Download Why Accurate, Reliable Customer Data Is a Marketing Imperative

Why Accurate, Reliable
Customer Data Is a
Marketing Imperative
Data quality seems like an oxymoron, but it doesn’t have to.
Data quality management is possible—and profitable.
Sponsored by
C
ountless marketers struggle every day to access accurate and complete customer information from
their diverse, voluminous data streams. Data is increasingly at the heart of critical marketing initiatives, but managing the quality of that data and integrating multiple disparate customer data points
remains a challenge for many marketing organizations. Because reliable customer data underpins the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and customer engagement, it must be kept valid and up-to-date. Only then
can marketers ensure that the customer insights they glean are accurate and the decisions they make as a
result lead to revenue generation, increased customer loyalty, and improved customer satisfaction.
During the Direct Marketing News 2015 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit, nine marketing VIPs attending the event joined Ginger Conlon, editor-in-chief at Direct Marketing News, and Denise LaForgia, product
marketing manager at sponsor Trillium Software, in a conversation about data quality management and its
impact on marketing initiatives. Participants contributed an array of ideas concerning their current data quality challenges, their evolving data needs, and their increased focus on how accurate, actionable data can lead
to more effective customer centricity and improved business results. –Alison Lowander
ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS
Stephanie Losee, Managing Editor, Dell
Scott Brinker, CTO, Ion Interactive
Liz Pedro, Customer Success Marketing, Mitel
Mike Eichorst, SVP, Citibank
Jessica Stamer, Senior Operations Specialist, Recruiting
Marketing, Cetera Financial Group
Martyn Etherington, former Chief of Staff and CMO, Mitel
Heather Fain, Marketing Strategy Director, Hachette Book Group
Chad Ghastin, Head, US CRM business, MasterCard
Mayur Gupta, Global Head, Marketing Technology and Innovation, Kimberly-Clark
CO-HOSTS:
Ginger Conlon, Editor-in-Chief, Direct Marketing News
Denise LaForgia, Product Marketing Manager, Trillium Software
Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon, Direct Marketing
News: Please introduce yourself and talk about the main
challenges you face regarding data quality management.
Denise LaForgia (Trillium Software): I’m a product
marketing manager from Trillium Software, a leading
provider of global enterprise data quality solutions. In my
role I speak with many, many organizations about their
challenges with customer data. One challenge that comes
up often is the volume of unverified data entering an
organization from many different sources, and the fact that
it’s often stored in multiple different systems. Customer
support might have one system and marketing might have
another system, for example.
Jessica Stamer (Cetera Financial Group): I’m senior
operations specialist for our recruiting marketing department
at Cetera Financial Group and last year we started integrating
a lot of technologies. The challenge is that we haven’t found a
way to integrate the data. We have one technology over here
and one technology over here, and they all provide data, but
we haven’t found a way to effectively combine it and make it
tell a story. So, we’re looking at how we can combine this data
to improve our story.
Liz Pedro (Mitel): I run what’s called customer success
marketing at Mitel. The company didn’t know who its
customers were when I got there. It was a 41-year-old
telecom company that sells mostly through partners. So,
I was trying to help people understand that we have to
shift from being channel- and product-focused to being
customer centric if we’re going to grow. Getting there
required breaking down a lot of silos, understanding why
you want specific data, what you’re going to do with that
data, and how it helps. It’s not easy, but now we have insight
into who our customers are. That’s big progress.
Mike Eichorst (Citibank): I’m head of a big market mixed
modeling project at Citibank, and we’re lucky in that we get
feeds from every single marketing activity for the company’s
retail customers—every data point on activity, actualization,
impressions, click-throughs, and on how many ads ran on
what TV programs, what times of the day, how many GRPs
we bought, how many outdoor impressions we think we
made. But we’re unlucky because those are aggregated
statistics and not at the individual level—they reflect what
we’ve done in the marketplace, rather than individual
customers. The data quality is more about just making sure
the numbers are right.
Stephanie Losee (Dell Global Communications): I’m
managing editor at Dell. I have tons of metrics for topof-the-funnel content that I work on, but none that I’m
really in love with. We recently had to do our annual selfassessments; our supervisors like you to attach as many
numbers as possible to your work. I had nothing I wanted to
include that captured the data I’m looking for. A dashboard
is sent to me every day; there are many numbers on them,
but I don’t value too many of them. To be so measured and
to have so little to show for it is frustrating. We have to find
ways to get our arms around these more squishy results
that are moving the needle in the way we want them to.
Heather Fain (Hachette Book Group): I’m the marketing
strategy director at Hachette Book Group. A lot of the
things that Stephanie said resonate. Our job is not really so
much to brand Hachette Book Group as it is to brand our
authors; you’re managing 400 different brands at a time. I
think those complicating factors are what make it so hard to
figure out how to funnel the data we have into something
that’s actionable. That’s the number one challenge we have.
in terms of volume or velocity, but what we call a lack of data
harmonization and convergence from a consumer insight
standpoint. We see a massive opportunity in connecting
our first-, second-, and third-party data to truly have a
Chad Ghastin (MasterCard): I manage the U.S. B2C CRM 360-degree view of our consumer. We strongly believe
program at MasterCard. Because we aren’t a card-issuing that is the only way we can get close to driving seamless
bank, we don’t have access to an individual cardholder’s consumer experiences, stitching her journey together as
demographic, lifestyle, nor transactional data.
she moves from one touchpoint or channel to the other. For
To overcome this challenge, we’re leveraging opt-in us, the quality of data is reflected in our ability to connect
direct to cardholder programs like
it across the ecosystem—keeping the
“Last
year
we
started
inMasterCard Priceless Cities to capture
consumer at the center—and how
this actionable data and deliver relevant tegrating a lot of technol- quickly are we able to leverage that data
value that increases card preference ogies. The challenge is
and transform it into actionable insight
and advocacy.
that we haven’t found a to deliver an immersive experience and
way to integrate the data. change consumer behaviors that are
Martyn Etherington (CMO at Large): We have one technology
preventing our growth.
I’m the former chief of staff and CMO
The other piece is, of course, data
over here and one techof Mitel. Chad makes an interesting
analytics and optimization—whether
nology over here, and
point about making sure the data is
that’s e-commerce sales, attribution
they all provide data,
actionable. I think data in its own right
models, media optimization or
but
we
haven’t
found
a
can create a false horizon. We ran into
marketing mix models, or content
way
to
effectively
comthat trap because we had 150 KPIs at
testing and learning. We’re constantly
the company level. We then made a bine it and make it tell a
challenging ourselves to adopt a
distinguishing factor about culling story. So, we’re looking
culture of Big Testing and Big Learning,
them because we need KPIs that we at how we can combine
using data and analytics to drive
could manage, not just monitor. KPIs this data to improve our
our decision making and eventually
you can manage—versus monitor—will story.” -Jessica Stamer
helping us optimize our sales. The
help you drive your business forward.
quality of data we have now is inspiring
Having few, yet actionable, insights will help you transform us to become agile across our marketing efforts with more
the business.
and more decisions being made based on actual data points
and results.
Mayur Gupta (Kimberly-Clark): I’m head of marketing
technology and innovation at Kimberly-Clark. As a Scott Brinker (Ion Interactive): I’m the CTO of Ion
manufacturer, our biggest challenge is not so much Big Data Interactive, and blogger at ChiefMartec.com. In digital
marketing right now we get a lot of data on prospects. The
thing about interactive content is, it’s one thing if someone
fills out a form and downloads a whitepaper. Whatever
they were willing to give you on a form is useful, but it’s
only so useful versus if you get someone who starts to
engage in something like an assessment tool and they’re
actually telling you how they’re rating themselves and their
company on maturity.
DMN: If you could have one piece of
data that you don’t currently have, or
more data points from a data type you
do have, what would you want and why?
Brinker: For me, it’s more about how
do I execute on the data I have? A lot
of our time is spent asking, “OK, once
we start to get this data, what do we
do with it? How do we engage with
those people in a way that makes this
a beneficial thing for them and us?”
There just aren’t a lot of precedents for
how to do that.
give them information they can trust. And then maybe they’ll
buy something—but we can’t tell if they did.
Eichorst: I would like to know what it takes for each
customer to give us her business—and we do ask that
question. When people say, “You made a mistake. I’m fed
up with you. I’m leaving,” the question that everybody is
trained to ask is, “What would it take to
“The thing I don’t opt for keep you?”
In financial services, assessing a
right now is small data.
customer’s value is easy. You know what
I just want data of who
loan balances they keep, what deposits
my customers actually
they have, what the margins are in each
are. We know so much
of those. In general, you know how
about the personas—
much you had to spend to get their
how they consume con- business up front, so you can calculate
tent, and what content
a net present value. The difficulty is in
they want—but we don’t assessing the potential value they have
and how you win their business.
know who and where
the consistent customers are. Out of 60 million
supposed customers we
can only track 250,000.
That small data would
make a big impact on
the business. ”
-Martyn Etherington
Losee: I know that when content
is sponsored by Dell, that makes an
impression. But none of us values
impressions any more, if we ever did.
And I know that the work that I do shapes
people’s understanding of Dell as an opinion-maker. The
challenge is that this kind of content isn’t trackable through to
closure because, for example, I will post a story about trends
in Big Data, and there’s no purchase at the end of that. I just
know that my audiences want to hear what we think about
these things because we’re a trusted brand. We’re going to
Pedro: I’m always surprised when I’ve
asked, “What’s your customer lifetime
value?” and I get blank stares. Customer
data is not equal—I say, “A customer
who spends $5,000 is not the same as a
customer who spends $1 million.”
DMN: Denise, do you find that customer lifetime value is misunderstood?
LaForgia: Yes, many organizations struggle to analyze
customer loyalty and customer lifetime value. Companies
are trying to segment their customer base based on current
and potential value—even just trying to create different
customer groups and take a closer look at their behavior
and preferences. You have to have the right data to begin
with, and to do that you have to have transactional data
connected to the right customer record. You also need to
try to minimize duplicate records so you’re not creating
inaccurate models.
DMN: Let’s go back to the question about what data you’d
like to have.
are. Out of 60 million supposed customers we can only
track 250,000. That small data would make a big impact on
the business.
Fain: Word of mouth drives much of our business. You read
a book because your friend told you to read it, and people
do that on social media, so that has made it a lot easier for
us to track recommendations. I would most like to know
what makes our customers tell someone else about a book,
whether in person or on social media. That’s not something
that’s really quantifiable, so if a technology company could
figure that out….
Pedro: Another thing is Net Promoter Score. “My Net
Promoter Score is 55.” What you don’t understand is you
have advocates and you have detractors; and what’s your
plan for your advocates and detractors,
how are you going to leverage or “At Citi, data quality
respond to them? And then what are
feeds all the touchpoints
you doing with your detractors? How
throughout the bank,
are you responding to them?
all the customer service
centers, all the at-bank
interactions—it
feeds everything.”
-Mike Eichorst
Gupta: Any CPG or manufacturer
would like to have insight into the
last mile, a better understanding of
consumers’ purchase and shopping
habits. The traditional gap between
a CPG and the consumer has shrunk tremendously with
different CRM strategies that have been adopted, as well as
stronger partnerships with our retail partners and e-tailers
but that’s definitely an area we would love to know more—
to maximize the value we can provide to our consumers.
Etherington: The thing I would have opted before I left
Mitel is small data. I just want data of who my customers
actually are. We know so much about the personas—how
they consume content, and what content they want—but
we don’t know who and where the consistent customers
Eichorst: There’s a modeling technique that could represent that for
you; it’s called agent-based modeling.
It’s basically a computer simulation of
what and how word of mouth happens
and how long it lasts.
DMN: Liz, are you seeing social conversations on the B2B side?
Pedro: Yes, a lot of conversations, both positive and
negative. We formed a team where if something negative
happens we respond immediately. On the positive, I run
an advocacy champion’s hub comprising almost 2,000
advocates. I’m always looking for new advocates via social
media, using social media to catapult the company forward.
I’m going to be watching social media even more than ever.
LaForgia: Do you do any type of tracking to see how some
of that communication is connected to current customers
or prospects?
Pedro: Well, when you see thousands of tweets from
people who you’re not paying, you’re looking at creating
awareness rather than tying it to dollars. But it opens up
pretty exciting opportunities. And it’s 24 hours a day,
seven days a week; it’s always on.
Ghastin: One data source that still doesn’t get enough
attention is customer service. Historically, customer
service has been allocated as a cost center—a necessary
evil—but if you look at Zappos or Best Buy it’s been turned
into a revenue center.
One approach for distilling actionable insight from
Losee: There are ravers and ranters on social. We think of customer service data is executing a customer journey
customer experience on social as a raver creator. All of those map. By surveying frontline employees and key customer
tweets, for example, are content. And I can build on that. But segments, journey mapping allows you to identify value
it’s not just a matter of getting quality
gaps, prioritize them, and, ultimately,
data from social posts and interactions. “It’s difficult to deal
invest in the areas with the highest
It’s looking at that data in just the right with all those different
return for the customer and the
way to decide what to do about it.
business. Concerning the future,
kinds of inputs and
marketers need to spend more time
create some kind of
DMN: Mike and Chad, you’re both in
synthesis around what integrating and analyzing customer
financial services—how do you approach
service data to increase retention and
it
all
means.
Even
if
data integration and what type of data
create a competitive advantage.
you have the capability
do you think moves future business?
to join all these pieces Eichorst: The big problem is the
Eichorst: In a prior life I was head of information somevelocity, volume, and disparity in data
of a data-mining lab, and when we how and bring them
types. There’s so much unstructured
did models we used the kitchen-sink together into a big
data. It’s difficult to deal with all those
approach: everything we knew about picture, the picture is
different kinds of inputs and create
a customer, including predicting still fuzzy.”
some kind of synthesis around what
behavior, attrition, usage, response to -Mike Eichorst
it all means. Even if you have the
different marketing programs.
capability to join all these pieces of
At Citi, data quality feeds all the touchpoints throughout information somehow and bring them together into a big
the bank, all the customer service centers, all the at-bank picture, the picture is still fuzzy.
interactions—it feeds everything. Market mixed modeling
has shown us that there is an interaction in these things. LaForgia: That’s why it’s critical to have the information
They work together in very strange ways sometimes, and correct as you integrate it to get a cohesive picture of
by tuning the mix of how much of your marketing budget the customer. A lot of companies struggle with that,
you spend on each of those, you can get all of them to but it’s part of the importance of personalizing the
work together better.
customer experience.
T
rillium Software, a Harte Hanks company, is a leading provider of global enterprise data quality solutions. Our data quality
specialists help organizations achieve increased business from
data management initiatives and business-critical processes by providing innovative enterprise data profiling and cleansing software
and services. Trillium offers industry-specific business solutions that
help solve data problems experienced by marketing professionals in
all industries, including retail, consumer products, financial services,
and telecommunications. Trillium’s full complement of technologies
and services includes global data profiling, cleansing, enrichment,
and linking for e-commerce, customer relationship management, Big
Data, data governance, supply chain management, data warehousing,
and other enterprise data initiatives.