What is customer data?

The customer data refers to all personal, behavioral and demographic data that is collected by marketing companies and department from their customer base. 

( Definition source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_data )

In simple way this is a collection of information that includes contact details like first and last names, phone numbers, email address, etc.

Having these details about your customers enables businesses to create quality products and best customer experience. It must be a data that is relevant and useful to curate quality contents. 

However, there is a limitation to what kind of data can be collected since the customer privacy law has been implemented seriously.  

In Thailand it recognizes the importance of the protection of personal data and strictly complies with the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 called the (the “Act”).

Now, let’s focus on how you can capture the data of your customers. There are differently ways to grow your customer data gradually without asking them to fill in long forms. 

You can experiment using different touch points to reach your customers with different behaviors so you can build valuable list.

Here are different ways to C-O-L-L-E-C-T data from your customers 

1. Use pop-ups to promote offers

Take advantage of your homepage this is your organic lead generation page where you can create a pop-up when a customer visits and show them to subscribe of if want to know more information. Since they opt-in to hear from you, this where you can be creative in engaging your customers. You can send exclusive offers and discounts. You can play with segmentation once you know how your customers behaves from their interaction with your brand or company.

2. Offer free tutorials

You can collect the email address and other info of your customers if you pique their interest. Offering tutorials online and free articles can be helpful for your customers and they can sign up if they want more information or receive more contents. This is good to stay up-to-date with the latest contents that you have on your site or blog.

3. Newsletter sign up through your website

This is the very classic form of getting your customer data is by asking them to subscribe to your newsletter. Commonly used by many brands/companies you can find it in many pages of the website trying to capture the data of the customers. Incentivizing them will in your call to action will definitely encourage them to sign up.

4. Live Events

When you are conducting a live event this is a good opportunity to collect customer data when they attend. You can collect their details through the event registration information and you can give them incentive offers by attending the event. Face to cafe interactions builds rapport with your potential customer and they know who they will be dealing with.

5. Conduct Contests

Competition is healthy it encourages your customers to join and share. You can run a contest and engage them with cash prize, services, etc. If they share and promote it on social media across their network they get extra perks. You can gain more prominence or even make your contest go viral.

6. Use Adverts

You can use Facebook Ads or which ever is the most cost effective way to grow your leads. You need to shed some budget as well to grow your customer list not just doing it organically. You can target your audience based on their age, geographic location, behaviors, online purchase and other relevant info that you want to focus on.

7.  Transactional Data

Whenever your customer makes a purchase in your website, you collect their data. It will be stored in our POS (point-of-sale), or direct engagement with your sales through phone calls or chat. You will be able to gain buying insights of your customers and the products that they are interested in. This gives you a advantage to curate an offer that are most likely to purchase. Make your customers loyal by knowing what they want.

8. In-store Traffic

If you have a brick and mortar store, you will be able to gather more information about your customer, you can learn about the foot traffic in store, customer interactions. Nowadays, it is popular to use QR codes and let your customer add your Line OA, WhatsApp Business, Viber account, etc. for direct contact with your brand/company.

You can create leave your comment and review cards, join birthday club members for special discount or free gifts redemption. The ideas will flourish once you know more about your customer’s behavior.

9. Partner Referrals 

By tapping to partners not only broadens your business but also will give you more traffic and exposure for your business. There are many types of partnership that you can do. It will only depends on what kind of business you have and see which one works for you. 

For example, if you are a clothing brand you might want to tap to influencers to reach a wide audience for your products. They will be using exclusive code from the influencer and use it when they purchase online. 

10. Surveys

Surveys are relatively one of the easiest way to execute and can be develop in less time.

This can be implemented remotely via online, mobile devices, email, kiosk or telephone calls. The customer will have the flexibility to participate in your survey at their most convenient time. You will be able to gain knowledge, assess thoughts, opinion and feelings of your customer towards your brand/company. You can ask them what is their preference in terms of how to receive a communications from you. This will leverage your future transactions and interactions with your customers.

Following these suggestions can help you collect customer data legally and in the right way. It is wiser to capture customer data in a proper way to abide with the data privacy law. You will reap the benefits later on and you will be more knowledgeable with your customers behavior. This will help you improve your products and services. You will be able to reach your customers in their preferred channel of communication.

Use the data of your customer wisely, they choose your brand of a reason and make it worth their while.