Analytics at the core of customer engagement

There’s so much customer data around us, and it gets richer and faster each and every day. People are talking non-stop about Big Data and its many uses in various parts of the market. But what’s not really getting as much attention is how analytics are used to make loyalty platforms effective for meaningful customer engagement.

Powerful analytics are on the critical path to understanding customers and when to engage, something we call right-time marketing. Right-time marketing is more nuanced than real-time marketing because it takes into account the data that supports the best time for the right kind of customer interaction. It isn’t a simple action-reaction cycle that turns customers off and can even come across as creepy and opportunistic.

Analytics Done Right

Analytics, used appropriately, allow a brand to understand many aspects of customer engagement, including:

• Social media likes, shares, and follows
• In-store, website, and mobile interactions and their context
• Customer service history
• Purchase history
• Customer preferences

By understanding this kind of data, which is often ignored or unavailable because of silo’d systems, brands understand exactly when, where, and how to interact with their customers. This changes the model for customer engagement, and makes the customer much more than a pitch and transaction.

It Takes a Platform

It takes a loyalty platform to bring together, analyze, and respond appropriately to all of the fast-moving, rich data available today. Are you ready?

This post first appeared on the Loyalty Lab blog and has been lightly edited.