The Economics Of Messy Data: Not Knowing Your Customers Could Cost More Than You Think   

Billy Loizou, Area Vice President, Amperity shares why messy data can stop brands from knowing their customers.

If you know your customers so well, then why do you keep treating them like strangers? It’s a conundrum APAC marketers, brands and retailers face every day – and a challenge they are desperate to solve. In its simplest form, the issue stems from data or rather ‘messy data’. This fragmented data is muddling efforts to get a clear view of who your customers actually are.  

And the cost of not knowing them is high. More so than annoying customers with promotional emails for products they already own, blasting them with ads for clothing they don’t like, or placing them on hold for 45 minutes as a customer service representative tracks down their details when they want to return a pair of shoes; this disconnected view of the customer is impacting the bottom line – to the tune of AU$16 billion, in some cases. 

 According to the global Zendesk Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2022, nearly 70% of APAC consumers feel as though customer service is an afterthought for businesses, 94% say they are willing to spend more with companies who personalise the customer service experience, and 71% reveal they would switch to a competitor after one bad customer service experience. Never has there been a more urgent need for brands to get to know their customers, truly and intimately, than now. 

Making the case for identity (ID) resolution 

 Customers provide businesses with a wealth of data — from loyalty programs to transaction history and email engagement. But the tricky part is making sense of it and then putting it into action. Quality data fuels consumer business and opens the path to delivering personalised marketing experiences.  

However, companies can’t personalise when they don’t know who their customers are. This is why identity (ID) resolution is so important — it turns scattered data into concrete customer information. And without it, it’s virtually impossible to treat your customers as the unique individuals they are. Identity is the foundation for true personalisation. 

What is ID resolution?  

ID resolution is the process of connecting and matching different data points across multiple devices and channels to form a unified view of a single customer, allowing brands to connect the dots between fragmented data to form a complete picture of an actual person. 

‘Cracking the nut’ on true ID resolution 

The goal of ID resolution is to identify the same individual within and across all data sources that contain customer information. Simple enough. But why, then, is it such a tough nut for brands to crack?  

Because a truly complete and up-to-date view of the customer must combine an individual’s transactions from multiple sources — point-of-sale, e-commerce, email interactions, loyalty data, mobile app engagement and more. It also has to include historical data as well as new data that’s produced every day when customers interact with a brand. The scale and scattered nature of it all has kept effective ID resolution out of reach for most brands. 

Consider this incredibly common scenario: your brand just received a new online buyer called Victoria. You send her your welcome series. At the same time, another in-store customer called Vicky hasn’t purchased from you in four months, so you send her discounts persuading her to shop with you again. Here’s the kicker — Victoria and Vicky are the same person. 

 Customer data is inherently uncertain. Customers are not always consistent in how they identify themselves when they engage with a brand. They move through life, creating new emails, getting new phone numbers and sometimes even changing their names. At the same time, they or a store associate might enter typos when updating their information. What’s more, a brand’s best customers are more likely to have inconsistent and inaccurate Personal Identifiable Information (PII) because they interact with the brand more often, opening the door to potentially messier data. 

ID resolution and the opportunity to transform 

The benefits of getting ID resolution right are the cornerstone to any organisation’s success. With an accurate customer data foundation, all departments across the company have the same access to customer information in real time. This access ensures the customer will have a seamless journey at every touchpoint, whether that’s in-store, online or with customer service.  

Even more, quality ID resolution prepares organisations for a cookie-less future by building a hearty, privacy-compliant, first-party data set, providing a buffer against increasingly strict privacy policies that limit the use of third-party data. With deeper customer relationships, brands can speak to their customers on the individual level, boosting customer loyalty and increasing lifetime value.  

ID resolution improves marketing performance and ROI too. Smart segmentation allows brands to create highly targeted campaigns for specific customer segments, cutting down on redundancies. This gives brands the ability to react in real-time and effectively allocate budgets, cutting down on expenses.  

Even more, the best solutions are flexible, allowing for simple updates and management and not ‘one size fits all’ to ensure they meet your unique business needs. Above all, expertise should be at its core, providing you with an implementation and support team with deep experience and knowhow. 

The right ID resolution platform enables brands and organisations to take control of their customer data, systematically improve customer relationships, foster brand loyalty and win. 

Find out more by downloading Amperity’s Identity Resolution: Connecting the Dots and Understanding Your Customer guide here. 

Billy Loizou, Area Vice President, Amperity 

Billy Loizou has 10+ years of experience in design, technology and marketing. He has worked with some of the world’s most renowned and respected brands, helping them improve their customer experience and drive profitability. 

About Amperity 

 Amperity is the leading Customer Data Platform provider that helps companies use data to improve marketing performance, build long-term customer loyalty and drive growth. Amperity’s flagship enterprise CDP is used by many of the world’s most loved brands, such as Alaska Airlines, Endeavour Drinks, Kendra Scott, Kroger, Lucky Brand, Planet Fitness, Seattle Sounders FC, Under Armour and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. For more information, please visit www.amperity.com or follow @Amperity.