Nestore's blog

Collecting customer data: essential to your strategy?

Customer knowledge, like an open door to personalized offerings, allows for a differentiated customer experience. And, unsurprisingly, this is exactly what consumers expect: 86% of them are willing to pay more for a better customer experience .

Collecting and processing customer data allows you to enrich your customer knowledge, resulting in optimized marketing campaigns and growth potential.

The challenges of collecting customer data

While consumers are willing to pay more for a personalized offer, they are also willing to "ghost" those who don't play along. In 2018, 34% of customers who left a brand did so due to a lack of personalized customer service . But how can you personalize if you don't know who you're dealing with?

The challenge is therefore, on the one hand, to transform an anonymous visitor into a usable contact and, on the other hand, to use the information collected to understand customer expectations. A mechanism that can lead to a 30 to 50% improvement in customer satisfaction and thus boost brand attachment .

As you can see, collecting customer data impacts the entire customer journey. What's more, it's an essential link for activating, retaining, and engaging customers.

Thus, foundation, activation, loyalty and engagement follow one another as much as they are linked.

When is the right time to embed?

What if there were no right or wrong times? But rather touchpoints to create or exploit?

Social networks, websites, and even points of sale— every point of contact can be a means of collecting customer data.

By placing the entire customer journey under the microscope of the base, you increase your opportunities for data collection. Whether it's booking an appointment, requesting information, or even checking out, see it as a data collection opportunity.

Furthermore, don't limit your base strategy to a single point of contact or a single channel ; you'll miss out on some of your prospects or customers. Instead, focus on the richness of their complementarity.

How to collect customer data in store?

Before launching your lead generation strategy, you'll need to determine your goals, the customer data you want to collect, and the channels you can use. Once you've determined this, you'll determine which channels are most appropriate.

Email, a key customer data

There's no doubt about it: email is essential to your customer engagement strategy. Regularly consulted by 9.1% of consumers , it's proving to be a fantastic communication channel.

While email address harvesting mechanisms are numerous, it's clear that collecting emails no longer scares consumers. Instead, they expect the brand to deliver a personalized, relevant, and value-adding message.

In this context, and with an attentive consumer in mind, it's a strategic touchpoint for brands. Promotional offers, brand news, and even highlighting your loyalty program are all key messages you can share through this channel.

The point of sale, strategic for collecting customer data?

Lead generation , like turning an anonymous visitor into a sales contact, is often reserved for the web only. But what about the point of sale? Doesn't it also have a role to play in a foundation strategy?

It embodies the brand and tells its story. Trained salespeople temporarily become the face of the brand. Thus, the point of sale provides an opportunity to generate qualified leads and refocus customer knowledge as closely as possible to reality.

Solutions for collecting customer data in-store

While collecting customer data is of real interest to organizations, what about visitors? Shouldn't they also see something to gain?

Base mechanics must therefore be approached from the perspective of customer experience and its additional services. A double-win bet for both brands and consumers.

In our white paper, we have chosen to analyze and present to you 8 base solutions , approached from three different angles:

• memorable customer experience
• customer journey optimization
• engagement mechanics

To help you plan your implementation, we illustrate them with case studies and tools.

Before you jump into the white paper, here's a quick look at our first two solutions.

#1 Offer a diagnosis with a personal shopper

A practice often used in the beauty industry, this service allows for the collection of email addresses as well as qualified customer information. There are many opportunities to collect email addresses before scheduling an appointment or after a diagnosis.

Khiel's is a good example. By offering its customers an in-store skin diagnosis, the cosmetics brand has successfully integrated a data collection mechanism into its service.

#2 Organize workshops around your brand

A great way to increase customer engagement with a brand, it also fits perfectly with your onboarding strategy. By providing access to a registration form via a QR code, presented in-store, you collect email addresses and customer information.

Decathlon, for example, uses its in-store activities to support its data collection strategy by requiring prior registration.

#3 Optimize the services offered to your customers

Already an expert at enriching customer journeys with services? Take it further by using them as foundation levers.

You thus benefit from the virtuous circle: new opportunities for foundation, which in turn leads to an improvement in the experience through customer knowledge.

Whatever service you offer in-store, you should see it as an opportunity to collect your customers' email addresses.

Within the range of possibilities, here are some examples:

• The virtual waiting girl;
• Home delivery;
• In-store product repair.

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Are you already seeing things more clearly? Ideas are starting to flow? Don't let that leave you wanting more—discover our other solutions, case studies, and tools in our downloadable white paper.