8 Questions to Ask When Collecting New Customer Data

The world of digital marketing has many new strategies for reaching new customers. The content that marketers provide users has greater value than ever before. Marketing is being built on relationships that matter instead of just advertisements.

The majority of marketing efforts are turning to inbound marketing, driving the customers to seek out the business and what they can provide. It’s producing highly qualified leads that truly show interest in a product or service.

Now that marketers are receiving more leads and collecting more customer data, what do they do with it? How do they keep it safe? What type of data is necessary?

Let’s dive in and take a look at the most important data to collect.

Customer Data Collection

When a customer comes to your site and fills out a form, they are trusting you with their personal data. Often times, they don’t really know you or your company, so they are unsure of what you’ll do with their information.

Breaking that trust is a cardinal sin in marketing. It transforms a good marketer into a spammy one. Collecting too much data or manipulating the data once you have it is not a good marketing practice.

Here are the things you need to consider when gathering customer data.

Understanding Time

You must be aware that customer data collection takes a lot of time. If the data you are collecting isn’t making a positive impact on your business and driving new sales, the money might be better spent elsewhere.

With good use of customer data, your department should write great marketing campaigns that are highly targeted. This will provide more sales, and make up for the time you’ve spent collecting data.

Personal Data

What type of personal information is necessary to collect? How much is too much? Always start with the basics. Gathering their name and email might be enough if you just do email marketing. If your business sends out direct mailers or telephone calls, getting their address and phone number is important.

Asking for more data, especially when it isn’t necessary for your marketing efforts, may turn people away. If you’ve established trust then you might be able to ask for more.

Collecting Data

There are a ton of ways you can collect the data you need. Any time you have a touch point with a prospective client or client, you can request information.

If you have a physical store, when they come into the store you can request data on a form or an iPad. On a website, they can fill out a form, subscribe to an email list, or receive a free download.

You can present surveys after they’ve made a purchase or send them mail if they are on your mailing list.

Collecting data is much easier than it used to be. However, it’s a lot easier to get data stolen too. It’s important that if you are requesting a customer’s data, you tell them exactly what you’ll be using it for.

If you’re hoping to write up a testimonial for your webpage, ask their permission. If you’re building a new project and trying to identify if there is a market, tell them. Keeping as much transparency with your clients will bode well in the long run.

Another key thing to do when collecting data is ensuring your customers their data is safe. Go to great lengths to put a security measurement in place that protects your customer’s sensitive information. You could have a lawsuit at hand if you don’t make this a priority. If you’re collecting things like credit card numbers, bank accounts, or social security information, this data needs to be encrypted.

Organizing and Storing Data

The next thing to think about is where you’re going to store this data. Do you have a CRM or another software that manages this data for you? Are you tracking it in Excel spreadsheets?

Whatever you’re using to keep track of your customer data and leads, stay consistent with it, and make sure it makes sense for your business. If you’re spending all day organizing your data in Excel, you’ll need to invest in a CRM. Your data will be much more organized and easy to find.

You’ll be able to segment your customers into groups, lists, and departments.

Privacy Policy

This is a hot topic in marketing today, as the new GDPR rules recently rolled out. You’ll be able to legally collect consumer data if you have a privacy policy in place on your website.

You need to spell it out for them and inform them what you’ll be doing with their data, who’s collecting it, and if anyone else has the rights to the data you collect. As long as they acknowledge they’ve read your privacy policy, and accept the terms and conditions, you’re good to go.

They do have the right at any point to reach out to you and ask you to delete their customer data and history. If they do, you’ll have to comply.

Selling Data

If you’re going to be selling the data you receive, you need to put that in your privacy policy. This is not a recommended practice in marketing as it severs the trust between you and your customers.

If they know about it, they likely won’t share their information with you. If they don’t know, share their information with you, then find out later you’ve sold it, you ruin your business reputation with that client.

Promote Relationship

Acquiring consumer data is about more than just asking for it. Having a great relationship with your customers will get you to a place where it doesn’t feel weird to ask for personal information.

As marketers, with every company out there asking for a bit of data, we’ve exploited the right to privacy. Provide your customers with valuable information and content that makes them want to share their data with you, instead of you poaching it out of them.

Using the Data Today

Build up and appreciate the trust you share with your clients. Keep their information safe, don’t spam them, and give them content that’s relevant.

By doing these things, you can build valuable customer relationships, keep customer retention high, and improve your business by using customer data.

Interested in learning more about how to improve your customer user experience? Read this blog today.