The Types of Data Every Business Should Collect

Data-driven marketing is continuing to grow—and for good reason. It has allowed businesses to build personalized marketing strategies, create better customer experiences, generate relevant leads, and retain loyal customers based on strong empirical evidence.

The value of data doesn’t reside in the numbers it reveals. Rather, the real value of data resides in what a business decides to do with it. Data can have a huge impact on a business. Whether you have 100 customers or 100,000 customers, it is never too early or too late to start collecting useful data that will improve your business’s decision-making and bottom line.

So what types of data should every business be collecting?

Demographic Data

Let’s get back to the basics. Who is your average customer? Who makes up your audience? Basic customer data forms your business’s most fundamental understanding of your customers and relationships. Collecting statistical data about age, gender, income, location, education, job title, family status, and more allows your business to divide your audience in broad strokes and build specific audience profiles. Basic demographic data allows businesses to identify their key customers in a large marketplace, understand their customers, and how to effectively connect with them.

Why is this important? Because today’s buyers expect personalized customer experiences and for business to implicitly understand their needs, preferences, and problems. Customers expect to be fully seen and understood when consuming your business’s marketing materials. As a result, your business needs to know exactly who they are talking to.

Discovery Data

How did your customers discover your business? This is one of the most crucial questions for your business to answer. It will give you invaluable insights into your marketing strategy and where your business needs to place its attention. The goal in collecting this data is to analyze the effectiveness of your marketing strategy and discover which tool works best.

For example, your business may find a majority of customers discover you from a certain social media channel. With this knowledge, your business can then confidently focus on building a stronger brand presence there. On the other hand, if you find a majority of your customers discover your business through blogs or industry-related new articles on search engines, then investing in more written content will be a priority.

Engagement Analytics

How does your audience interact with your business’s content and marketing materials? A business’s audience plays a crucial role in its growth and success. Your marketing strategy’s success directly depends upon audience engagement. Understanding audience engagement is now a nonnegotiable factor in increasing marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

Engagement data points can include: activity on your website or digital event, email open rates, resources downloaded, time spent on a page or watching a video, time spent on an event like a webinar or podcast, pages per session, and much more.

Where is your audience’s virtual pulse the strongest? Do your customers prefer to interact with your brand on social media pages, in their inboxes, or directly on your website? Knowing these answers will help your business readjust when needed and stay present where your customers want you.

Behavioral Data

You know who your customers are—but do you know how they act? Behavioral data focuses on customer purchasing habits, spending habits, customer journey stages, engagement level, and brand interactions. Essentially, this type of data collection narrows in on what your customers do rather than who they are.

It is a type of targeting that is particularly effective in discovering customer purchase patterns and spending trends. For example, you can discover whether your customers are more likely to shop online or in-store, how often they use coupons, or how likely they would shop a sale.

Perhaps most importantly, behavioral data helps your business understand what kind of shoppers or clients your customers are. Are your customers complex shoppers that actively research the best option before purchasing? Are your customers variety seekers that enjoy trying out different brands even when they enjoy a certain brand’s product? Or are your customers habitual shoppers that frequently return to familiar brands without much thought? Knowing how your audience approaches their buying process is invaluable information that will optimize your marketing approach.

Purchase Decision Data

What inspires your customers to convert? What drives their buying decisions? Unlocking this answer is key to creating effective marketing materials that drive real results. Purchase decision data allows businesses to discover what influences their audience to convert with a certain brand. For instance, are your customers swayed by personal factors, such as company missions and core values that align with their own beliefs? Or are your customers inspired to convert based on societal trends and cultural fads?

When your business discovers what influences your audience, you can adjust your marketing messages accordingly to create communications that resonate with your customers and move them to action.

Transactional Data & Buying Behavior

Transactional data and buying behavior data can include: price points your customers shop at, if they buy with discounts or promos, a preference for certain products or brands, purchase frequency, time of purchase, method of purchase, and more. By collecting this basic transactional data, businesses can then identify common buying behaviors among their customers.

Consequently, by understanding their customers’ specific buying behaviors, businesses can create effective strategies around those behaviors. Not only does this add value to the customer’s shopping experience, but it also increases conversion rates.

Start Using Your Data Like a Valuable Resource

Imagine the impact when your business starts leveraging data to better understand your customers. Data-driven approaches empower your business to confidently optimize your marketing strategy and deliver greater customer experiences.

Do you want to collect and use data to improve your customer conversion and retention? Contact Sun Sign Designs to discuss a viable data & analytics strategy that will work for your business.