Retailers leverage customer data to drive personalized experiences

More companies are satisfied with centralized systems of customer data than are satisfied with decentralized systems.

That’s a key finding in a new survey report from customer data platform (CDP) Arm Treasure Data, global conference series eTail and research firm WBR Insights, “Retail CX and Data Management Strategies in 2020” [free, registration required].

But, interestingly for a report from a CDP, the difference is not huge.

Heading toward centralization

About half of the surveyed companies use a centralized system with one shared environment, which is how a CDP operates, while the other half employs a decentralized system with multiple environments.

Of those with centralized systems, 64 percent are satisfied, while 52 percent of those with decentralized systems are happy.

In other words, in each case, a bit more than half of those are content with their arrangement. But, the study found, centralized customer data is the direction most retailers are headed.

“Retailers are betting big on leveraging data-driven technologies to drive more tailored and personalized customer experiences (CX) in 2020,” Arm Treasure Data Global Head of Marketing Tom Treanor told ClickZ via email.

The report, which is Arm Treasure Data’s first on this topic, found that more than three-quarters of retailers either plan on getting a centralized CDP (46 percent), or already have one (31 percent).

Satisfaction with quality

A key driver toward CDPs is the finding that somewhat more respondents whose data is decentralized are dissatisfied with the quality (48 percent), compared to 36 percent who utilize centralized customer data and are dissatisfied.

Additionally, more of the centralized users were satisfied, indicated by “yes”:

From the Arm Treasure report

Also, most organizations are already mining their multiple sources of different kinds of customer data.

Sixty-nine percent of the respondents are leveraging customer service data, plus 64 percent are using clienteling data, 58 percent demographic data, 56 percent location data and 52 percent campaign response data.

‘More targeted and engaging experiences’

About a quarter of respondents (26 percent) said a priority was creating a single view of the customer across all touchpoints, both physical and digital.

This priority reflects one of the biggest challenges for retailers with physical locations: how to integrate a necessary but sometimes conflicting digital store.

A single customer view, Treasure Data noted in an accompanying blog post, helps retailers deliver “more targeted and engaging experiences” such as augmented reality or an automated checkout via mobile phones, combining both physical and digital experiences.

The report authors said their survey respondents were a “roughly even mix” of department heads and VP-or-higher execs, at retailers with $1 billion or more in annual revenue.