media update’s Adam Wakefield spoke to Mark Lindsay, director of sales, digital marketing, and marketing services at Experian Marketing Services United Kingdom, and Riona Naidu, head of marketing solutions at Experian South Africa, about how organisations can acquire quality data and how data is used to put the customer first.

Riona, how can organisations acquire quality data to embrace customer centricity? 

There is no better source of data than the data that an organisation can collect directly from customers, such as first-party data. The organisation can control what data is captured and can ensure that data quality is maintained.

With an appropriate investment in analytics, first-party data can be converted into valuable insights. However, what happens in situations where a customer isn’t willing to share their data?

In these circumstances, third-party data can be valuable – specifically for consumer segmentation purposes, which can be derived from Experian’s Marketing Solutions tool, Mosaic . This tool classifies the South African population and enumeration areas into 36 unique types and nine overarching groups, and provides detailed information about what drives these consumers’ attitudes and preferences. This allows brands to understand more than what they can see through the lens of their own customers base.

Mosaic South Africa has identified the main groups in South Africa as follows:
  • A – Wealth to do (10.47%);
  • B – Up-and-coming (6.32%);
  • C – Township traditionalists (10.23%);
  • D – Loyal labourers (13.72%);
  • E – Blue-collar communities (25.15%);
  • F – Young urban survivors (11.01%);
  • G – State dependents (6.99%);
  • H – Rural traditionalists (3.44%); and
  • I – Outskirts families (7.72%). 
Mark, how important is consistency in branding and advertising across digital and traditional channels?

Consistency goes beyond brand – organisations should try to seek message consistency across channels. In today’s world, a consumer can be on your mobile app one minute, your website the next minute, and then reading an email from you. These messages should be consistent and should reinforce the strategy you have decided for that consumer or audience. None of us like confusing messages and errors between these channels can become very obvious and annoying.

Using data and analytics to decide an insight-driven strategy, and then using that consistently across media channels is the best way of avoiding the poor customer experience trap.  More sophisticated organisations will use data, insights, and technology to make those decisions in real-time.

As an example, Experian is enabling our automotive clients in the UK to deliver optimised finance offers in real-time – on their mobile phones – when consumers walk into their dealerships.

Riona, is there a risk of solutions being designed with too much emphasis on data, and not enough emphasis on the human element?

That risk is minimised if we use data to help us understand those humans and to put them at the heart of our activities. Effective and efficient marketing comes from the delivery of relevant messages – which, in turn, come from a strong understanding of the audience. We could argue that data is one of the best ways to ensure that ‘human element’ is front and at the centre of marketing activity.

Riona, how do you put the customer first within the current market environment? What mistakes can brands avoid?

It starts with understanding your customer – using data and analytics. Then, it is about using that insight at the point of interaction to ensure that messages are relevant. We would recommend intensive test and learn. Only through this approach can you best understand what is working for your customers.

In terms of mistakes, the most frequent is thinking technology/channel first, rather than putting the audience first. For example, many businesses will think “We need to deliver an email newsletter” and then work on that as a campaign. A customer-centric organisation would start with the audience, think what messages they need to receive, and only then think about the best channel or channels to use.

Mark, how is the mobile phone and Internet driving changes in consumer behaviour and transactions?

At the Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference this year, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg stated that digital is causing the collapse of the marketing funnel. So, on digital channels, consumers can now transverse from awareness to purchase in a matter of clicks. What that means is that both performance marketing and brand marketing must be equally informed by data and insight, ensuring that consistency of message, journey, and experience. 

For more information, visit www.experian.co.za.

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AI is being used to process the large volumes of data that are now available. Sentiment analysis is one such area where the technology is being used. Read more in our article, Sentiment analysis through AI: Three questions for Focal Points.