Breaking Down Silos: Innovative Approaches to Data Unification for Marketing Mastery
Hyper-personalisation with cost efficiency is the end goal for every marketer. To accomplish this, they often rely on various data sources. Getting effective data-driven intelligence is like finding gold in the sand. Yet, it is every marketer’s pursuit to better customer experience (CX). How should marketers navigate these rough data terrains? We need to unify data sources for better marketing solutions. Unified data marketing enables marketers to combine data from multiple sources to create a comprehensive view of customers for targeted marketing campaigns.
This blog delves deeper into various strategies to unify data sources in today’s hyper-digital world.
Data Sources Marketers Use
Today, the average number of data sources marketers access has grown from 6 in 2021 to nearly 12 in 2023. As data sources grow, marketers need to keep on top of things to stay competitive. With 55% of marketing efforts being digital, what is the best data source to capitalise on for unified data marketing?
Let us look at some of the key data sources used by marketers today.
It is the data captured when you buy a product or service. It helps marketers gain access to your preferred product or service category. Transactional data can be first party, second party or third party.
The data that customers agree to share online is called digital footprint. It helps marketers access and offer personalised user experience.
It is the data that companies directly access from a customer’s interests, such as a particular product or service, and they use this information to create personalised marketing messages or communications.
This data is available primarily through partner websites or businesses to understand factors impacting customer journey, for instance, personalised interaction, convenience, multi-lingual support, and more.
Third-party data is collected mainly by businesses that don’t have a direct relationship with the customer, like affiliate campaign publishers. Data brokers, market researchers, or external providers collect data from several sources, like online activities, surveys, feedbacks, and more.
Top Data Unification Strategies to Enhance CX
If you are struggling to extract actionable insights from any particular data source to offer enhanced customer experience, data unification is just what you need. Here are the top data unification strategies.
Leverage Social Media Integation
Having unstructured data through social media doesn’t clearly help understand the customer’s sentiments. Instead, deploy social media listening tools to gain insights that can be integrated with your customer’s profile, to improve personalization.
Implement right data tools
Knowing which data tool will serve as a centralised base for all data sources is important. Information from scattered sources may lead to the creation of inconsistent customer profiles. Depending on the type of data, you could use any of the following types of data tools:
● Customer relationship management (CRM) platform
● Data management platform (DMP)
● Customer data platform (CDP)
● Enterprise resource platform (ERP)
Unlock the potential of automation with machine learning
There will always be limited personalisation with scattered data sources. Moreover, discrepancies and variations in customer information can lead to lack of accuracy and reliability. Here, employing machine learning models to analyse past customer interactions, purchases, and engagement, and then training the models to recognise patterns and make predictions, could be a game-changer for marketing strategies.
Website or app analytics integration
It is often difficult to integrate website and app data with different customer profiles. Utilising analytics tools integrated with CRM systems can help track user behaviour for personalised marketing and improved user experience.
Wrapping up
Data unification is no longer just an option for marketers but a strategic imperative. If done right, it can offer personalisation and cost-effectiveness. At Appstrail, we specialise in empowering businesses through cutting-edge data unification strategies, providing data-driven intelligence that propels growth across every touchpoint. Our tailored solutions ensure businesses can effectively reach their customers, significantly boosting overall campaign efficiency. Experience unprecedented returns on investments (ROI) as we guide you in unlocking the full potential of data unification for your business success.
