Companies’ visions are growing increasingly customer-centric today.

When we looked ahead to the trends for 2022 at the start of the year, we focused on the role of humans as consumers and the need of putting their demands at the center of company strategy. Not only that but there’s more. We also predicted that 2020 will be the year of digital awareness, both among businesses and among consumers. And, as we all know, data and digital are inextricably linked.

This raises the question of how we might use data to acquire a competitive edge and respond quickly to the needs of today’s consumers. That’s what we’ll look at in this piece, with a focus on the value of data management in building strong and lasting customer relationships as well as personalizing communications and customer experiences.

Data is the new Currency: can GDPR and marketing coexist?

To understand how to create tailored experiences with consumer data, you must first grasp how to properly acquire and manage it by existing standards.

Let’s take a look at the GDPR, which is now well-known in this regard. The EU Regulation 2016/679 on the protection and free movement of personal data went into effect on May 24, 2016. The regulation specifies regulations for the protection of natural persons, personal data processing, and data-free movement.

Now that we’ve arrived at this stage, we must ask ourselves: can GDPR and data-driven marketing coexist? Yes, it is true! The GDPR does not prohibit the use of personal data for marketing purposes, but it does regulate how it is processed.

This means that consent will be required for tailored communications. Companies must obtain the consent of the persons concerned before sending customized communications to improve the customer experience and relationship through data. This consent must be particular to the purposes of direct marketing or direct marketing profiling.

To collect and manage data lawfully, you must give customers clear and understandable information that defines the aims of data processing, as well as the period and methods of data storage. It’s also worth noting that customers have the right to revoke their agreement to the processing at any moment. In this instance, data deletion is required.

The European Union has created a new post, the Data Protection Officer, to ensure that GDPR is satisfied. This role is necessary for many circumstances.

The DPO’s responsibilities include educating and advising the data controller, managing and ensuring the implementation of the relevant GDPR and data protection policies, coordinating with the supervisory authority, and giving access to documents and information needed to undertake investigations. (Digital innovation, osservatori.net)

In the case that personal data has been treated improperly, GDPR provides for criminal and administrative sanctions, with the DPA taking into account elements such as the nature, severity, and duration of the breach.

Following this quick summary of the standards that govern the protection of personal data, we’ll move on to the next phase of data communications: how to collect data, methods, and tools for creating personalized communications and possible settings for the application.

The most successful data collection tactics

We looked at the importance of customer communication in improving the customer experience in a recent piece. Communication is the foundation for long-term connections between a company and its consumers, and it has an impact on customer satisfaction. We must also keep in mind that today’s communication is mostly built on entertaining and informing people, as well as automation systems that streamline operations and allow messages to be customized to the recipient.

Personalization is achieved through data, as we’ve already mentioned. Here are just a few of the methods you can use to obtain useful data for personalization:

Collect contact information during physical events (such as trade exhibitions) and send follow-up communications;

Run social media lead generation efforts, delivering material (e.g., ebooks, reports, infographics) that encourages users to leave relevant data (e.g., company email address and job title) for future marketing initiatives.

Promote newsletter subscriptions on the company’s website using a form;

Use organic social media postings to promote downloaded information or sign up for business webinars or other digital events.

This is where inbound marketing comes into play.

The road to personalization is paved with inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing allows you to not only acquire new potential clients but also to follow them through the sales funnel by providing them with important marketing content. Both in the lead generation phase through the supply of downloadable material and in lead nurturing, inbound marketing and content marketing have become steadfast allies in all actions that involve people.

We must underline that as you collect more data on your contacts, lead nurturing activities enable you to send increasingly specific and personalized communications and content. Inbound marketing combined with personalization offers a way to make people feel special by enlightening them and boosting their engagement, contentment, and loyalty.

Customer service, too, benefits from personalized messages.

Personalized consumer communications can be used in a variety of industries. Customer service activities, for example, have a significant impact on total customer satisfaction and loyalty. According to Microsoft Research, 90 percent of customers consider customer service to be a deciding factor when deciding whether or not to acquire a company’s services or products.

As a result, it’s critical to emphasize personalized messaging in customer support efforts. Companies must learn to comprehend and anticipate the needs of today’s consumer, who wants fast, personalized support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Data can be used to provide this type of service. The virtual assistant, for example, can not only read the context of the user’s communication but also assess the customer’s state of mind and reply to his demands more efficiently. All of this is made feasible via data analysis.

Along with virtual assistants, we can think of another data-driven tool that can help and even enhance customer service and post-sales communications: tailored and interactive video. The customized video adapts to the features of the particular customer based on the information gathered, allowing for clear, interactive, and one-to-one communication.

Consider how much more effective your post-sale interactions would be if the consumer received a tailored video rather than a generic email. Personalized microsites, which are developed depending on the characteristics of each unique user, are the same. A personalized microsite, for example, allows a user to manage their subscriptions or services, request support, and study their consumption rates (in the case of households) without having to use other communication channels.

All of this is possible and only possible because of data collection.

CRM: the centeral piece of Personalized Communications.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and it is the throbbing core of individualized communications.

After looking at several data-collecting tactics and probable contexts for tailored communications, it’s time to talk about the software that makes them possible: customer relationship management software.

CRM software is useful for customer relationship management because it stores all of the information and data acquired from customers and prospects through numerous touchpoints. They let many company divisions use the data for a variety of objectives, including:

Understanding and anticipating the demands of customers;

Developing customized communications;

Sending tailored business suggestions and offers.

Not only that, CRM systems allow you to improve the quality of your customer service (and thus your total customer experience) by collecting statistics and information about:

the likelihood of a customer recommending a brand’s products or services (Net Promoter Score);

the number of times a buyer abandons a brand;

the amount of time spent resolving client issues

In terms of personalization, CRMs have become crucial for businesses that seek to improve the customer experience and relationship with customers by implementing a data-driven strategy. In reality, the goal of today’s businesses is to be able to manage and enrich data, changing traditional communications into real-world experiences for the recipients.

As previously said, the drive to offer tailored experiences and communications derives from changing client wants and behaviors. According to a recent survey conducted by Salesforce in the insurance industry, around 60% of Italians believe that insurance policies should be more personalized. Not only that, but 33% desire better communications and contract conditions, and 50% are eager to exchange data to take benefit of personalized, creative, and value-added services.

These findings demonstrate the value of data analysis in improving customer happiness, and not just in the insurance industry.

Conclusion

To sum up, personalization today entails paying attention to people and building strong and satisfying relationships with them. As a result, it’s critical to learn how to correctly manage data following current standards, devise effective strategies, and arm ourselves with tools that enable us to take full advantage of the opportunities they present.