by Debbie Burgin -
Collecting
customer data is literally creating a way to increase sales at the click of a
button.
But
what is data?
I mean…we hear
the word all the time, and it conjures up an image of giant computers in some
dark dank corporate room, buzzing, whirring, flashing and beeping, spitting out
long narrow sheets of nonsense type that can only be read by other computers,
or someone with 7 university degrees in reading the stuff.
Isn’t that what
you think when you hear the word “data”?
The dictionary
defines “data” as “facts and statistics
collected together for reference or analysis”.
“Facts
and statistics?” Ugh!
Wikipedia
defines “data” as “individual pieces of information”, and this definition makes
more sense to the layman, so for the purpose of this article, it’s the
definition that I’ll be referring to.
When
I tell clients that they should be collecting ‘data’ from their customers in
order to successfully tailor their marketing efforts (digital and otherwise), they
often look at me with a frown and tilt their heads to one side, totally
imagining this ‘data’ to be the image that I mentioned in the beginning of this
piece. I then have to use the Wikipedia definition to help clarify that
misconception.
The
data that we refer to is just basic pieces of personal information. It’s that
simple. Nothing major; a first name and email address will generally suffice. And
if you don’t want to get that complex, you can drop the first name.
The
less information you ask your customer to provide, the more likely it is that
you’ll actually get what you do ask
for. No one wants to spend twenty minutes filling out a form as a customer in
any business setting, let alone in an establishment where part of the general
premise is to relax (ie; restaurant, hair salon, etc.)
So
now you ask; “Why am I collecting this ‘data’ on my customers? Like I don’t
have enough to do?”
That’s
a great question.
Collecting
customer data doesn’t have to be a huge chore. Back in the day, it was common
to see a fish bowl on the front desk of a restaurant, for customers to leave a
business card with some kind of potential ‘reward’ for doing so. Someone in the
restaurant would then pull ONE card a week (or month) out of that bowl for some
kind of freebie. But this is 2016, and you’d better be using every one of those cards in your
marketing strategy.
The
old school fish bowl has its advantages; you get a truck load of information
with what is probably the least amount of effort from your customer or client
(fantastic for restaurants and salon type businesses). And once you have that
precious information, you can bring that customer (and his/her friends and
acquaintances) back into your business with the click of a button, knowing that
he/she has actually come in with the intention of spending money, and it works
for just about any type of business.
Cool
right?
If
you’re not already collecting customer data in some way, you’re leaving money
on the table…period. You probably already have in your possession, a kick ass
way to collect simple customer data (like a fish bowl, for Pete’s sake), but
might be baffled as to how you should go about implementing it, or what to do
with the information once you have it.
If
that’s the case, shoot me an email! I’d love to show you how to dramatically
increase sales with the simple click of a button J