If we have to name one company that has captured the hearts and markets by addressing the sensibilities of data-savvy millennials, Netflix would be the winner by a mile.  This streaming-services giant has steadily progressed over the last two decades as an alternate, yet prominent, revenue model out of a very traditional construct purely by understanding their audience through analytics.

From collecting genre interests along with signups to analysing data on the percentage of viewers who paused or abandoned parts of the current show, Netflix crunches enormous amounts of data on a daily basis. The result that the company achieves, and aims to amplify, is creating an engaging ecosystem where every single user has their entertainment needs fulfilled and rekindled, at the luxury of their homes.

 

Defining Customer Experience with Big Data

Though Netflix has been successful so far in letting data dictate their revenue, a vast majority of the enterprises are still sceptical or passive in harnessing the power of analytics in decision making. This is because the reality of defining customer experience and driving product affinity and brand loyalty from there is a lot more meticulous.

So what goes into cooking up the perfect recipe for tasting sweet success? How can brands garner loyalty by enabling business that transcends boundaries and creates a space for them? Thankfully, the world of Big Data and Analytics has some tips and tricks.

1. Banking on Personalization

In today’s age of digital explosion and mass marketing strategies, the one thing that consumers constantly yearn for is personalization. One of the most common examples of dynamic personalization is the customized ads that users see in rest of their webpages when they have shown interest on a product in a particular website. While almost all retail centres adopt this method of marketing, it is analytics that defines the line between brands offering a value add or being a voyeur in the customer’s shopping journey.

For brands that are aiming to create a focussed effort on brand building, it has now become imperative that build an intelligent analytics system with a self-feeding database. In fact, a research on “State of connected consumer” by salesforce of over 7000 consumers found out that over 57% of the respondents were “willing to share personal data in exchange for personalized offers or discounts” and over 52% and 53% agreed to trade data for product recommendations and personalized shopping experiences respectively.

2. Aiming for an Omnichannel Experience

The ubiquitous need of a common consumer for interfacing through multiple channels today is a direct result of digital’s immersion in daily lives. The result thus is the growing need for businesses to adopt Omnichannel ways, carefully crafted from the analytics gathered from their customer base. Through the future, as digital and mortal lives keep intertwining, brands can use them as their canvas to engage in valuable product promotions to their consumers.

With a commitment to the Omnichannel way of life, brands intrinsically promise a seamless connectivity, across all their channels, to the end user. This commitment eases a customer’s buying lifecycle- from brand discovery to continuous engagement- and greatly helps in spreading their product’s message among the masses.

3. Securing Customer Analytics

Nothing destroys brand loyalty than misleading and manipulating the customer. In the age of big data, one of the top blunders that brands commit is misusing customer analytics to the point of becoming overbearing. The infamous Target’s analytics mishap where the company started sending discounts for baby products to an unsuspecting father based on his pregnant daughter’s buying patterns opened one of the vulnerable areas of data analytics in marketing.

By not being wise with customer analytics, brands can end up killing the cow that can milk fortunes for them.  While it is true that customers are willing to let brands know them personally, it is also undeniably true that companies should always be aware of their line that should never be crossed.

4. Deriving Value for the Consumer

The world of business is a two-way street. Consumers overwhelmingly support brands that not just fulfil their needs but can also help them derive greater value in their everyday life. Brands that are conscious about striking a chord with their audience should be well equipped to offer adequate value and not just in terms of their product’s quality.

For example, Nike’s path-breaking campaign known as “equality” aims to make sports a more inclusive platform by encouraging people from all diverse backgrounds to participate. With this message, the brand not just brings about a much needed mainstream voice in the arena but also ensures that they have marked themselves as a real brand, that everybody can associate themselves with in the market.

 

In Conclusion,

With greater mobility and positive cash-flow all around, it is no secret that the retail world is reaping the maximum out of the globalized, computerized market. But this rapid explosion also leaves retailers with more responsibility than ever to be conscious of their customers, their data and their options. With Big Data and Analytics enabling the decision makers to great levels, the onus is on them to scale their success and brand loyalty hand-in-hand.

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