collected via owned assets/sources such as websites, blog posts, forms, CRM, surveys, POS etc., there is an avalanche of customer data which if used for enrichment tells a more holistic, accurate and comprehensive story of the customer, which Businesses can use to deliver more meaningful experience to the customer.
For instance, if all a female fashion store owner knows about their customers are name, purchase history and contact details for delivery, with data enrichment the business owner may be surprised to see that the customers with the highest spend are actually male between the ages of 30 - 55, shopping from the website and not social media, probably buying these as gifts for their significant other. The more data Businesses have, the more they are able to make more informed decisions needed to increase customer acquisition and loyalty, and ultimately revenues.
Here are some benefits of enriching your data
1. Better Segmentation
Accurate segmentation is important to realizing a high-performance, “targeted” marketing campaign. With added valuable data sets such as spend power, location, interest, device type etc marketing campaigns are more cost effective and lead to higher conversions and sales as the business is speaking to the right audience bucket and is even able to anticipate their needs. For example, a Bank would make immense savings by promoting its mobile banking app to device owners with internet capabilities.
2. Personalization and improved CX
Consumers respond positively when brands are able to demonstrate “investment in the relationship, not just the transaction.” According to a 2021 McKinsey and Company article “71 percent of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. And 76 percent get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.” When Business are unable to deliver a great user experience to customers, it’s much easier now more than ever for them to try our other options“. In fact, “Three-quarters of consumers switched to a new store, product, or buying method during the pandemic.” McKinsey also reports.
With enriched data, a CPG company who has a customer buying detergent for instance would know when to cross-sell other relevant products when the customer’s marital status changes and they begin to manage a bigger household and have children. Volume based discounts specific to household and baby items would go a long way in preventing churn and improving the consumer’s experience.
3: Prospecting
With enriched data, Businesses are able to visualize their “ideal” customers, which can form and effective a basis for more acquisition - identifying personas and where to find them. MarTech platforms such as Customer Data Platforms (CDP) which have the capability to create look alike models, typically powered by machine learning (ML), provides Businesses with the ability to target prospects who act like their best customers and therefore have a higher propensity to convert, thereby reducing waste and improving marketing efficiencies.
Data enrichment must be an ongoing process
Like other aspects of data management, Data decays at an incredible rate as it only represents a snapshot in time. Research from Gartner has shown that “30% of customer data collected by Businesses will become inaccurate or out of date within a year.”
Customers evolve - they relocate, change names, experience growth, or decline in income levels and more, therefore enrichment must be an ongoing effort. This is the only way marketers can understand why customers carry out certain actions (or not), interact with the Brand a certain way, make purchases or ignore their messages; data is what uncovers the realities.
MarTech solution for Data Enrichment
Businesses must invest in marketing technology such as a Costumer Data Platform (CDP) which not only allows for customer data aggregation from various sources, but also have direct integrations to other sources the business ordinary may not get access to, for enrichment. Africa being a mobile-first market, telcos offer the most relevant and accurate data, therefore Businesses can obtain a significant advantage by investing in CDPs which have direct Telco integrations for data enrichment.
Conclusion
As digital transformation continues to grow in Africa, customers will continue to leave digital footprints across various touchpoints providing behavioural and other forms of data which Businesses can use for enrichment. And as Businesses get more adept and invest more in the collection and application of data to increase customer knowledge and intimacy, they will realize even greater returns on their spend.
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