First-party data is undoubtedly among the most valuable assets for a company’s marketing efforts. However, just like any high-quality information, this type of data is fairly complicated to acquire. Poor data quality doesn’t just cause campaigns to be inefficient, it often leads to bad business decisions, poor sales forecasts, and unsatisfactory customer experience.
In this article, we’ll look into various ways retail marketers can creatively capture quality first-party consumer data.
What’s the issue?
Some recently published studies report on how widespread the phenomenon of inaccurate first-party data appears to be in the current business environment.
A study conducted by Experian, states that a whopping 91% of companies suffer from data-related issues, such as outdated, incomplete, and inaccurate information provided by their customers.
Furthermore, another report presented by Veeva indicates that 66% of respondents consider that a complete and real-time view of the customer is a top priority for their customer reference data. Additionally, the same study suggests that companies lose about 12% of their revenue to inaccurate customer information.
How can retailers collect accurate data?
When it comes to collecting first-party data efficiently, retailers have lots of ground for experiments. First off, they can use their websites to capture information from their customers, along with using social media for collecting information from their audience.
A great percentage of modern-day internet users can be considered digitally-savvy, meaning that we need to inquire for their information in a more interactive manner. Simply asking for their data is no longer a viable strategy, it’s essential to entertain and engage.
Have you tried SMS Shortcodes?
SMS short codes are another increasingly popular way of collecting highly-accurate customer data. Essential information like email addresses, postal codes, sex, age, and others can be obtained via SMS short codes.
The efficiency of short codes is also defined by how quickly clients react to them. In a previous article, we touched on the difference between SMS messages and emails, and chances are, we’re going to see more and more companies adopting short codes as a way to improve their interaction with their customers.
There have been reports that by just sending out three messages via short codes can increase conversions threefold.
Creative approaches to data collection
Social media is a great place to obtain accurate information. For example, Instagram stories is a highly efficient medium for incorporating links to forms in exchange for certain value to the customer — anything from unlocking special content and participating in giveaways to coupons for products and services.
Here’s how Vodafone has used Instagram stories as a way to collect first-party data:
Another option is to gather user-generated content via social media platforms by hosting contests that require photo submissions, polls, and flock-to-unlock mechanisms that have proven to increase audience engagement considerably.
Here’s how Urban Planet has used contests on social media as a way to increase engagement, social media followers and collect first-party data:
The takeaway
Despite being the most efficient type of customer information, first-party data is still prone to being inaccurate.
Businesses now need to ask for their customers’ information by using more interactive mediums. This is why retailers need to look into more creative approaches to motivating their audience to share their data and user-generated content, like using social media and SMS short codes.