If data is the new gold, where are the new gold mines?

Hand on heart, can you tell me off the top of your head which digital data, or rather which information, most influences your marketing and sales goals? No, I don’t mean digital paid media budgets and what CPM you pay on which channel. I mean all your activities, like paid ad’s, organic content, website, stores, CRM or loyalty systems, just to name a few examples. So, what is that data?

There has been a lot of discussion lately about Google Analytics and tracking websites in a privacy compliant manner. Interestingly, the question of what use this data is and what to do with it has been much less relevant than the currently correct text for the cookie banner. Turning data into actionable and successful activities is certainly one of the biggest challenges, as described in the survey results. Following the digital wave of the last two years, the churn rate — the rate of digital customer churn — has increased in many business areas, and more than three-quarters of sales and marketing leaders believe their customers are churning because they miss constant communication and, more importantly, relevant messaging.

This is hardly surprising and not particularly new. What has been new for some time, however, is the answer to this question. I can develop relevant messages if I know what the customer wants and does on the basis of data. What is meant here is the so-called Single Customer View or the 360-degree view of the customer. This is not about the sign-ups in your newsletter system or the transactional data you have in your CRM system. The Single Customer View summarizes all the information that requires consent. That is, the privacy-compliant movement and transaction data from the first anonymous visit to your website to the completion of the delivery.

The gold vein of the Single Customer View is also well known and everyone knows where it lies. You start with the “website tracking mine” and start mining with your own tools and then connect them to other “mines” like CRM, store or newsletter systems.

Data is the new gold. However, it is much easier to find in comparison, you just have to start digging in the right places.