Shirley Zhao

That’s right, retail marketers. I’m calling you out. You all say you care about better customer data; you say you want to really understand your customer base; you may even give both pinky toes to get to the unicorn that is the single customer view. But here’s the thing: I don’t see people stepping up to actually invest in the things that make those wishes a reality.

A bright, but brisk, Boston morning saw me at the Hyatt Regency for MediaPost’s Online Media Marketing and Advertising (OMMA) event where the day was chock-filled with all kinds of subject matter marketers would geek out about. Right off the bat, I could tell that there were five clear themes for today:

1. Brands should be like Cupid and win the love of their consumers
2. The Concept of Interruption to the consumer experience
3. A lesson in authenticity by b.good
4. Marketers are taking ownership of their data

And if you’re thinking that there’s no way I can relate this back to data and Experian Data Quality, well oh contraire, because everything always relates back to data and today’s marketers and advertisers are keenly aware of this fact of life.

The debate between manual and automated data validation can go something like this:

Data stakeholder 1: “I would like to keep my data in-house and secure; I don’t know how I feel about paying a third-party to validate my database when I could do this myself.”

Data stakeholder 2: “Yes, I hear you, but how much of your team’s time and budget are you willing to dedicate to fixing something by hand when there’s technology that does it automatically?”

Every year, Experian Data Quality conducts a global study around the trends in data quality and every year the data reinforces one common theme—that the management of data is becoming an increasingly fundamental focus for business to succeed and grow. This year, our 2016 global data management benchmark report shows no signs of deviating from that theme.

This year’s benchmark report shows that data quality and subsequent data management initiatives are reshaping the very ways in which businesses operate and structure themselves.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” - Heraclitus

While writing this 35,000 feet in the air, I’m thinking back on this quote said during the opening keynote session on the first day of Email Insider Summit, and it couldn’t be more true. This was my first EIS event—hosted by Media Post, to whom I owe a thank-you for a wonderfully run event—and I had no idea what to expect. What I realized after the end of this three-day event is that those in the email industry are some of the closest-knit, snarkiest, and most passionate group of people who could work in an industry. I came out of this event with a lot more knowledge than when I came in.

What is customer loyalty driven by? If you take a look at some of the companies today with the most successful loyalty programs, you would come to the conclusion that success in loyalty programs is the result of accurate data-driven insights.

Retailers focus on loyalty programs. Why? In an era when consumers have more control over their shopping experiences than ever before—with multiple digital channels and a 24/7 at-their-leisure shopping cycle—loyalty programs are an integral part of continuous engagement with, and being relevant to, the customer. They enable you to encourage and motivate your best consumers to keep purchasing your product or service.

You probably don't think about receipts very often (unless of course, you happen to be shopping at CVS where impressively long receipts are their thing). No one talks about receipts because it’s such a ubiquitous piece of transactional information that we don’t imagine purchases without it. Receipts are typically handed out in paper form at the end of any transaction; however, email and SMS receipts are growing in popularity.

Using these channels can do more than just reduce paper waste. By using emails and text messages to send receipts, your organization can engage, interact and offer your customers additional value through a medium with almost 100 percent open rates. Read this blog post to find out how the smartest businesses are using eReceipts and text receipts to their advantage as well as what they can improve on.

What exactly is an email preference center? They are places for individuals to tell a business how often they want to receive an email and what kind of content they want to receive. Email preference centers are one of the best ways for customers to tell you exactly what they’re interested in—and when done effectively, you get to collect key pieces of contact information as well. Whether they are called “notification settings” or “email settings,” we’ve all interacted with some form of a preference center before.

Not all companies, however, use email preference centers to their fullest extent; that is, not all companies are using them as an additional method for data collection and improving the customer experience. This blog post will tell you how to use preference centers to improve email deliverability, develop a better understanding of consumer interests, and learn what other companies do to help you improve your own preference center.

From August 24-26, marketers and other business professionals from all over the world flocked to the Hilton in New York City to talk about one thing: performance marketing. LeadsCon has always been focused on helping marketers with lead generation and customer retention. We at Experian Data Quality were thrilled to be a part of the fun and bring our own strengths to the table.

There were many businesses who stopped by our booth bringing up the same concerns:

1. Can you help us make sure that the information we’re collecting is usable?
2. Do your verification and enrichment services work in real time?
3. What kinds of customer attributes can your data enrichment service give us?