Five expectations when customers share personal data

Data, as everyone knows, is the underpinning of any successful brand strategy.  Understanding customers’ behaviors, preferences, expectations and desires on an actionable scale can only be achieved with sound approaches to data collection and application.

While transactional data can be monitored and accumulated through technology, getting customers to share their personal data isn’t easy - it requires brands to give them something in return. For retailers, loyalty programs are the perfect solution for offering customers greater value. There is an expectation among consumers that sharing personal data with retailers will result in better experiences or more relevant rewards. Brands that want to meet this expectation – and capitalize on the data provided – must be ready to provide customers with what they want.

And what do they want?  According to our recently published 2017 study, Shifting Loyalties, customers who engage in loyalty programs have high expectations:

1. Personalized communications. More than just their name in the subject line of an automated email, customers expect genuinely personalized messaging.  If they provide a brand with personal information, that brand should leverage that information in concert with other data to provide truly personal and relevant communications.

2. Personalized incentives and rewards. The value of a reward is not the same for all customers. Understanding which rewards motivate which customers can be gleaned from data, and if a brand is going to collect that data, it should use it to devise customized, tailored rewards for loyalty members.

3. Improved omnichannel customer service. In the same vein as personalization, customers who provide personal information expect to have that data inform customer service interactions.  If a brand knows a customer’s history and previous behavior, those data points can be leveraged to provide more satisfying customer service experiences.

4. Communications via preferred channel.  When a customer shares their preferences, the logical assumption is that those preferences will be honored.  This includes when and how to engage with messaging.

5. Geolocated mobile offers.  One fifth (20%) of the consumers surveyed in our Shifting Loyalties report identified geolocated offers as something they expect in exchange for sharing their information.  This cohort is familiar with the technology available, and expect brands to have the capability to extend them offers when they’re in the right place.

To learn more about how your brand can get loyalty right by meeting customers’ expectations associated with sharing their personal data, download the Shifting Loyalties report here.