“Data” may seem to you like an overused term that symbolizes “information.” Every outlet we turn to seems to repeatedly throw in our faces “data, data, data.” But, to step back and ask the 100 billion dollar question: What is data in and of itself? The simple answer is that data can literally be defined as the aforementioned word, “information.” However, despite its simplistic underlying definition, today’s extra emphasis on data has a valid point. Never before have we seen a world where consumer traits, logic, reasoning, habits, etc. are as discoverable—and analyzable—across seemingly unlimited platforms. Simply “setting-up” many different platforms to “catch” data sets is only the first challenge (platform examples: customer-facing applications, advertising campaigns, social media engagement, google analytics, collected customer-specific information, etc.).
Omni-Channel Data Aggregation
A customer of a sports retailer is a 53-year- old male, with an income level of $85,000 per year, living in suburban Illinois, with a family of 4, and a history of purchasing two pairs of Nike running shoes per year over the past 7 years? (and, by the way, this is just a basic example).
- How do you go about creating that detailed of a profile?
- How do you properly amalgamate that information over time into one customer profile in a country of over 325 million people (and a world of over 7 billion!)?
- What methods do you use to source each piece of the data?
- How do you separate this customer profile from others just like it (or not like it at all)?
- How do you keep the data fluid (adjustable)?
- How do you use that data to optimally develop your relationship with the customer?
- What are the best mediums through which to reach the customer on a regular basis?
The broad answer to these questions is relatively easy to say but difficult to apply: you create a centralized data aggregation platform that serves as the “mother lode” of all data (from capture through leverage)—to record, separate, analyze, create, and communicate actionable datasets for your company to morph its operations/output in ways that best fit the needs of each individual customer/targeted customer. At Latest Data, this is, quite simply, exactly what we do.
