Data Is the Untapped Source Needed for Successful Customer Intimacy

Data and customer intimacy—how does the gathering of numbers, actions, and trends relate to successful customer relationships?

Here’s how: One cannot happen without the other. The right data used effectively results in customer intimacy.

The key is knowing the “right” data to gather, to focus on, or to use in decision-making—and using it in a way that ultimately builds and sustains a continued cycle of customer loyalty and growth.

It’s not a new concept, but it’s one that organizations seem to grapple with.

Business or Personal? One Tells You What They Need, the Other Who They Are

Creating intimacy with customers is more than sending birthday wishes or rehashing the latest sports news over lunch. While this is great for learning who the customers are, it doesn’t tell you what they need from you.

True customer intimacy is the result of leveraging extensive customer data and operational flexibility by tailoring goods or services to precisely targeted consumers. It’s making service models scalable, enhancing the ability to make data-driven decisions, and having a deep understanding of what customers’ needs and wants are and how they use products.

In short, you know what the customer wants, how they want to get it, whenever they need to get it—all by using data.

And importantly, considering the data with a people-first, not number-first, mind-set. How can you use this data to deliver exactly what the customers want and need?

Supply Chain Woes Should Not Hinder Delivery of Superior Customer Experience

Delivering a service or product can be a challenge when nature, politics, or global logistics are in a state of chaos.

Using data, products and services can be tailored precisely to customer applications—as the manufacturing sector fully embraces digitalization, there are more and more new sources of data to learn about how customers are using your products. You can quickly and accurately use that data to identify key trends and tailor your offering precisely to target segments, applications, or individual customers.

Communications can be personalized and tailored to keep customers notified about the things they need to know to better inform their buying strategies, expand their awareness of your product and service offering, and create a “stickiness” that will help you both weather challenging times.

In 2005, Bain & Company found that 80 percent of firms believed they delivered a “superior experience” to their customers—but only 8 percent of customers felt companies were really delivering.

Almost 20 years later, the customer experience is still lacking. According to Siegel+Gale, $402 billion each year is left on the table by companies that fail to provide basic experiences to their consumers.

Not a new problem, but there are new solutions.

The Science of Holistic Customer Relationships

Good customer relationships on any scale are difficult to build. In a rapidly evolving digital-first world, how do you know how to adjust offerings in order to keep up with needs? How do you build intimacy when customers engage in a variety of ways?

By gathering data that gives deep and actionable insights, you gain an understanding of buying preferences and how products or services will be used—and ultimately use that data to drive innovation and improvement.

At Xenon arc, our clients are scientists at their core. They intuitively understand data—but even the greatest minds can be overwhelmed or off the mark if they don’t have the right methods or technology to analyze the information.

We leverage industry-leading technology, expertise, and processes to create holistic customer relationships and maintain a competitive edge for our clients. Our clients have complete access to comprehensive analytics through our business intelligence engine for relevant real-time visibility into customer behavior, transaction, and SKU-level views; forecasting and pricing insights; business performance metrics; and more.

In essence, all of this customer information is used to tailor formulations and services specifically to customer needs—and that intimacy is a critical part in differentiating one company from the competition.

The Difference Is Data When It Comes to Customer Loyalty

The ultimate customer intimacy model continually reshapes offerings around the insights gathered from robust data environments.

It uses that customer data to refine the understanding of how products are used in the field, what type of value customers find in the products, the ROI on marketing and sales efforts, collateral development, and web analytics. The resulting customer intimacy organically creates a base of loyal advocates and continued growth.

The modern digital market requires data to drive innovation, help decision-making, and build successful customer relationships. That data is the key to intimately knowing what they want, how they want to purchase it, and how they will use it—and continue to stay loyal to the companies that give them exactly what they need, when they need it.

Mica Zuniga is the chief strategy officer at Xenon Arc. Zuniga has held several leadership roles in business development, sales, and marketing in the chemical industry. She has a strong passion for leading teams, creating meaningful change and advanced thinking related to increasing value from typically underserved markets. Consistently recognized for her contribution to her clients’ success, Zuniga has helped improve profitability and drive exceptional value within these segments.