Technically, data enhancement is the process of taking
external consumer marketing information and overlaying or appending it into
your current prospect or customer files. Unlike buying a list, it will add
valuable lifestyle, socio-economic as well as demographic data to the existing
consumer or potential customer files.
In reality, however, data enhancement means different things
to various businesses or companies. It is not a topic that is understood well,
but the use of other sources to enhance the brand of a company among its
customers has rapidly increased over the last few years. The desires to have a
refined environment and a customer centric one for that matter, has made
marketers explore areas that most companies would have never considered.
There is no denying that businesses today have become more
data savvy and are now more aware of how data can help them understand their
customers and prospects beyond just their names, age, gender and location. They
are largely using data quality tools for maintaining clean
data that can be used for customer focused marketing activities. Targeting and
selection has become more accurate and relevant, and as a result companies are
investing largely to understand the nature of their customers. Data enhancement
and proper data management are key means to that end.
That said, what is the importance of data enhancement?
Well, there is a lot that an organization has to gain by
investing in data enhancement:
1. Increased Insight
Enhancing data helps business integrate multichannel data
and transform it into significant insight. This allows businesses to understand
their customers even more. This ultimately helps retain existing customers and
acquire new ones.
2. Segmentation And Targeting
Data enhancement helps a business in being successful in
targeting by tailoring their products and communications accordingly. Ideally
segmentation can lead to a significant improvement in marketing effectiveness.
With segmentation, an organization is able to identify certain groups that
display similar purchasing behaviors and patterns. This information can be
effectively used in creating marketing strategies that address the needs of
every group. The organization will eventually be able to develop natural models
in their own environment to help identify product interest among the audience.
3. Channel Optimization
The increased interest in the implementation of multichannel
strategies means that identifying groups of individuals with certain interests
using certain channels is very valuable to an organization. One good example of
this is the use of social media platforms to monitor the activity of people and
use the results to make more informed marketing decisions.
4. Save Money and Reduce Wastage
Accurate communications means less waste. Understanding the
business and the marketplace helps in ensuring that unnecessary marketing and
advertising costs are avoided. The right prospects are targeted with the right
products or services. As such, an organization is able to ensure that money is
spent in only the right areas.
Finally, with data enhancement and proper data qualitytools, businesses are able to identify key customer behaviors and preferences.
This ensures that customer interest is maintained by providing the right
services which have an added 'personal' touch.
