Data is everything to a marketer, and to you as a small business owner. Why? Because data allows you to know that John Smith browsed 4 sites before deciding to buy toilet roll from you, and on average goes through a 4 pack every 2 weeks. Creepy? If abused, yes. Useful? if used well, absolutely.

The issue with data, however, is collecting it. People are skeptical of offering personal information about themselves to corporate companies who will most likely use it to squeeze money out of them further down the road. That’s understandable, although as a business, not necessarily desirable.

What consumer are likely to do, on the flip side, is give away select pieces of information about themselves that ultimately results in a better, more personalised, service for themselves. This is where you come in – you don’t farm data in case you’ll need it for an ultra-targeted, somewhat invasive, marketing campaign sometime down the line. You ask for data that will make your customers experience a more efficient, pleasurable and reliable journey, and you do this the same way you would with a new friend. Honestly, openly, gradually, and with their interests at heart.

Think of data collection like making a new friend…

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When you walk into a room, you can see clearly how many people are in it (Visits on Google Analytics). As you circle the room and chat to a few people, you quickly establish who you want to spend your time talking to – you know who initially seems the most interesting and who seems the most open to having a conversation with you. (Visitors who are actively clicking around, and sticking on your site)

 Heading up to any one of these people and asking them for their address would not only be considered peculiar, and frowned upon, but also result in no answer, and minimise the risk of getting an honest and open answer to any future questions.

Easing your way in and asking for someone’s name and job role is much more socially acceptable, when meeting someone, and when collecting data on your site. Now that you’ve established the basics, to the point where you can now confidently converse with the person (or email them without second guessing their name), you can now begin to find out more about them – not so you can claim to know everything about them, but just so you know enough to help your conversation flow, and your new friendship feel fluent.

What data should you collect?

There’s some information that will be of use to you, and some information that is a complete waste of your time even bothering to find out. Obviously, this varies from company to company, sector to sector, and even customer to customer, so here are some general guidelines you can follow when considering what data you should be working to achieve, and how it can be used to benefit your business, but most importantly your customers.

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Basic contact information

Collecting basic information such as a name, email address and phone number allows you to contact your customers through various streams, with a personalised message.

Purchase history

Knowing what your customers buy, and how often, is an invaluable data set, unique to your business and your customers, that can aid you in pre-emptively suggesting products to your customers, and acting upon their tastes and buying habits.

Communication records

Does a customer complain a lot? What about? Are they active on your social networks? Are they generally positive about your company? Do they open your emails? How often? Knowing this information will help you to monitor and control how to communicate with this customer, how valuable they are, and how best to contact them to encourage them to buy, or respond.

Supporting profile information

Knowing the gender, age, profession and hobbies of your customer, in the hands of the right company, can be used to create a truly personalised experience for the customer, and a better conversion rate for your business. If you know a customer is middle-aged with a very high income and likes skiing, your marketing communications should be different from a teen-aged customer with a low income and a passion for water polo.

Birthdays

Whilst birthdays should probably fall under supporting profile information, it can be a very powerful piece of information about your customers. According to Experian.com, the stats for birthday emails are very impressive

  • 481% higher transaction rates than promo emails.

  • 342% higher revenue per email than promo emails.

  • 179% higher unique click rates than promo emails.

Sentiment

What do your customers think of you? Do they have a generally positive view of your business? Are they reserved? Are they loyal or not bothered? This information can be hard to track, but knowing it can really help with how you can tailor items towards your loyal and disinterested customers. People who do not care for your company might only be interested in cost, and therefore marketing your most competitive products to them may see a better return. On the flip side, your loyal customers might value you more for your trustworthy name and customer service.

Where & how can you collect data?

Many businesses can struggle with how and when to collect data, much like in the same way people can struggle to hold a conversation at a party. When it comes to getting to know more about your customers, there’s a fine line which you must ensure isn’t crossed, for fear of scaring potential customers away, or luring in fines of up to £500,000 for breaking the Data Protection Act.

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Be honest, clever and versatile…

Trapping customers into giving you data, or hounding them at every opportunity is a sure fire way to put them off. Even if you collect data in an honest and infrequent manner, how you do it can make a big difference to your success – nobody wants to fill in a huge checkout box, and fill in every detail about themselves since they left high school – leave that for the census and focus on what matters.

At checkout

Checkout is a prime place to collect customer data, since people expect to have to fill in basic contact and payment information to obtain their order. From this you’ll get at least an email address, name and location.

You can also encourage customers to give up more information about themselves, with wording that is appealing to them. “Tell us more about you, so we can offer you the best experience possible”

Online pathways

You can learn a lot from customers from where they go on your site. Their online pathways can tell you a lot about a customers – they might be very interested or concerned about delivery costs – they might filter products by ‘black’ far more often than any other colour, or they might abandon at checkout, when you add in your VAT and delivery costs, telling you that price is very important. Monitor the paths customers take to see if you can find out the small micro details that can make all the difference when selling.

Surveys

If you’re honest and upfront, surveys can work wonders. You’re essentially asking customers for information, and they’re providing you with it. No online stalking, no cover ups, just straight up question and answers to help enhance a customer’s experience.

Hosting anonymous surveys, whilst seemingly counterintuitive, will yield a much greater response and give you a good general idea of your target market.

Competitions

If you’re thinking about giving away a product or service as part of customer relation, or a PR piece, why not get something out of it? Competition are a great way to collect customer data, whilst incentivising them with something more tangible than an enhanced experience. A lot of people are more susceptible to a new computer than they are to being sold to more efficiently.

On product pages

Whilst browsing a product, much like in a shop, customers are open to offers of help. Despite aiming to make your product pages as easy to understand and helpful as possible, there’s always an opportunity to help – with this offer of help, comes a chance to collect data on consumer preferences. Offer popups that aim to find out more about both your customers, and your products.

  • “Do you favour clothes in black over other colours?”

  • “What size would you like to see these shoes stocked in?”

  • “How often do you buy kitchen rolls, on average?”

Complaints

Even though customers might not be happy with you, it doesn’t mean you should shut the marketing gates whilst you deal with the problem. It is easily possible to learn from what your customer are saying, however negative, and collect information.

Pointing out problems with your business, or products, can be more valuable than receiving a dead-end compliment.

What to do with your confidential data, and why?

As a business owner it’s your job to protect your customers as well as your employees, and this goes way further than simply ensuring that the locks on your office are fitted correctly.

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The Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Act, 1998 is an act put in place to protect people and their right to privacy where their personal data is concerned. Personal data can be anything from: Name, age, address, medical conditions, credit card details etc.

The data you collect should be:

  • Processed fairly and legally.

  • Processed for limited purposes and in an appropriate way

  • Relevant and suitable for purpose, in an appropriate way

  • Accurate and up-to-date

  • Kept for as long a necessary but no longer…

  • Only be processed within the rights of the data subjects, mentioned in part II of this act

  • Dealt with securely

  • Only transferred to other countries that have suitable data protection controls and regulations

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