How data can transform your business, starting from now
In the past, businesses made a lot of decisions based on assumptions.
These days, customer experience managers and business owners are fortunate to have access to metrics and analytic strategies that can drive far more impactful decisions.
Data is not a new topic today; in fact many organisations are taking their data game to the next level. Any individual, regardless of roles, would find their starting point somewhere in their data journey with a use-case.
My journey started almost a year ago when I embarked on a use-case to help a customer digitalise their customer experience management . So now I am sharing what I have learnt, to hopefully inspire like-minded people who are sharing a similar journey.
Please note that the following content is solely my own and does not express the opinions of any organization.
Retail giant Amazon is one of the best examples of using data to drive customer experience and increase sales.
We know Amazon pioneered e-commerce in many ways but one of its greatest innovations was the personalised recommendation engine. This uses item-to-item collaborative filtering, which is built on the big data it gathers from its millions of customer transactions.
With item-to-item collaborative filtering, the recommendation algorithm would review the visitor’s recent purchase history and, for each purchase, pull up a list of related items. Amazon continues to greatly expand their collaborative filtering by connecting purchase history with browsing data.
Interpreting massive amounts of divergent data in real-time is key. Would you believe an incredible 35% of Amazon.com’s revenue is generated by its recommendation engine?
And this is only the beginning. Amazon has a patent on a system designed to ship goods to consumers before we have even decided to buy them — predictive despatch. The success of this technology hangs on the recommendations that retailers make based on its reliable data analysis.
Amazon and big data
We have all seen how far Amazon has come over the years. Much of this business’s success has been its focus on data as well as its range of products and services. In the US, tools like Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, Amazon Echo and physical stores are not only helpful for consumers, but they make a big difference to the information gathered about buyer behaviour. For example, Amazon can use the data relating to the songs a family chooses to listen to, to make purchase recommendations. Amazon has grown far beyond its original inception. Much of this is due to its adoption of big data principles and the use of data to improve the way it operates. In the US, alternative purchasing options like Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, the physical Amazon Go stores and Amazon Echo are making shopping experiences even more seamless. With this technology, everything comes together; for example, Amazon is able to leverage data relating to the songs a family asks Alexa to play, in order to make more relevant product suggestions.
Take this example from Forbes: “A customer can visit the Amazon Go store to get a few items for dinner, then ask Alexa to look up a recipe. The product recommendation engine can determine that the customer likely needs to purchase a certain type of saucepan.”
This allows Amazon to create an extremely detailed profile of every customer. The retail behemoth can also provide multiple ways of delivering exactly what people want.
Following Amazon’s example, companies of all sizes now realise the value of creating as many touch points as possible and utilising the data collected from each touchpoint. Forward-thinking businesses are embracing the data they collect and using it to increase overall value.
Your next steps
No matter what size your company is, the real question to answer now is not about understanding the importance of becoming a data business. It’s about how to connect, organize and access the right data and then use that information to make strong business cases.
Want to know more about leveraging data to drive customer experience? Connect with me on Linkedin.
