First-Party Data Collection is Key to Providing a Better Customer Experience

Businesses and organizations will focus on building customer trust along with first-party data reserves collected from customers that the organization can use to personalize the customer experience (CX), according to a report from Sitel, a global provider of customer experience products and solutions.

“Creating personalized customer experiences has never been more important,” says the Sitel report. “For 60 percent of consumers and 70 percent of [those under 35], some level of personalization is now a CX expectation.”

At the same time, the report found that only about one-third of consumers are prepared to share more personal information directly with a brand.

“Luckily, for any brand with a mature CX delivery in place, there’s already a trove of invaluable first-party data available, and it rests within the contact center,” says the report.

“If this unstructured data can be analyzed and combined with structured data within the organization, such as information resting within the CRM or analytics from the web and other digital assets, insights will emerge.”

What first-party data can do for your organization

Your company or brand needs access to first-party data to personalize the customer experience. First-party data examples include the following, according to customer experience, sales, and marketing software company HubSpot:

• Demographic information
• Behaviors or actions taken across your website, app and/or product
• Data in your customer relationship management (CRM) software
• Social media threads
• Subscription-based emails or products
• Survey data
• Customer feedback
• Customer purchase history
• Online chat transcripts

“First-party data originates from the direct relationship with your customers, such as your CRM, email engagement, and website behavior,” according to data and customer service technology provider Lexer. “And it’s arguably the most valuable to the brand as it is owned, easy to access, unique, and actionable.”

Lexer says there is often “untapped potential” in first-party data, especially when the customer data isn’t collected and unified into a customer data platform.

Meanwhile, the current level of data interrogation provides only a partial picture, according to the Sitel report.

“For the clearest and most detailed customer personas, organizations will need to look to social listening as a means of generating greater insights and — crucially — engage directly with customers for feedback that goes beyond rating their most recent interaction with the organization,” says the Sitel report.

For example, the report found that one in three consumers want to provide feedback via surveys to improve the customer experience. And 17% of consumers would be willing to post an online review of an experience with an organization when asked to do so.

“This presents a massive opportunity for organizations to begin and continue a conversation with their customers on the topics of trust and data protection and also about why a greater understanding will ultimately benefit each customer on an individual level,” says the Sitel report.

Sitel recommends the following steps to build trust among your organization’s customers or members and gain access to more first-party data you can use to improve the customer experience.

• Re-establish customer connections with your brand.
• Have an enterprise-wide approach to data and protection in place and ensure it’s clearly articulated to customers and employees.
• Review surveys and other contact center information gathered to learn and take action on first-party customer insights. Then, use those insights to begin personalizing the customer experience.
• Continually build customer trust by engaging customers.

“Organizations have a wealth of first-party data sitting within the business, but it’s useless unless it’s easy to access and internal silos aren’t disrupting its flow,” says the Sitel report.