Why data analysis is key to enhancing digital customer journeys

As a business owner, you can’t predict the future or read the mind of your customers; there’s no crystal ball that will forewarn you of what future consumer demands look like.

The good news is, data analytics is the next best thing to a crystal ball.

The premise is simple: the more data you collect, the better you’ll understand your customers (provided you’re asking the right questions, but we’ll get on to that later).

By analysing vast volumes of customer data, your marketing and sales team can begin to extract those all-important insights that will help you identify and predict future trends and patterns before they happen.

You’ll have a greater understanding of what future behaviours among your customers will look like, and how best to capitalise on these changes by fine tuning your offering.

Not only will your business be able to identify future trends and patterns, but you’ll also be able to strengthen connections with existing customers, and reconnect with customers at risk of defecting from your brand.

What is digital customer experience analytics?

If the term ‘digital customer experience analytics’ sounds overwhelming, here’s a quick explanation.

In years gone by, customer experience was defined solely by the interactions we had in-store. Were you made to feel welcome when entering the store, did staff look in the back to find your size, were you offered a discount as a repeat customer – that sort of thing.

But in today’s digital landscape, the customer experience is informed by multiple touchpoints and channels, which can be difficult to translate into useful insights.

Enter, data analytics.

By capturing and analysing data from multiple touchpoints and channels, brands can begin to build a picture of how satisfied customers are with the service they’re receiving, giving you workable insights to act on.

Understanding engagement across all your channels is critical to improving the experience you can offer. Whether your customers are interacting with your website, app or social media, using data analytics means you can target customers better, which translates to higher conversion rates and increased brand loyalty.

More touchpoints = better data

The modern consumer interacts with brands across various channels, but in different ways; how they interact with your website likely won’t be the same as how they interact with your app.

This is why single touchpoint analytics are no longer useful; in order to optimise digital journeys for customers, you need to take a holistic view that encompasses all touchpoints.

If you want to forecast with accuracy, you need to gather as much data as possible from as many different touchpoints as possible. This will allow your business to craft a digital journey that maximises engagement across various channels, which in turn leads to greater customer retention.

So – how exactly do you achieve this? You guessed it, analytics.

Customer journey analytics takes the guesswork out of customer experience and gives you the foundation you need to support customer mapping that actually works.

Whether this means improving your checkout process or tweaking your social media strategy, analytics will inform your strategy and identify areas of weakness that need your attention.

An effective way of doing this is to segment your audience by demographic. Rather than treating your customers as a collective who all want the same thing, segmentation allows you to drill down into the nuances of each customer’s experience and tailor your offering accordingly.

Spot trends before they happen

Since it made its debut on trading platforms back in 2010, Bitcoin has risen astronomically in value – 8,000,000,000%, to be exact.

This shows the worth of being ahead of the curve and spotting a trend before it becomes mainstream.

In a business landscape where more companies are jostling with each other for the same market share, any advantage you gain on a competitor could have a seismic impact on your business going forward.

As customers are the lifeblood of any successful venture, predictions in consumer behaviour and patterns could be the equivalent of striking gold. If you can capitalise on a trend before it becomes common knowledge it gives your business one hell of a leg up against your competition.

With business gradually moving more digital by the day, data analytics is offering companies a lifeline in uncharted waters – and spotting a trend early enough could be the difference between sinking or moving with the tide.

An increase in online sales and interactions means companies are now armed with an arsenal of information that can help identify new revenue-generating opportunities.

By analysing this treasure trove of data, your business could stumble across the next big trend that catapults your brand to new heights.

Customer lifetime value

Of course capitalising on future trends is important to your business’ longevity, but so is how you engage existing customers.

Data analytics gives your business the tools it needs to enhance digital journeys, which helps to strengthen your connection with long-term customers and reconnect with customers at risk of attrition.

Profitability is only realised when customer lifetime value is greater than the initial investment you made in that customer. The longer you retain customers, the more profit your business will generate.

It sounds simple, but it’s often overlooked.

Data that indicates behaviour

So – what’s the right kind of data you should be collecting? How can you make sure that what you’re measuring is the right kind of information to improve your offering?

It starts with treating each customer like an individual; in order to enhance the digital journey of your customers, you need to offer them a personalised service.

You should start by identifying your audience by typical demographic categories like age and location. Then take a look at their dwell time; this will give you an indication of how easy or frustrating your site is to navigate.

The longer they spend on your site or app, the more likely they are to convert. This will also give you an insight into website traffic patterns and how they can be tweaked to boost conversion.

Once you have all of this information, you can begin to drill down into purchasing habits. When you know what products or services are being bought by each demographic, it becomes much easier to tailor your offering accordingly.

Here’s the upshot.

Data gives you the power to do two things:

Understand what makes your customers buy, their purchasing preferences, and how they like to be engaged
Build better tools to improve the way you meet their needs and ultimately retain them

But with big data comes big responsibility.

This huge data exchange is a major cause of anxiety for customers, and your business needs to be acutely aware of this.

That’s why you need to have the correct security measures in place to protect this data. Without it, a once loyal customer can quickly turn to a competitor.

Are you looking for ways to leverage data analytics to enhance digital journeys for your customers?

Here at 6B, we understand the power of data. We help a wide range of clients in various sectors get to grips with how to capture, consolidate and analyse data to future-proof their business propositions – and we’d like to do the same for your business.

Get in touch with us today