BrandQuantum - NEWS #AuthenticityBrandQuantum - NEWS #Authenticityhttps://brandquantum.com/blogs/tag/authenticityThu, 30 Apr 2026 11:30:03 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[THE CUSTOMER.NET | Gathering customer data effectively to create great CX]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/the-customer-gathering-customer-data-effectively-to-create-great-cxArticle first published on thecustomer.net on 17 February 2022, written by  Paula Sartini According to new research, how companies use customer dat ]]>
THE CUSTOMER.NET | Gathering customer data effectively to create great CX

Article first published on thecustomer.net on 17 February 2022, written by Paula Sartini

According to new research, how companies use customer data is becoming more important to the customer experience.

Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar with, as regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have come into effect to protect customer data. However, checking boxes to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of these acts is not going to win over your customers or help you to establish connections. It could also negatively affect the customer experience and damage trust.

While customers seek tailored and personalised experiences that delight, often these experiences feel generic and do not deliver the desired response from customers. This is partly because companies have got stuck in the data, using information such as birthdays to remind customers that we know you and we are thinking about you, but instead, this reminds them that you are watching them.

To create delightful customer experiences today, companies need digital transformation to gather customer information, create unique experiences, drive personalisation and build trust and need to move away from spying on customers to rather engaging with customers.

We are watching you

As customers continue to use online platforms for searching for information, shopping, engaging friends and family on social channels, and connecting to the brands they love, companies are inundated with an abundance of data on purchase history, search history, engagement history and more.

This information may be useful to determine what your customers like and possibly gives you enough information to provide targeted deals and information about the product ranges they have browsed online. But this does not delight your customer and it may even have the adverse effect and lead to negative responses. While some theories state that customers may respond differently depending on where they are in the customer journey, many customers believe that just because you have their information, it does not give you the right to use it.

Rather than adding to the customer experience, many of the interactions from companies remind customers that they are being watched and while they may have provided you with their details as a trade-off for something that they wanted from you, they do not necessarily want to be bombarded with information or spammed with offers.

Company-centric data

According to new research, how companies use customer data is becoming more important to the customer experience. However, many companies are using a mix of customer data that has been collected either via on your own platforms known as first-party data, second-party data whereby companies use other company’s first-party data, and third-party data, which may have been purchased from another source unrelated to the company.

While collecting data from cookies or observing purchasing habits has been a quick and easy way for companies to collect customer data over the past few years, this company-centric approach has a rebound effect on the customer relationship and delivers a lower return on investment.

Based on this, companies need to find new ways to gather customer data that are privacy-friendly and gathered first hand. This move from tracking customer behavior to engaging customers also allows for companies to establish deeper relationships with their customers and build trust.

Customer-centric data

After years of tracking customer behaviour, it could be a daunting process for companies to discover new ways to gather customer data but according to Forrester there is a way to gather data straight from the customer. This approach, which they have coined Zero-Party Data, entails asking customers directly about their context or needs.

Based on this approach, customers intentionally and proactively share data with a brand, helping companies to gain insight into customer’s preferences, purchasing intentions, personal context and how they want brands to engage with them.

This aligns with Justice Theory which adopts three pillars. First, customers will give data to companies based on what they will get for the data and if they foresee a fair outcome, this is known as Distributive Justice. Next, is Procedural Justice, customers are concerned about how the process of data is handled and how well they were treated post-purchase. Finally, Interactional Justice is about the elements of the interaction from the tone of voice and use of language.

By gaining valuable insight and data about customers, companies can engage customers more meaningfully, improve customer expectations and build trust throughout the buyer’s journey. Zero-party data can also be used to tailor personalised experiences, creating experiences of one that are authentic and delight customers.

Customers know what they want

For companies wanting to embrace the customer-centric approach to gathering quality data without infringing on customer privacy, the zero-party data strategy enables companies to gain the information they want in a manner customers are willing to provide to improve customer experiences.

There are several mechanisms available to do this, though companies should not bombard customers with requests for information or overwhelm them with questions. Rather, gathering customer data should be a seamless part of engaging customers and gathering the information that you need to improve the customer experience.

To gather this data, companies would benefit from using tools that are easily available to each employee and gain feedback as part of the customer engagement. For example, incorporating email surveys into customer’s correspondence can help to gather valuable insight into what the customer’s expectations are of the brand and how they want brands to interact with them.

Email surveys can be done quickly and easily using a solution like BrandQuantum’s email offering, BrandMail, which allows companies to incorporate email surveys as part of the email signature. These surveys are built and hosted within the BrandQuantum platform to allow for complete data integrity and security.

Although many companies are waiting for a magic bullet solution to customer experiences, when it comes down to experiences, it is about really listening to your customer and allowing them to tell you what they want.
]]>Sat, 07 May 2022 14:17:22 -0500<![CDATA[NEX MEDIA | Data gives marketers a voice and insights to connect with customers]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/nex-media-data-gives-marketers-a-voice-and-insights-to-connect-with-customersArticle first published on nexmedia.co.za on 1 February 2022, written by  Paula Sartini The world changed more in 2020 than at any other time in hi ]]>
Data gives marketers a voice and insights to connect with customers
Article first published on nexmedia.co.za on 1 February 2022, written by Paula Sartini

The world changed more in 2020 than at any other time in history. Employees experienced the benefits of working remotely and are resisting the move back to the office. Consumers have exercised their ability to demand what they want. Companies now need to listen to what people want if they are to survive.

Marketers find their voice

The Covid-19 pandemic brought accountability and measurability to business as many people were allowed to work remotely for the first time in their careers. This pushed analytics to the fore as people questioned the value of working from the office verse working remotely. However, this quest for value and measurement is not isolated to employees. Marketing departments are now also looking at analytics to understand the performance of their marketing campaigns and initiatives.

Historically marketing departments focused on implementing campaigns with limited insight into whether they worked or not. Now with the rise in technology adoption, marketers are turning to the data to determine what is working and can push back to the top-level to let them know, able to substantiate with real-time data and compare campaigns giving them a voice in the boardroom.

With customers exercising the right to choose, brands need to be purpose-led and cannot make promises they don’t deliver on as people are increasingly aware of what they believe is and isn’t fair.

The buffer removed

Before the pandemic, employees had to follow the right channels for communications and could not go directly to management for information. At the same time, companies had hierarchies in place whereby certain employees would handle customer queries or engage with customers directly.

With employees now working remotely, the communications channels have changed and there is no longer a buffer in place to withhold company information from employees. With fluid communications, internal and external communications have aligned to a consistent voice. This is also driving the authenticity of communications as companies can no longer filter and clean up information as they want to portray it, with customers looking for information to be made available immediately, there is no time to hamper with it but rather make it available to them as it is needed. In addition, measuring responses is now done within minutes, hours and days rather than within months.

Immediacy replaces perfect moments

Traditionally marketing departments spent months creating the perfect campaign. However, with communication channels changing so rapidly, marketers no longer have the luxury of time they once did. Today marketers need to run campaigns quickly, test the results and force correct as necessary.

This is a more strategic approach to campaigns as marketers can see what is working in real-time based on immediate customer responses and feedback. While this has several benefits in terms of the ability to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it also adds additional pressure on teams to be ready and make adjustments as and when they are needed.

While technology makes it easy to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it cannot replace the creative process or handle unpredictability which is where human ingenuity comes in.

Marketers to embrace technology and data

Traditionally marketers have shied away from technology, however, in an age where consumers are creating a sea of data, marketers need to sit up and pay attention. With an estimate of 2.4 billion emails being sent every second, consumers are spending more time online and marketers need to hone in on this, and lean into the data to deliver what customers want.

This can only be achieved by using technology solutions such as AI and machine learning which improves marketers’ ability to work better, fast and cheaper. For example, while many tasks within the marketing department remain repetitive, these can be outsourced to machines that would be able to do it quickly and efficiently.

This would free up marketers to use these data and analytics to understand customers’ behaviour and gain insight into what they want. This can only be achieved by leveraging the information that is available to them and using this to develop campaigns. The data and quality of data are critical to meeting customers’ needs and marketers will not be able to give customers what they want without the data.

However, while customer experience is increasingly important, how marketers gather and use the data comes under the spotlight as customers are looking for transparency and control. As such many marketers will need to go back to basics in terms of data collection and data analytics to get marketing right and prepare for 2022.

BrandQuantum develops software solutions to help companies deliver compliant customer communications and documents. The tamperproof email signatures that are sent out with every single email via Microsoft Outlook have built-in verification tools to give customers added peace of mind that your company emails are authentic. The BrandOffice solution offers permission control to company documents so that only those employees that need access to your documents have it. In addition, access to company documentation and templates is tracked and audited to give companies line of site of document usage and overall documentation compliance. 
]]>Sat, 07 May 2022 14:10:08 -0500<![CDATA[SME TECH GURU | Data gives marketers a voice and insights to connect with customers]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/sme-techguru-data-gives-marketers-a-voice-and-insights-to-connect-with-customersArticle first published on smetechguru.co.za on 1 February 2022, written by  Paula Sartini The world changed more in 2020 than at any other time in ]]>
SME Tech Guru Data gives marketers a voice and insights to connect with customers

Article first published on smetechguru.co.za on 1 February 2022, written by Paula Sartini

The world changed more in 2020 than at any other time in history. Employees experienced the benefits of working remotely and are resisting the move back to the office. Consumers have exercised their ability to demand what they want. Companies now need to listen to what people want if they are to survive.

Marketers find their voice

The Covid-19 pandemic brought accountability and measurability to business as many people were allowed to work remotely for the first time in their careers. This pushed analytics to the fore as people questioned the value of working from the office verse working remotely. However, this quest for value and measurement is not isolated to employees. Marketing departments are now also looking at analytics to understand the performance of their marketing campaigns and initiatives.

Historically marketing departments focused on implementing campaigns with limited insight into whether they worked or not. Now with the rise in technology adoption, marketers are turning to the data to determine what is working and can push back to the top-level to let them know, able to substantiate with real-time data and compare campaigns giving them a voice in the boardroom.

With customers exercising the right to choose, brands need to be purpose-led and cannot make promises they don’t deliver on as people are increasingly aware of what they believe is and isn’t fair.

The buffer removed

Before the pandemic, employees had to follow the right channels for communications and could not go directly to management for information. At the same time, companies had hierarchies in place whereby certain employees would handle customer queries or engage with customers directly.

With employees now working remotely, the communications channels have changed and there is no longer a buffer in place to withhold company information from employees. With fluid communications, internal and external communications have aligned to a consistent voice. This is also driving the authenticity of communications as companies can no longer filter and clean up information as they want to portray it, with customers looking for information to be made available immediately, there is no time to hamper with it but rather make it available to them as it is needed. In addition, measuring responses is now done within minutes, hours and days rather than within months.

Immediacy replaces perfect moments

Traditionally marketing departments spent months creating the perfect campaign. However, with communication channels changing so rapidly, marketers no longer have the luxury of time they once did. Today marketers need to run campaigns quickly, test the results and force correct as necessary.

This is a more strategic approach to campaigns as marketers can see what is working in real-time based on immediate customer responses and feedback. While this has several benefits in terms of the ability to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it also adds additional pressure on teams to be ready and make adjustments as and when they are needed.

While technology makes it easy to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it cannot replace the creative process or handle unpredictability which is where human ingenuity comes in.

Marketers to embrace technology and data

Traditionally marketers have shied away from technology, however, in an age where consumers are creating a sea of data, marketers need to sit up and pay attention. With an estimate of 2.4 billion emails being sent every second, consumers are spending more time online and marketers need to hone in on this, and lean into the data to deliver what customers want.

This can only be achieved by using technology solutions such as AI and machine learning which improves marketers’ ability to work better, fast and cheaper. For example, while many tasks within the marketing department remain repetitive, these can be outsourced to machines that would be able to do it quickly and efficiently.

This would free up marketers to use these data and analytics to understand customers’ behaviour and gain insight into what they want. This can only be achieved by leveraging the information that is available to them and using this to develop campaigns. The data and quality of data are critical to meeting customers’ needs and marketers will not be able to give customers what they want without the data.

However, while customer experience is increasingly important, how marketers gather and use the data comes under the spotlight as customers are looking for transparency and control. As such many marketers will need to go back to basics in terms of data collection and data analytics to get marketing right and prepare for 2022.

BrandQuantum develops software solutions to help companies deliver compliant customer communications and documents. The tamperproof email signatures that are sent out with every single email via Microsoft Outlook have built-in verification tools to give customers added peace of mind that your company emails are authentic. The BrandOffice solution offers permission control to company documents so that only those employees that need access to your documents have it. In addition, access to company documentation and templates is tracked and audited to give companies line of site of document usage and overall documentation compliance. 
]]>Sat, 07 May 2022 13:57:49 -0500<![CDATA[B&T | Data gives marketers a voice & insights to connect with customers]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/BandT_data-gives-marketers-a-voice-insights-to-connect-with-customersIn this guest post, Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum, looks at how COVID has changed the very fundamentals of modern marketing and adds ]]>
B and T and BradnQuantum Data Gives Marketers A Voice & Insights To Connect With Customers
In this guest post, Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum, looks at how COVID has changed the very fundamentals of modern marketing and adds many marketers will need to go back to basics in terms of data collection and data analytics to get marketing right…

The world changed more in 2020 than at any other time in history. Employees experienced the benefits of working remotely and are resisting the move back to the office. Consumers have exercised their ability to demand what they want. Companies now need to listen to what people want if they are to survive.

Article first published on www.bandt.com.au on 1 February 2022, written by Paula Sartini

B and T and BradnQuantum Data Gives Marketers A Voice & Insights To Connect With Customers

Marketers find their voice

The COVID-19 pandemic brought accountability and measurability to business as many people were allowed to work remotely for the first time in their careers. This pushed analytics to the fore as people questioned the value of working from the office verse working remotely. However, this quest for value and measurement is not isolated to employees. Marketing departments are now also looking at analytics to understand the performance of their marketing campaigns and initiatives.

Historically marketing departments focused on implementing campaigns with limited insight into whether they worked or not. Now with the rise in technology adoption, marketers are turning to the data to determine what is working and can push back to the top-level to let them know, able to substantiate with real-time data and compare campaigns giving them a voice in the boardroom.

With customers exercising the right to choose, brands need to be purpose-led and cannot make promises they don’t deliver on as people are increasingly aware of what they believe is and isn’t fair.

The buffer removed

Before the pandemic, employees had to follow the right channels for communications and could not go directly to management for information. At the same time, companies had hierarchies in place whereby certain employees would handle customer queries or engage with customers directly.

With employees now working remotely, the communications channels have changed and there is no longer a buffer in place to withhold company information from employees. With fluid communications, internal and external communications have aligned to a consistent voice. This is also driving the authenticity of communications as companies can no longer filter and clean up information as they want to portray it, with customers looking for information to be made available immediately, there is no time to hamper with it but rather make it available to them as it is needed. In addition, measuring responses is now done within minutes, hours and days rather than within months.

Immediacy replaces perfect moments

Traditionally marketing departments spent months creating the perfect campaign. However, with communication channels changing so rapidly, marketers no longer have the luxury of time they once did. Today marketers need to run campaigns quickly, test the results and force correct as necessary.

This is a more strategic approach to campaigns as marketers can see what is working in real-time based on immediate customer responses and feedback. While this has several benefits in terms of the ability to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it also adds additional pressure on teams to be ready and make adjustments as and when they are needed.

While technology makes it easy to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it cannot replace the creative process or handle unpredictability which is where human ingenuity comes in.

Marketers to embrace technology and data

Traditionally marketers have shied away from technology, however, in an age where consumers are creating a sea of data, marketers need to sit up and pay attention. With an estimate of 2.4 billion emails being sent every second, consumers are spending more time online and marketers need to hone in on this, and lean into the data to deliver what customers want.

This can only be achieved by using technology solutions such as AI and machine learning which improves marketers’ ability to work better, fast and cheaper. For example, while many tasks within the marketing department remain repetitive, these can be outsourced to machines that would be able to do it quickly and efficiently.

This would free up marketers to use these data and analytics to understand customers’ behaviour and gain insight into what they want. This can only be achieved by leveraging the information that is available to them and using this to develop campaigns. The data and quality of data are critical to meeting customers’ needs and marketers will not be able to give customers what they want without the data.

However, while customer experience is increasingly important, how marketers gather and use the data comes under the spotlight as customers are looking for transparency and control. As such many marketers will need to go back to basics in terms of data collection and data analytics to get marketing right and prepare for 2022.
]]>Tue, 08 Mar 2022 03:02:20 -0500<![CDATA[GADGET | Should customers trust you? ]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/gadget-should-customers-trust-you Article first published on gadget.co.za on 28 January 2022, written by  Paula Sartini There is no shortage of stories abou ]]>
GADGET | Should customers trust you?

Article first published on gadget.co.za on 28 January 2022, written by Paula Sartini

There is no shortage of stories about data breaches and hackers gaining access to personal information across the globe. With customers growing increasingly aware of the dangers of identity theft, companies are prioritising security measures to keep customer and employee data as secure as possible.

However, at the same time, companies are implementing tools to collect user data either via various websites or even from 3rd party solutions to increase customer engagement levels, drive targeted marketing campaigns and improve personalisation.

While consumers are becoming savvier on the data collection front, putting measures in place to protect their personal information and preventing companies from tracking their data without their permission, many of the companies that consumer’s trust are using 3rd party solutions that offer the best value for money but at a cost of customer’s data. This conundrum poses the question of how secure customer data is within a company?
GADGET | Should customers trust you?

The end of the cookie

Companies such as Apple and Google have committed to prioritising consumer privacy and doing away with cookies, aligning to privacy regulations around the world such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). This creates a great challenge for marketers. 

For several years marketers have relied on tracking to collect user data via various websites and use this information to engage customers with targeted marketing campaigns and product information.  However, the increased regulations and shift in technology companies prioritising customer data and doing away with tracking technology, means that many marketers will need to find new ways to source customer data.

The rise of the data broker

According to HBR, data brokering, which involves collecting and selling data about people is estimated to be a $200 billion business and growing. However, while data brokers most often gathered data by tracking browsing behaviour across different websites, with the end of cookies in sight, these brokers will need to obtain data using alternative sources.

Some ways in which they may gather customer data include loyalty cards, public records, social media posts and even tracking email behaviour using 3rd party solutions that have access to relevant consumer information which is then sold to data brokers. In these instances, the famous quote of 1973 rings true, “If something is free, you’re the product.”

How to secure your customer data

While there are several 3rd party tools available today that value customer privacy and offer built-in-security to help limit possible data hacks and identity theft, some solutions that are used widely track customer data and sell this information to data brokers without the knowledge of the customer.

Although email tracking isn’t new, as is evident in Apple introducing Mail Privacy Protections to prevent senders from using “tracking pixels”, which can identify when someone has opened an email, and introducing a new Hide My Email feature which enables users to respond to emails with random addresses to keep their email address private.

These privacy-centric measures will go a long way in helping to protect customer data, but what does it mean for marketers?

Rethink data collection

As more people become aware of how their data is being gathered and used without their knowledge or consent, companies are going to have to increase security and turn to their own first-party data to engage customers.

According to McKinsey, the right path for each stakeholder will be different, the cornerstone effort should be to create and sustain consumer relationships that produce a value exchange based on trust.

With this in mind, companies need to adopt a zero-party approach to collect customer data, as customers are getting more selective in what information they are giving out and to who. To achieve this, companies need to offer a value exchange to customers, either in the form of promotion, discounts or access to information in exchange for information. They also need to show customers that you value and protect their data by giving them the choice to make their own decisions for example to subscribe to an email newsletter or not. Finally, customers are looking for valuable experiences and want to see the data they have provided, be used to give them the experience they want.

However, trust remains the cornerstone of the customer relationship and to establish customer trust, companies need to demonstrate that they value customer privacy by using secure technologies and having measures in place to protect customer data.

Securing customer data

Establishing customer trust is critical to the success of any business. To maintain this trust there are a few key considerations that companies should be aware of when selecting a 3rd party technology partner to ensure that you are able to keep customer data secure. These include:

  • Technologies implemented should have security built upfront
  • Technologies should be built with segmentation of risk to safeguard customer content
  • Emails should not be rerouted to third parties to tamper with content
  • 3rd party solutions should not have access to customer data
  • Solutions implemented should be independently tested and align to European standards
  • Customer data should be stored securely by the company to prevent possible data breaches

However, while getting the security elements right is critical to building trust, companies cannot compromise on the customer experience in an effort to secure customer data. Getting the customer experience right and keeping customer data secure is a balancing act that marketers need to get right if they are to create meaningful connections and establish a relationship of trust.

]]>Sat, 12 Feb 2022 14:15:58 -0500<![CDATA[NEX MEDIA | Gathering customer data effectively to create great customer experiences]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/nex-media-gathering-customer-data-effectively-to-create-great-customer-experiencesArticle first published on NexMedia.co.za on 24 January 2022, written by  Paula Sartini Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar wit ]]>
NEX MEDIA | Gathering customer data effectively to create great customer experiences

Article first published on NexMedia.co.za on 24 January 2022, written by Paula Sartini

NEX MEDIA | Gathering customer data effectively to create great customer experiences
Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar with, as regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect to protect customer data. However, checking boxes to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of these acts is not going to win over your customers or help you to establish connections. It could also negatively affect the customer experience and damage trust.

While customers seek tailored and personalised experiences that delight, often these experiences feel generic and do not deliver the desired response from customers. This is partly because companies have got stuck in the data, using information such as birthdays to remind customers that we know you and we are thinking about you, but instead, this reminds them that you are watching them.

To create delightful customer experiences today, companies need digital transformation to gather customer information, create unique experiences, drive personalisation and build trust and need to move away from spying on customers to rather engaging with customers.

We are watching you

As customers continue to use online platforms for searching for information, shopping, engaging friends and family on social channels, and connecting to the brands they love, companies are inundated with an abundance of data on purchase history, search history, engagement history and more.

This information may be useful to determine what your customers like and possibly gives you enough information to provide targeted deals and information about the product ranges they have browsed online. But this does not delight your customer and it may even have the adverse effect and lead to negative responses. While some theories state that customers may respond differently depending on where they are in the customer journey, many customers believe that just because you have their information, it does not give you the right to use it.

Rather than adding to the customer experience, many of the interactions from companies remind customers that they are being watched and while they may have provided you with their details as a trade-off for something that they wanted from you, they do not necessarily want to be bombarded with information or spammed with offers.

Company-centric data

According to new research, how companies use customer data is becoming more important to the customer experience. However, many companies are using a mix of customer data that has been collected either via on your own platforms known as first-party data, second-party data whereby companies use other company’s first-party data, and third-party data, which may have been purchased from another source unrelated to the company.

While collecting data from cookies or observing purchasing habits has been a quick and easy way for companies to collect customer data over the past few years, this company-centric approach has a rebound effect on the customer relationship and delivers a lower return on investment.

Based on this, companies need to find new ways to gather customer data that are privacy-friendly and gathered first hand. This move from tracking customer behaviour to engaging customers also allows for companies to establish deeper relationships with their customers and build trust.

Customer-centric data

After years of tracking customer behaviour, it could be a daunting process for companies to discover new ways to gather customer data but according to Forrester there is a way to gather data straight from the customer. This approach, which they have coined “Zero-Party Data”, entails asking customers directly about their context or needs.

Based on this approach, customers intentionally and proactively share data with a brand, helping companies to gain insight into customer’s preferences, purchasing intentions, personal context and how they want brands to engage with them.

This aligns with Justice Theory which adopts three pillars. First, customers will give data to companies based on what they will get for the data and if they foresee a fair outcome, this is known as Distributive Justice. Next, is Procedural Justice, customers are concerned about how the process of data is handled and how well they were treated post-purchase. Finally, Interactional Justice is about the elements of the interaction from the tone of voice and use of language.

By gaining valuable insight and data about customers, companies can engage customers more meaningfully, improve customer expectations and build trust throughout the buyer’s journey. Zero-party data can also be used to tailor personalised experiences, creating experiences of one that are authentic and delight customers.

Customers know what they want

For companies wanting to embrace the customer-centric approach to gathering quality data without infringing on customer privacy, the zero-party data strategy enables companies to gain the information they want, in a manner that customers are willing to provide in order to improve their experiences.

There are several mechanisms available to do this, though companies should not bombard customers with requests for information or overwhelm them with questions. Rather, gathering customer data should be a seamless part of engaging customers and gathering the information that you need to improve the customer experience.

To gather this data, companies would benefit from using tools that are easily available to each employee and gain feedback as part of customer engagement. For example, incorporating email surveys into customer’s correspondence can help gather valuable insight into what the customer’s expectations are of the brand and how they want brands to interact with them.

Email surveys can be done quickly and easily, with some solutions allowing companies to incorporate email surveys as part of the email signature. These surveys are built and hosted within the respective email platform , which allows for complete data integrity and security.

Although many companies are waiting for a magic bullet solution to customer experiences, when it comes down to experiences, it is about really listening to your customer and allowing them to tell you what they want.
]]>Sat, 12 Feb 2022 09:39:05 -0500<![CDATA[BLOG | Data gives marketers a voice and insights to connect with customers]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/blog-data-gives-marketers-a-voice-and-insights-to-connect-with-customers
BrandQuantum | Data gives marketers a voice and insights to connect with customers

The world changed more in 2020 than at any other time in history. Employees experienced the benefits of working remotely and are resisting the move back to the office. Consumers have exercised their ability to demand what they want. Companies now need to listen to what people want if they are to survive.

Marketers find their voice

The Covid-19 pandemic brought accountability and measurability to business as many people were allowed to work remotely for the first time in their careers. This pushed analytics to the fore as people questioned the value of working from the office verse working remotely. However, this quest for value and measurement is not isolated to employees. Marketing departments are now also looking at analytics to understand the performance of their marketing campaigns and initiatives. 

Historically marketing departments focused on implementing campaigns with limited insight into whether they worked or not. Now with the rise in technology adoption, marketers are turning to the data to determine what is working and can push back to the top-level to let them know, able to substantiate with real-time data and compare campaigns giving them a voice in the boardroom.

With customers exercising the right to choose, brands need to be purpose-led and cannot make promises they don’t deliver on as people are increasingly aware of what they believe is and isn’t fair.

The buffer removed

Before the pandemic, employees had to follow the right channels for communications and could not go directly to management for information. At the same time, companies had hierarchies in place whereby certain employees would handle customer queries or engage with customers directly. 

With employees now working remotely, the communications channels have changed and there is no longer a buffer in place to withhold company information from employees. With fluid communications, internal and external communications have aligned to a consistent voice. This is also driving the authenticity of communications as companies can no longer filter and clean up information as they want to portray it, with customers looking for information to be made available immediately, there is no time to hamper with it but rather make it available to them as it is needed. In addition, measuring responses is now done within minutes, hours and days rather than within months.

Immediacy replaces perfect moments

Traditionally marketing departments spent months creating the perfect campaign. However, with communication channels changing so rapidly, marketers no longer have the luxury of time they once did. Today marketers need to run campaigns quickly, test the results and force correct as necessary. 

This is a more strategic approach to campaigns as marketers can see what is working in real-time based on immediate customer responses and feedback. While this has several benefits in terms of the ability to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it also adds additional pressure on teams to be ready and make adjustments as and when they are needed.

While technology makes it easy to measure the success of campaigns in real-time, it cannot replace the creative process or handle unpredictability which is where human ingenuity comes in.

Marketers to embrace technology and data

Traditionally marketers have shied away from technology, however, in an age where consumers are creating a sea of data, marketers need to sit up and pay attention. With an estimate of 2.4 billion emails being sent every second, consumers are spending more time online and marketers need to hone in on this, and lean into the data to deliver what customers want. 

This can only be achieved by using technology solutions such as AI and machine learning which improves marketers’ ability to work better, fast and cheaper. For example, while many tasks within the marketing department remain repetitive, these can be outsourced to machines that would be able to do it quickly and efficiently.

This would free up marketers to use these data and analytics to understand customers’ behaviour and gain insight into what they want. This can only be achieved by leveraging the information that is available to them and using this to develop campaigns. The data and quality of data are critical to meeting customers’ needs and marketers will not be able to give customers what they want without the data.

However, while customer experience is increasingly important, how marketers gather and use the data comes under the spotlight as customers are looking for transparency and control. As such many marketers will need to go back to basics in terms of data collection and data analytics to get marketing right and prepare for 2022.
]]>Tue, 01 Feb 2022 12:14:57 -0500<![CDATA[GADGET | Checking privacy boxes won't win over the customer]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/gadget-checking-privacy-boxes-wont-win-over-the-customerArticle first published on gadget.co.za on 23 November 2021, written by  Paula Sartini Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar with ]]>
GADGET | Checking privacy boxes wont win over the customer

Article first published on gadget.co.za on 23 November 2021, written by Paula Sartini

Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar with, as regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have come into effect to protect customer data. However, checking boxes to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of these acts is not going to win over your customers or help you to establish connections. It could also negatively affect the customer experience and damage trust.

While customers seek tailored and personalised experiences that delight, often these experiences feel generic and do not deliver the desired response from customers. This is partly because companies have got stuck in the data, using information such as birthdays to remind customers that we know you and we are thinking about you, but instead, this reminds them that you are watching them.

To create delightful customer experiences today, companies need digital transformation to gather customer information, create unique experiences, drive personalisation and build trust and need to move away from spying on customers to rather engaging with customers.

We are watching you

As customers continue to use online platforms for searching for information, shopping, engaging friends and family on social channels, and connecting to the brands they love, companies are inundated with an abundance of data on purchase history, search history, engagement history and more.

This information may be useful to determine what your customers like and possibly gives you enough information to provide targeted deals and information about the product ranges they have browsed online. But this does not delight your customer and it may even have an adverse effect and lead to negative responses. While some theories state that customers may respond differently depending on where they are in the customer journey, many customers believe that just because you have their information, it does not give you the right to use it.

Rather than adding to the customer experience, many of the interactions from companies remind customers that they are being watched and while they may have provided you with their details as a trade-off for something that they wanted from you, they do not necessarily want to be bombarded with information or spammed with offers.

Company-centric data

According to new research, how companies use customer data is becoming more important to the customer experience. However, many companies are using a mix of customer data that has been collected either via on your own platforms known as first-party data, second-party data whereby companies use other company’s first-party data, and third-party data, which may have been purchased from another source unrelated to the company.

While collecting data from cookies or observing purchasing habits has been a quick and easy way for companies to collect customer data over the past few years, this company-centric approach has a rebound effect on the customer relationship and delivers a lower return on investment.

Based on this, companies need to find new ways to gather customer data that are privacy-friendly and gathered first hand. This move from tracking customer behaviour to engaging customers also allows for companies to establish deeper relationships with their customers and build trust.

Customer-centric data

After years of tracking customer behaviour, it could be a daunting process for companies to discover new ways to gather customer data but according to Forrester, there is a way to gather data straight from the customer. This approach, which they have coined Zero-Party Data, entails asking customers directly about their context or needs.

Based on this approach, customers intentionally and proactively share data with a brand, helping companies to gain insight into customers’ preferences, purchasing intentions, personal context and how they want brands to engage with them.

This aligns with Justice Theory which adopts three pillars. First, customers will give data to companies based on what they will get for the data and if they foresee a fair outcome, this is known as Distributive Justice. Next, is Procedural Justice, customers are concerned about how the process of data is handled and how well they were treated post-purchase. Finally, Interactional Justice is about the elements of the interaction from the tone of voice and use of language.

By gaining valuable insight and data about customers, companies can engage customers more meaningfully, improve customer expectations and build trust throughout the buyer’s journey. Zero-party data can also be used to tailor personalised experiences, creating experiences of ones that are authentic and delight customers.

Customers know what they want

For companies wanting to embrace the customer-centric approach to gathering quality data without infringing on customer privacy, the zero-party data strategy enables companies to gain the information they want in a manner customers are willing to provide to improve customer experiences.

There are several mechanisms available to do this, though companies should not bombard customers with requests for information or overwhelm them with questions. Rather, gathering customer data should be a seamless part of engaging customers and gathering the information that you need to improve the customer experience.

To gather this data, companies would benefit from using tools that are easily available to each employee and gain feedback as part of the customer engagement. For example, incorporating email surveys into customer’s correspondence can help to gather valuable insight into what the customer’s expectations are of the brand and how they want brands to interact with them.

Email surveys can be done quickly and easily using a solution like BrandQuantum’s email offering, BrandMail, which allows companies to incorporate email surveys as part of the email signature. These surveys are built and hosted within the BrandQuantum platform to allow for complete data integrity and security.

Although many companies are waiting for a magic bullet solution to customer experiences, when it comes down to experiences, it is about really listening to your customer and allowing them to tell you what they want.
]]>Sat, 18 Dec 2021 06:52:51 -0500<![CDATA[BIZCOMMUNITY | Gathering customer data effectively to create great customer experiences]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/bizcommunity-gathering-customer-data-effectively-to-create-great-customer-experiencesArticle first published on bizcommunity.com on 25 November 2021, written by  Paula Sartini Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar ]]>
BIZCOMMUNITY | Gathering customer data effectively to create great customer experiences

Article first published on bizcommunity.com on 25 November 2021, written by Paula Sartini

Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar with, as regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have come into effect to protect customer data.

However, checking boxes to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of these acts is not going to win over your customers or help you to establish connections. It could also negatively affect the customer experience and damage trust.

While customers seek tailored and personalised experiences that delight, often these experiences feel generic and do not deliver the desired response from customers. This is partly because companies have got stuck in the data, using information such as birthdays to remind customers that we know you and we are thinking about you, but instead, this reminds them that you are watching them.

To create delightful customer experiences today, companies need digital transformation to gather customer information, create unique experiences, drive personalisation and build trust and need to move away from spying on customers to rather engaging with customers.

We are watching you

As customers continue to use online platforms for searching for information, shopping, engaging friends and family on social channels, and connecting to the brands they love, companies are inundated with an abundance of data on purchase history, search history, engagement history and more.

This information may be useful to determine what your customers like and possibly gives you enough information to provide targeted deals and information about the product ranges they have browsed online. But this does not delight your customer and it may even have an adverse effect and lead to negative responses. While some theories state that customers may respond differently depending on where they are in the customer journey, many customers believe that just because you have their information, it does not give you the right to use it.

Rather than adding to the customer experience, many of the interactions from companies remind customers that they are being watched and while they may have provided you with their details as a trade-off for something that they wanted from you, they do not necessarily want to be bombarded with information or spammed with offers.

Company-centric data

According to new research, how companies use customer data is becoming more important to the customer experience. However, many companies are using a mix of customer data that has been collected either via on your own platforms known as first-party data, second-party data whereby companies use other company’s first-party data, and third-party data, which may have been purchased from another source unrelated to the company.

While collecting data from cookies or observing purchasing habits has been a quick and easy way for companies to collect customer data over the past few years, this company-centric approach has a rebound effect on the customer relationship and delivers a lower return on investment.

Based on this, companies need to find new ways to gather customer data that are privacy-friendly and gathered first hand. This move from tracking customer behaviour to engaging customers also allows for companies to establish deeper relationships with their customers and build trust.

Customer-centric data

After years of tracking customer behaviour, it could be a daunting process for companies to discover new ways to gather customer data but according to Forrester there is a way to gather data straight from the customer. This approach, which they have coined Zero-Party Data, entails asking customers directly about their context or needs.

Based on this approach, customers intentionally and proactively share data with a brand, helping companies to gain insight into customer’s preferences, purchasing intentions, personal context and how they want brands to engage with them.

This aligns with Justice Theory which adopts three pillars. First, customers will give data to companies based on what they will get for the data and if they foresee a fair outcome, this is known as Distributive Justice. Next, is Procedural Justice, customers are concerned about how the process of data is handled and how well they were treated post-purchase. Finally, Interactional Justice is about the elements of the interaction from the tone of voice and use of language.

By gaining valuable insight and data about customers, companies can engage customers more meaningfully, improve customer expectations and build trust throughout the buyer’s journey. Zero-party data can also be used to tailor personalised experiences, creating experiences of one that are authentic and delight customers.

Customers know what they want

For companies wanting to embrace the customer-centric approach to gathering quality data without infringing on customer privacy, the zero-party data strategy enables companies to gain the information they want in a manner customers are willing to provide to improve customer experiences.

There are several mechanisms available to do this, though companies should not bombard customers with requests for information or overwhelm them with questions. Rather, gathering customer data should be a seamless part of engaging customers and gathering the information that you need to improve the customer experience.

To gather this data, companies would benefit from using tools that are easily available to each employee and gain feedback as part of the customer engagement. For example, incorporating email surveys into customers’ correspondence can help to gather valuable insight into what the customer’s expectations are of the brand and how they want brands to interact with them.

Email surveys can be done quickly and easily using a solution that allows companies to incorporate email surveys as part of the email signature. These surveys are built and hosted within the BrandQuantum platform to allow for complete data integrity and security.

Although many companies are waiting for a magic bullet solution to customer experiences, when it comes down to experiences, it is about really listening to your customer and allowing them to tell you what they want.
]]>Sat, 18 Dec 2021 06:40:18 -0500<![CDATA[MODERN MARKETING | Companies Need To Engage With Customers Rather Than Spy On Them]]>https://brandquantum.com/blogs/post/modern-marketing-companies-need-to-engage-with-customers-rather-than-spy-on-themArticle first published on Modern Marketing on 25 November 2021, written by  Paula Sartini Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum , discusse ]]>
MODERN MARKETING | Companies Need To Engage With Customers Rather Than Spy On Them

Article first published on Modern Marketing on 25 November 2021, written by Paula Sartini

Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum, discusses how to gather customer data effectively to create great customer experiences.

Customer privacy is a term that we are all too familiar with, as regulations such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have come into effect to protect customer data. However, checking boxes to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of these acts is not going to win over your customers or help you to establish connections. It could also negatively affect the customer experience and damage trust.

While customers seek tailored and personalised experiences that delight, often these experiences feel generic and do not deliver the desired response from customers. This is partly because companies have got stuck in the data, using information such as birthdays to remind customers that ‘we know you and we are thinking about you’, but instead, this reminds them that you are watching them.

To create delightful customer experiences today, companies need digital transformation to gather customer information, create unique experiences, drive personalisation and build trust and need to move away from spying on customers to rather engaging with customers.

As customers continue to use online platforms for searching for information, shopping, engaging friends and family on social channels, and connecting to the brands they love, companies are inundated with an abundance of data on purchase history, search history, engagement history and more.

This information may be useful to determine what your customers like and possibly gives you enough information to provide targeted deals and information about the product ranges they have browsed online. But this does not delight your customer and it may even have the adverse effect and lead to negative responses. While some theories state that customers may respond differently depending on where they are in the customer journey, many customers believe that just because you have their information, it does not give you the right to use it.

Rather than adding to the customer experience, many of the interactions from companies remind customers that they are being watched and while they may have provided you with their details as a trade-off for something that they wanted from you, they do not necessarily want to be bombarded with information or spammed with offers.

According to new research, how companies use customer data is becoming more important to the customer experience. However, many companies are using a mix of customer data that has been collected either via on your own platforms known as first-party data, second-party data whereby companies use other company’s first-party data, and third-party data, which may have been purchased from another source unrelated to the company.

While collecting data from cookies or observing purchasing habits has been a quick and easy way for companies to collect customer data over the past few years, this company-centric approach has a rebound effect on the customer relationship and delivers a lower return on investment (source).

Based on this, companies need to find new ways to gather customer data that are privacy-friendly and gathered first hand. This move from tracking customer behaviour to engaging customers also allows for companies to establish deeper relationships with their customers and build trust.

After years of tracking customer behaviour, it could be a daunting process for companies to discover new ways to gather customer data but according to Forrester, there is a way to gather data straight from the customer. This approach, which they have coined Zero-Party Data, entails asking customers directly about their context or needs.

Based on this approach, customers intentionally and proactively share data with a brand, helping companies to gain insight into customer’s preferences, purchasing intentions, personal context and how they want brands to engage with them.

This aligns with Justice Theory which adopts three pillars. First, customers will give data to companies based on what they will get for the data and if they foresee a fair outcome, this is known as Distributive Justice. Next, is Procedural Justice, customers are concerned about how the process of data is handled and how well they were treated post-purchase. Finally, Interactional Justice is about the elements of the interaction from the tone of voice and use of language.

By gaining valuable insight and data about customers, companies can engage customers more meaningfully, improve customer expectations and build trust throughout the buyer’s journey. Zero-party data can also be used to tailor personalised experiences, creating experiences of one that are authentic and delight customers.

For companies wanting to embrace the customer-centric approach to gathering quality data without infringing on customer privacy, the zero-party data strategy enables companies to gain the information they want in a manner customers are willing to provide to improve customer experiences.

There are several mechanisms available to do this, though companies should not bombard customers with requests for information or overwhelm them with questions. Rather, gathering customer data should be a seamless part of engaging customers and gathering the information that you need to improve the customer experience.

To gather this data, companies would benefit from using tools that are easily available to each employee and gain feedback as part of the customer engagement. For example, incorporating email surveys into customer’s correspondence can help to gather valuable insight into what the customer’s expectations are of the brand and how they want brands to interact with them.

Although many companies are waiting for a magic bullet solution to customer experiences, when it comes down to experiences, it is about really listening to your customer and allowing them to tell you what they want.
]]>Sat, 18 Dec 2021 06:33:33 -0500