Data capture (or what you absolutely need to know about getting to know your customers)
In order to personalise your marketing campaigns you need as much data as possible. Getting data isn’t always easy. Customers need a reason to hand their data over and they need to be able to trust you with it.
How to gain the customer’s trust
Customers are skeptical of handing over their data so you need to give the customer confidence that their data is safe with you. Some ways to gain the customer’s trust include:
1) Having an SSL certificate on your website so the customer knows your site (and their data) is secure.
2) Encourage people to leave reviews.
3) If you have great customer service, free deliveries, free returns etc. make sure to shout about it.
4) Be transparent about why you want their information and how you’ll use it.
How to capture data
Capturing your customer’s data is not something you’ll do in one go. It should be incorporated into your marketing strategy over time.
Newsletter sign up
The most basic way to get customer information is to put a sign up form on your website. You can make it more effective by offering them something e.g. “sign up and receive 10% off”, or telling them what they could get in future e.g. “sign up to receive exclusive offers” or “sign up to receive the latest information about XXX”. The sign up form can be put in numerous places:
1) On the homepage and/or any other relevant page such as a contact or blog page.
2) In the header. It’s at the top of the page and by the navigation so the customer will see it, plus it’ll be on every page.
3) In the footer. If they’ve scrolled all the way to the footer then you know they’re interested in your content, plus it’ll be on every page.
4) On a lightbox. Be careful with this one. They’re intrusive and may put people off.
You can use some or all of them, if you’re unsure what will work with your audience then test them.
Data capture on ecommerce website
If you’re an ecommerce brand then you have to receive customer information in order for the sale to complete. You’ll have to provide an opt out, however if you use the incentives mentioned above, you should get a good amount of people signing up. Plus, if they’ve purchased something from you they’re already engaged with your brand.
Competitions
Competitions are a great way to get customer data. It will require an outlay on your side but the customer data you’ll receive will more than make up for that. You can advertise your competition in numerous places. To attract new sign ups you can use social media, Google ads and advertise on your own website. You can also use the competition to get more information from customers you have little information on by emailing them.
Social Media
Give your social media followers content that interests and engages them. If they like the content you post and share they’ll be much more likely to opt in to your marketing channels. You can even use data capture forms built into Facebook to get their information.
Emails
Once you have their email address and permission to contact them you can provide incentives for them to give you more of their data.
1) Customers like content that is tailored to them. If you tell them that you can provide content that is more personalised by answering some more questions they may be willing to.
2) You could ask for their birthday and say that you’ll give them a treat on the day, such as money off.
3) Send them competitions.
4) Ask them to complete surveys/ polls.
Customers account settings
Let your customers update their details themselves. Giving them the opportunity to give you as much or as little of their information as they like. This is where you can link through to if you send them an email to gather more data.
Opt out
When your customer clicks unsubscribe on your email, you don’t have to unsubscribe them straight away. You could give them the opportunity to reduce the amount of emails they receive, give you more information so that the emails are more tailored and ask them directly what content they would like to receive. If they still want to unsubscribe after this you have to allow them to.
Making sure you have good data about your customers that you can use to personalise your marketing campaigns will make your campaigns much more effective. Contact us today to see how we can help you.