Blog

Why is data so hot?

Most companies base their product marketing on buyer personas of certain types of customers. These personas are often based on demographics, such as age, gender, nationality, ethnicity and occupation. This is a strategy that works great for marketing at the launch of a new product. But then you have to move on.

You do not only want to know who your customers are in theory, but also who your (potential) customers are in practice. Which group of people is not buying your product now. Why is the follow-up purchase taking longer than expected. What are the barriers?

We collect a lot of data with our marketing games. We gain knowledge there, often unexpectedly, as to why customers choose a particular product or brand. This data often provides new insight into the buyer presonas. This data will also help you make more informed marketing strategy decisions.

How do you start collecting data?

We believe that if you want to be successful as a company, you need to know who your real customer is to make sure you are relevant. But how do you start collecting this data?

You can of course e-mail all your customers and ask them the question. There is a good chance that there will be little or no response. That’s not the way, if you ask us. This can be much more fun and interactive. For example, a matchmaker quiz can be an ideal way to find out who your customer is and what they need from you. Interaction with the participant is entered into in a low-threshold manner via a matchmaker.

For example, we have developed the “camping matchmaker” for an international retailer of sports and outdoor equipment. You think, maybe camping is camping, but of course this is absolutely not true. Are you going to a festival with friends, or do you want to go out with your family for a few weeks, your needs are completely different. That also makes it difficult for customers to choose the right gear for their trip.

In the matchmaker quiz, a number of questions were asked about the camping trip, composition of the travel group and needs. At the end of the quiz, the participant received a camping profile with the products that are best suited for this. A handy tool for the consumer to travel well prepared, but also fantastic data for the marketer about the camping experience of potential customers.

How do you use this data successfully?

1. Make sure that the data is stored in a structured way

Most CRM systems are set up in such a way that you can store everything you want from your customers, but make sure that this is done in the right way. For example, all our games are linked to various CRM systems, such as Salesforce, to ensure that the data is stored and used in a structured manner.

2. Don’t be a one day fly

Make a plan! Think about what you want to achieve when you start collecting data. Because what are you going to do once you know what kind of “camping type” your customer is. Do you want to know more afterwards?

• Which segments can you create with the data?
• How does the data grow with your customers during their lives (child, adolescent, parent, etc.)
• Which of the products are even more relevant to them?
• Is all the collected data still relevant?

Data is only useful if it is collected for the long term and with a clear strategy.

3. Use the data to be relevant to your customers

It seems like a shot for open goal, but in practice we often see this go wrong. Too often people still get the wrong offers. Just think of an offer for a family holiday to singles. Or a new shampoo for bald men.

That is not only a waste of your marketing budget, but it is ineffective and also detracts from the experience of your product. Make sure you have relevant and recent data from your customers, so that you can segment by target group in order to make relevant offers.

4. Analyze the data regularly

There is nothing more changeable than man. So data is also subject to change. The data you collected last year may be outdated by now. So continue to analyze data regularly and adjust the collection strategy accordingly. Dashboard tools are available for the analysis, such as Salesforce Tableau or Microsoft Power BI. These tools give you the opportunity to gain visual insight into what your data consists of and how it is distributed.

In short, data is hot. But a long-term strategy is needed to keep up with the future of your customers. Ratsibambam is the marketing gamification expert and helps many companies to collect all kinds of data in a structured way. Want to know more about the possibilities? View our cases.