FEATURE PROSPECT DATA
Leveraging the web remains a challenge
The torrent of data made available by the web is hugely tantalising, yet harnessing it for use in multichannel marketing remains a huge challenge, finds James Lawson.
T
he web means many different things to UK consumer data owners. Some see it simply as an effective channel for data collection while others offer a wider range of indicators in their files that help marketers make the link between individual behaviour in on- and offline channels. At the leading edge, it’s possible to apply multichannel consumer databases in real time to inform triggered email, product propositions on ecommerce sites or online ad serving.
PAINTING A PICTURE The influence of the web and newer online channels like social media is huge – and still growing. More shoppers than ever are going online before heading out to the shops. According to Forrester Research, web research influenced 48% of 2011 in-store sales.
“Data is still in silos and purchases made through the web are often split off from catalogue purchases – these have to be brought together.” Mike Green, Director of Insight, Transactis
But applying the torrent of information that customers and prospects generate online to
24 May 2012
multichannel targeting is a major challenge. For example, research by Transactis found that individuals using Twitter in any way, be it tweeting themselves or forwarding or responding to tweets, were more likely to buy, bought more frequently and spent more money overall. Yet the difficulty of individual identification makes bringing social media data into an SCV almost impossible at a granular level. In fact, even the most basic multichannel work is still a huge challenge for most companies. “We still find very few clients will integrate email with a postal acquisition campaign,” says Mike Green, Director of Insight at Transactis. “SMS and email do tend to be used together more in retention campaigns.”
The finer points of integrating social media data into an SCV are academic for most: disparate systems and archaic internal organisation are two more fundamental barriers to better integration of web and email communications with offline channels. “Data is still in silos,” says Green. “Purchases
made through the web are often split off from catalogue purchases. These have to be brought together but most large companies’ structures prevent this.”
Consumer data owners can help. With a pre-
built picture of consumer behaviour across the on and offline environments, they can supply detailed individual-level attributes to aid targeting in either sphere. But for many marketers, the most important task is simply getting hold of
“Email prospecting is a difficult discipline, but can be very powerful when used effectively in conjunction with offline campaigns.” Lindsay Lovell, Product Manager, Abacus
email addresses, either to tag to existing customer records or to use as cold prospect lists. Consumer data owners can help here too. “Email prospecting is a difficult discipline, but can be very powerful when used effectively in conjunction with offline campaigns,” says Lindsay Lovell, Product Manager at Abacus. “We can append email addresses to our clients’ customer file to expand their email programmes, for example sending advanced notification or follow ups to maximise the impact of a catalogue being sent.”
Most UK consumer databases offer multichannel contact details, so helping clients find emails or mobile numbers for existing customers or to reverse append name and address where they only have an email. With contact details in hand, they can then append other targeting information to their file for campaign planning.
“Even in this age of multichannel campaigns, we still find traditional name and address data is
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