Developing the ultimate single customer view is integral for brands to deliver personalised and relevant experiences to consumers. On average, the British household owns over seven (7.4) internet devices with smartphones being the most common, followed closely by laptops and tablets, according to YouGov.

In addition, 50 per cent of all mobile searches are conducted in the hopes of finding local results with 61 per cent of those searches resulting in a purchase. What does it mean? The consumer is always connected and wants content tailored to them at the right time. If brands use their data efficiently, they can better target their customers more effectively.

The daily usage of the internet has grown over 105 per cent in the last five years and this change in behaviour is creating a change in the customer journey. Customer journeys are now multi-faceted and more complex than ever, with brands having to consider multiple channels and touch points when developing their customer experiences.

Brands need to evolve alongside the consumer to maintain their relationships. The brands who keep up with changing needs are the ones that ultimately succeed. Take Apple, for example, who continues to diversify from the iPhone to the Mac and the recent addition of the Apple Watch, meeting customer needs before they realise they need them!

The customer is the journey creator

It is important to remember a customer will create their own journey. Where brands can add value is by providing content that customers or prospects need when they are ready to make a decision. It's not about creating a journey for a customer, it's about understanding their existing journey and identifying where value can be added.

Data, data, data

Brands collect data at every touch point, but more often than not it is stored in different unconnected systems. These various touch points need to be married together to create the Holy Grail – the ability to track a customer's entire journey across all channels in one single view.

The unique identifier for every customer is typically an email address. This allows brands to link all of the channels together for each individual customer. Email marketers hold the key to unlocking a single customer view. In 2015, the number of worldwide email users was nearly 2.6 billion. By the end of 2019, the number of worldwide email users will increase to over 2.9 billion, according to The Radicati Group. The email address is the perfect unique identifier for a number of reasons, but mainly because every customer will know their email address and they will be willing to provide it.

Email – the lifeblood of a business

The NEC Group executes 550 campaigns a year, with email driving a significant proportion of NEC's revenue. Speaking at a recent industry event, Chris Pile, Head of Digital at NEC Group, mentioned the company's focus on making emails more tailored. Automated journeys, as a result of the single customer view, is saving teams' time and money. The NEC Group ticketed the recent Adele tour and only had 24 hours' notice to get the show on sale. With their increasing efforts towards a single customer view, this allowed a smooth process to market to consumers effectively and efficiently.
Reaching the end goal

A single customer view won't come overnight but the sooner you start working towards achieving it, the more streamlined and efficient your business will be. It's time for businesses to break down the siloes and collaborate across the company to marry together customer data.

Data is the essence of the single customer view but in order to deliver efficiency and results from the data, marketers need a robust strategy and the right technology to link, manage and structure data to enable that single view of the customer journey.

The brands that are already breaking down barriers and working collaboratively to unite their internal teams and data sources, will deliver the best customer experiences. With retail and entertainment industries becoming increasingly competitive, marketers run the risk of being left behind if they don't stand out. The single customer view is the Holy Grail for marketers and it's time for brands to put it front and centre.

 

Jenna Tiffany, Lead Digital Marketing Strategist at Communicator

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