And nothing puts the customer experience in jeopardy quite like unethical use of personal data. Treat customer data like your own Customers have different expectations, of course, for how you should handle their data. So how can you tweak your data policies to deliver the best experience for the most customers? Follow the Golden Rule: Treat user data as you’d want your own to be treated. In other words: 1. Don’t buy data; ask for it. In the U.S. alone, companies spend more than $10 billion annually on third-party audience data. The trouble is, 65% of consumers are uncomfortable with their personal data being shared with for-profit firms, according to the Insights Network report.
But where, if not from data vendors, can you get customer insights? What about customers themselves? Snapchat and other firms focused on the customer experience are partnering with companies like Jebbit to collect what’s known as declared data. Declared data is first-party information that consumers volunteer about their motivations, intentions, interests, and preferences. Although it might seem impossible to gather enough declared Italy Phone Number List data for Big Data initiatives, Jebbit points out that online experiences and conversations can make collection scalable. Plus, because customers volunteer it, declared data tends to be far more accurate than third-party data, which two-thirds of surveyed consumers told Deloitte is mostly inaccurate. 2. Give the customer something in return.
The question is, are consumers actually willing to share their data? Most are—provided they get something in return. According to a survey by Acxiom and industry group Data & Marketing Association, 58% of consumers make decisions on a case-by-case basis as to whether a service enhancement is worth sharing their data. What, exactly, do customers want in exchange? In a world, personalization. Epsilon research shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that offer personalized experiences.