Marketing Must: Customer Data Points to Stop Ignoring -- Now
"Big data" has been a hot topic in the sales and marketing industry, but for most small businesses the idea is nearly irrelevant. How can a small operation take advantage of big data when they're hardly even leveraging the low-hanging fruit of more easily obtained customer data points?
According to research conducted by the CMO Council, 57 percent of marketers feel that they are missing important data points that could provide them with a more comprehensive view of their customer, while another 30 percent believe that's possible -- but they're not sure what they're missing.
As an entrepreneur, you are most likely already gathering some type of demographic data, such as customer gender, age, location, etc. What should you add to this list? Here are a few easy data points to get you started:
Names: This might sound like a no-brainer, but a surprisingly large number of companies fail to collect the names of the prospective customers that interact with their online presence. In many circumstances, names aren't collected via email opt-in forms or lead generation forms because of the belief that when more fields are required, fewer form completions will occur.
And while this belief is generally accurate, names aren't a good place to compromise. Having this information allows you to better personalize the marketing communications that you do send out, helping you to convert more prospects over the long run.
