Reliable customer data of appropriate quality ensures a positive customer experience

"Customer experience" refers to the accumulated impressions and interactions between a person and a company, from the first perception to the completion of an action, such as making a purchase, and beyond. The points of contact, also called touchpoints, at which the (potential) clientele interacts with a company can be diverse, such as social media, website, online store, call center, ERP systems and customer service. But it also includes traditional, analog contact options, such as the local branch or the trade fair booth.

In view of this wide range, customer experience management is important for companies. It has two tasks: On the one hand, it ensures that the brand, the company conveys a consistent impression at every point of contact that corresponds to the brand image. On the other hand, it focuses on customers and interested parties. It aligns the brand with their interests and expectations.

Companies must create a positive customer experience - it pays significant dividends in customer loyalty, engagement, and ultimately sales. The quality of customer data plays a central role as a basis for this.

 

The aspirational mindset of delighted customers

 

It used to be commonplace – in the former mom and pop stores, the client’s life stories and habits were well-known. When it came to making purchases, a personalized approach was a common practice. Customers rightly now have these expectations of large companies as well.

A useful tool for serving these expectations is a personalized approach with offers based on relevant interests. When companies create positive experiences and memories among their clientele, they can differentiate themselves from the competition. A bad experience, on the other hand, can be doubly damaging: Not only does the person shop elsewhere in the future. They may also leave a negative review on social media and review portals. And a loss of reputation can cause immense damage.

What does a positive customer experience look like? If the company shows genuine interest in and appreciation for its customers at every point, this can develop into a good and, above all, loyal customer relationship.

The key, as is so often the case, lies in the data. This data is generated at every interaction, at every touchpoint. The better companies know their prospects and customers, the more precisely they can manage the customer experience. If customers feel understood, they are more likely to disclose their data.

One challenge is not only to consolidate and evaluate the resulting data, but also to maintain it continuously. The higher the data quality, the more targeted, target group-specific and needs-oriented the campaigns and thus the customer experience can be designed.

 

The challenge of numerous data sources

 

What sounds simple and comprehensible in theory is complex in practice: managing the customer experience must ensure that all customer information is stored in a complete, up-to-date, and legally compliant manner. This includes personal data, purchase behavior and other interactions with the company.

Collecting data in real time from all channels is almost impossible without the technical support of appropriate tools. What's more, this data must be assigned to a single person in the customer master data without any doubt. Only then can a comprehensive picture emerge that those responsible can actively influence. After all, they are faced with the challenge of being able to provide all relevant information at any time at any touchpoint. How can they go about this?

 

The golden record is not a record

 

Once those responsible have identified all touchpoints, channels and data sources, they can consolidate the customer data centrally. This is done by the Uniserv Customer Data Hub. Here, data quality tools help to clean up the data records, filter out duplicates and bring them into a uniform format. By combining all online and offline customer data from all touchpoints with their data sources, a holistic customer data record is created, the so-called golden record. This is connected to all data sources so that the change arrives in all sources (back-synchronization). The golden record is the basic building block of a 360-degree customer view. Based on these holistic data records, a unique customer ID can be assigned, for example, as a uniform, unchangeable identifier.

 

Delighted customers, efficient marketing

 

This gives companies comprehensive, and above all reliable, knowledge about their customers. Based on this, they can build finely segmented, successful marketing campaigns that not only meet customer expectations, but exceed them. This brings us to customer centricity. It ensures high customer loyalty. With centralized information, marketers can not only fine-tune the perfect timing for their actions, but also get a better overview of customer history, which communication channels are preferred, and and and. This allows them to dovetail different marketing disciplines. This engages customers and helps relieve the burden on increasingly busy marketing managers.

Consistent data in excellent data quality significantly simplifies their tasks and significantly increases efficiency. They form the basis for further cross- and upselling measures - across all touchpoints.