The Best Type of Customer Data

* Purchase behavior is king. It is the simplest form of behavior but it is the most powerful i.e:

* What they bought.

* How much they paid for it?

* When did it happen?

* Through what channel?

* Was it in store or online?

* The best kind of data all depends on what you are trying to predict. But in general past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

* Income is a very popular type of data but it is a dangerous one. For example \”One may spend everything they have and then borrow some. Someone else may hoard it in the bank, and then a third person may donate it all to charity. There couldn’t be three more different people.\”

* Attitudinal data is the hardest data to get but is incredibly powerful.

* Different data becomes more important in different parts of the Customer Journey or the Buyer Lifecycle.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of Episode 22 of the Inevitable Success Podcast.

Transcript:

Damian: Today  we’re going to be talking about Data, particularly, ‘what is the best type of data’. In the age of Google and Facebook where everybody is trying to sell their data as the absolute best data that you could buy, there seems to be this premise that there is a best type of data. So I would ask what do you think is the best type of data out there?

Stephen: That’s an interesting question because there’s no such thing as the best type of data because it depends on what kind of problem you’re trying to solve. I say this all the time that when you get into data and analytics planning, you’ve got to define the goal first. You have to ask yourself, ‘what are you trying to solve here?’ ‘What is your problem statement? Is it about acquiring customers, expanding your footprint, or acquiring best customers or best potential customers? Well, it could be that I already have these guys. So how do I milk more money out of them? How do I sell more? How do I convert one timers to two timers? How do I cross-sell or upsell? If they try to leave, how do I hold them back?

In each stage of the customer’s journey, you will yield different data, like little bread crumbs. When you try to face those different problems throughout the customer journey, it calls for different kind of data. So, for me to say that, ‘Yeah, this is the most powerful data,’ it really depends on when you need it and for what purpose. In all my career, for example, the most useful data for when trying to predict what the person’s next move will be, is to look at their past behavior, but of course people change.

Related Thought Leadership Content* * * * *

/* styles for related posts inline shortcode */

.related-posts-inline-widget {

border-radius: 6px;

background: #eaeaea;

margin: 10px;

padding:20px 15px;

}

.related-posts-inline-widget h4 {

font-weight: bold;

padding-top: 0px;

margin: 10px 20px 0 20px;

border-bottom: 2px solid #eb8e20;

}

.related-posts-inline-widget ul {

list-style-type:none;

margin:0;

padding:0;

margin-bottom: 10px;

margin-top:10px;

}

.related-posts-inline-widget ul li {

padding:5px 0px 5px 20px

}

.