Peak Customer Experiences Begin With A Great Data Strategy

The renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced the term “peak experience” — which refers to a self-actualized state of euphoric awareness. The B2C target marketing state might be described similarly — maybe not so mystical, but highly gratifying. Customers must feel virtually inspired to buy — as they are engaged with the best possible offers. These peak shopping experiences begin with the smart, effective use of detailed data.

The challenge is enormous, because the landscape spans millions of customers across multiple channels — and these people have more choices than ever before. The challenge in all of this is to create peak customer experiences that perfectly differentiate the business. Marketing messages must be relevant, convenient, educational, entertaining, a great value — and resonate personally.

It can be done. Current technology can work wonders in the right hands: the best companies can customize the whole shopping experience to an individual, spot business trends within minutes and hours — not days or weeks — and do it efficiently and in an increasingly automated fashion.  

Data is the enabler, and new methods of analytics are helping innovative companies not only survive but increase their share of the market! This is being Data Driven. The good thing about being data driven is that the barriers to improving data usage are relatively low. The urgent thing about being data driven is that it takes a plan, as well as “C”-level sponsors, and a pervasive data-driven culture.  

Here are a few areas to consider when creating a data strategy and becoming a data-driven company capable of clear differentiation, while shaping peak experiences for customers:

1. Define Corporate Objectives — Data is a retailer’s greatest advantage and how it is leveraged determines success or failure;

2. Define Data Architecture Like It Is The Enabler Of The Strategy Because It Is — Assess the quality of the data model, then compare and contrast to industry standard models and make the best decisions possible;

3. Get All The Value Possible From Existing Data — Remember that all data does not have the same value.  Most companies have tremendous amounts of business insight rich data that is not being used to full value;  

4. Data Governance Is An Enabler —  Data Governance has gotten a bad reputation, but it is critical to get the leverage out of this critical asset;

5. Manage The Technology Toolbox — The platform and tools strategy needs to be in line with the data strategy so new types of data can be collected and analyzed;

6. Focus On Usability — Metadata and ease of access to all corporate data must be a key part of the strategy;

7. Make Innovation Cheap — The strategy should focus on business experiments and not on moving data around; and

8. Create A Data-Driven Culture — Have a data usage sponsor at the highest levels of the company and in each business area.  

To be successful, marketers need to follow these tips and make the best possible decisions leveraging data and analytics. Adopt these guiding principles:

• Integration — bringing all useful data together because data drives more value when integrated;

• Simplicity — providing infrastructure to simplify the environment for our customers;

• Choice — new data, different data, faster data access require different solutions and we will continue our best-of-breed approach and give our customers the choice;

• Flexibility — offering a wide range of options for how to deploy analytics, on premise or in the cloud;

• Speed — getting more workload done in less time, shorter time-to-market for new analytics, and more questions answered in less time; and

• Knowledge — providing the best expertise on how to leverage data

Again, the mission is clear: Create peak customer experiences that perfectly differentiate the business — and ensure each message is relevant, convenient, educational, entertaining, a great value — and resonates personally. The data — and how it is managed — will make it possible.

Ann Ponder is part of Teradata’s professional services team focused in the Retail, Hospitality, and Travel & Transportation Industries. She can be reached at Ann.Ponder@Teradata.com.