You may be closer than you think to a Single Customer View?

Many portray the Single Customer View as the holy grail of marketing, which can make it feel like an unattainable goal.

However, there are degrees of the SCV and the nature of your business will determine how far you can and need to take it, for it to be beneficial.

In reality, what would benefit most organisations is simply to have all of a customer’s relevant transactions and communications history in one place. An existing solid foundation may also mean you’re not as far away from a SCV as you might think.

Source Systems

It is likely that your organisation already manages a variety of source systems where your data is entered, such as:

• Sales / CRM System
• Supply Chain Management
• Accounting System
• Marketing Leads

Using and maintaining the data within these systems is a huge step towards a successful Single Customer View, as possession of quality source data will expedite the build and enhanced view that an SCV can provide.

Proactive Cross-Selling

If you have a sales team or a shop – either online or on the high-street – you will already spot cross-selling opportunities where one product sale opens up the opportunity for others. Simple examples might be batteries for a child’s toy or a “bottle of wine with your dinner” deal.

Insight into your own products and when cross-sale opportunities most often present themselves is a great foundation for using the information provided by an SCV, to help you predict more opportunities based on everything you know about each client.

Multi-Channel Marketing Communications

Are you already using multiple channels to communicate with your target audience? These could include email campaigns, postal campaigns, pay per click, social media, events and more.

If you use various channels with a consistent message, brand and style, you are well placed to take the next step into the more personalised and automated marketing communications that an SCV enables.

Any marketing and communication should remain consistent across multiple channels, but you will be better able to target messages and offers to individual customers, based on what you know about them from their previous interactions with your business.

Team Work

Depending on the size and structure of your business, your departments may or may not integrate with one another on a regular basis. However, if they do, or at least enjoy good inter-departmental relations, this will help in the build of a Single Customer View.

As mentioned earlier, there can be many sources of data that need to be worked into an SCV and these will most probably come from a few different departments. In such circumstances, representatives from each team will need to have some input into the process. Good inter-departmental relations will support this process.

Next Steps

With these inputs in place, you are well situated to undertake a Single Customer View implementation. From here you need to identify a suitable partner and software to facilitate your SCV. At Data HQ we use Faststats Discoverer, which provides a comprehensive suite of data mining and analysis tools.

Whatever route you take to build your SCV, remember to ensure your provider has discussed and understands your business and includes the elements you feel will bring the most benefit and value to you.