Wiland Blog

In a world where first-party data is king, who invited third-party data to the ball? While ingrained in almost every marketing analytics or segmentation discussion, third-party data in an age of heightened consumer privacy concerns has come under fire to the extent that some pundits have advised marketers to leave it alone, don’t touch it, and maybe even consider running from it.

Not the case.

Customer knowledge starts with their interactions with your business, key indicators like the products they buy and how much they spend, how often they visit, how long they’ve been a customer, whether they’ve registered complaints, and other data tied to your relationship with them.

But basing analytics only on those data points misses so much. It’s great for identifying retention and attrition risks, opportunities to cross-sell similar products, or optimizing inventory. But it can’t tell you about their lives, passions, or purchase propensities other than the products they’ve bought in the past. For that, you need to overlay additional data like age or whether they own their home or predictive data created through advanced analytic techniques that alert you to who is likely to buy what products.

Let’s look at some of the specific benefits of enrichment:

1.   Complete the data picture of your own customers

Let’s face it. Although your first-party data is indeed king, it’s not complete enough to drive the decisions you need to make to keep your business healthy and growing.  Enrichment from external data can fill the gaps in your data and add new data points to illuminate a full and actionable understanding of your customers.

2.   Inform more business decisions

By enriching customer data from CRM systems with demographics data, purchasing data, and online behaviors, marketers better understand their customers’ interests and how to best incentivize them to do more business with the company. Sales teams benefit from enriched customer profiles to align business development efforts and accelerate sales cycles. Understanding a customer’s media habits allows marketing to refine audience and advertising strategies.

3.   Understand market shifts,

Markets are dynamic, and trends can shift in an instant.  Data analytics informs you of changes, enabling rapid responses to market demands. Whether adjusting pricing strategies or launching targeted promotions, staying ahead of trends is critical for sustained success.

You can only tap into that power by enriching your customer data with externally sourced data points like age, gender, income, occupation, or purchase transactions from your competitors and other businesses, or even their intent to purchase products from you they haven’t even looked at yet.

4.   Uncover emerging and existing competitive intelligence

Externally provided data can highlight how consumers interact with other businesses in your industry. That’s critical information for prioritizing new product releases or managing investment in new distribution channels.  Take the additional step of adding predictive data to create finely tuned segments and personas that will increase your return on ad spend.

5.   Find the perfect message and offer through segmentation

Tools like MarketSignals by Wiland provide high-end, distinct consumer insights that allow businesses to reach & engage customers with unparalleled precision. This capability helps brands differentiate themselves in competitive markets.

6.   Predict consumer actions and gain a competitive edge

CRM data enriched with robust demographic, interest, financial, location, lifestyle, and finely tuned predictive data elements will uncover trends and patterns to inform the next best actions.

Customer analytics is no longer a luxury but necessary for businesses aiming to thrive in the era of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. From personalized marketing campaigns to streamlined operations, the benefits are vast and impactful. Learn more about how MarketSignals^TM by Wiland makes it easier than ever to leverage insights, transforming data into actionable strategies.