Data enhancement has more than proven its worth for lead generation and customer acquisition. Adding new contact data to an existing lead’s record and updating existing contact information is just as important as ever, but marketers are now putting the same technology used to improve data hygiene on prospects’ records to use on customer account files too.
With marketing automation systems that integrate buying history, CRM data, and other information in a central repository, you’re able to transition leads from new buyer to valued veteran customer and provide the same outstanding service throughout the lifetime of the relationship. Here’s a look at how to rethink data enhancement for retention as well as acquisition.
Suggested Sales
Take a look at the most successful digital storefront, Amazon.com, and you’ll see some important information in the middle of every product page. When you visit, you’ll see an “other customers also bought” section and sometimes a “frequently bought together” banner. If you’re shopping for a book, you’ll see the author’s other titles, if any, and books in the same genre and style. Big data applications that allow Amazon to track sales and use other buyers’ decisions to inform a current shopper’s choices are key to up-selling and cross-selling.
Staying Relevant
The life cycle of a B2B lead tends to be far longer than that of a B2C buyer. Approval may have to go through multiple organizational levels, and decisions take time. If you’re using data snapshots of what your customers needed when they first became your customers, you may not be meeting their needs now. Data enhancement reveals demographic and firmographic changes that may not yet have been updated in your database, giving you an opportunity to change your approach as your customers’ businesses change, grow, and mature.
Following up after a Sale
One of the most important things you can do to retain customers is to assure them that they matter to you even after the sale. Data enhancement gives you a big advantage here too by allowing you to stay in touch through multiple channels. You’re able to schedule a follow-up phone call as the sale is made, building the infrastructure for a long-term professional relationship from the first purchase. Your website and landing pages can be customized to reflect a customer’s changing status or most recent buys.
Data enhancement’s more than a tool for getting crucial contact information from a new lead. It’s also a way to understand your customers better and keep exceeding their expectations again and again.
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