The data of our love, the lovers of our data

Valentine's Day is here, a celebration of love and commercial databases. Romance and digital marketing go hand in hand, and the average person hunting for gifts at the last minute — ladies and gentlemen alike — will find “unmissable” offers on almost every online platform.

Do companies really know more about our loved ones than we do? How can we benefit from sellers having more and more data about us? And what is the marketing campaign of 2020, when a company is no longer driving not only sales, but also outstanding customer experiences? We are looking for the answer with the help of our colleague Janka Pallagi.

In five years, the volume of Internet commerce in the world has increased by almost 2.5 times, experts predict a turnover of almost 4 thousand billion dollars by 2020.[1]Of course, the period before Christmas is the most decisive in this, but at the same time, merchants “mow” a lot before Valentine's Day. In 2018, for example, love gifts were ordered for almost 20 billion forints in the United States as the day approached.[2]According to a survey last year, Hungarian men celebrating Valentine's Day spend about 14 thousand and Hungarian ladies spend 12-13 thousand forints on their loved ones[3], more and more often in online stores.

Lovers, as a rule, leave the purchase to the last moment. Brands are also taking advantage of this period to bombard ladies and gentlemen looking for a gift with red roses and romantic travel deals. Most people think of unsolicited newsletters at this time, but with the advancement of technology, companies are trying to stand out from emails in an increasingly sophisticated way with their own offers.

“Although there are only a few service providers at home dealing with marketing automation at a high level, a properly designed marketing campaign can not only benefit sellers, but also benefit us as buyers. However, it is important to mention that as a responsible consumer, we only provide our data in places where we trust the data controller”Janka warns. Our marketing automation specialist adds: “Not only is it easy as a marketer to notice when you become a part of a targeted marketing campaign, but if it happens to be a brand you like, you can easily turn the situation to your advantage.”

How can marketing work to our advantage?

Let's just imagine that instead of many unsolicited emails, based on our own purchases and consumer habits, they recommend us products that we really need. For most of us, buying a last minute gift is a real torment, especially when we are clueless about what to buy for our loved ones. This burden is taken off the shoulders of customers by several brands using complex, cloud-based systems. It may seem to people that companies read their minds accurately, but there is no magic in this. Artificial intelligence running in the background analyzes faster and more data than the human mind can accommodate and process.

“A failed purchase during Advent due to lack of supplies can easily become a Valentine's Day gift idea”— Janka gives an example. “Many merchants already record the intention to buy and the messages of interest of customers, their phone calls, their web activity, that is, all their interactions. And if the customer data may also be associated with the data of our loved one — for example, in some regular customer framework — then there is really everything for business intelligence to give shopping tips not only to the direct customer, but also to his loved one as a gift idea.”

CASE STUDY- From a marketing point of view

ZITA, PETER AND VALENTINES DAY SURPRISE

A few months ago, during the Advent season, both Zita and Péter burned in the fever of Christmas shopping. Peter is obsessed with hiking, so he wanted a new boot for himself from his favorite hiking shop. Unfortunately, he managed to squeeze into a discontinued product that was no longer in size. However, if they were already there, they registered him with Zita's consent to Peter's existing frequent customer card. Of course, the brand has honored this with additional discounts.

On Valentine's Day, a real surprise arrived: Zita surprised Peter with a piece resembling the coveted boot to the point of speaking. Of course, Zita's secret remains that she didn't stand in line for all this, and she even found the gift for her partner by getting an idea and help from an unexpected place. What happened in the background? How did an unmanufactured boot get to Peter on a visit to the store?

At Christmas in the store, the seller was already informed about Péter's data sheet at the beginning of the purchase, so he knew the type, color and size of the boots he had bought earlier, so he could immediately indicate that unfortunately, in 42, the piece that looked out of fashion was no longer available. Since Peter could not find any other product he liked, the seller could only help by updating the boy's data sheet with Zita's data and, of course, also recording the fact of a failed purchase.

How did all this benefit Zita and Peter?

In the background, the wheels of a marketing and sales system were spinning, which housed all of Péter's interactions with the company's products, including the call to the central number, during which he inquired in December whether another store still had the same size of the discontinued product. Not much time had to pass, a week before Valentine's Day, new boots were added to the company's offer, which in style were very similar to the pieces that Peter had previously bought or was interested in.

This is where the great customer experience separates from the usual: the company did not reach out to its customers with all potentially interesting products, but with exactly the product that could be really good for them, and just when they need it. Moreover, this brand has gone one level higher in customer management: this time Peter was not their main customer, the participant of the campaign.

Since Zita had given her details a couple of months earlier, she was offered a pair of matching boots on different surfaces before Valentine's Day as a gift idea for Peter. Thus, he not only chose a gift that Peter will surely like, but he even bought it all within the framework of the Valentine's Day discount. The girl did not have to brainstorm, search, stand in line and, most likely, could not even have been informed in time about the fact that the company is taking a pre-order for the new boots.

The 21st Century Customer Experience

Confidence in marketing

The truly modern customer experience is when people are no longer only found with offers that they have searched for on the net, but when they specifically address them when they need them and recommend exactly the product that may be of interest to them. You can make the purchase even easier if, having come across such an offer, the customer does not even have to leave the email, but can also confirm interest with one swipe. After receiving the product, thanks to the integrated payment module, you can pay for the goods with one click, and - in connection with Valentine's Day - you can even specify that the product arrives in a “gift-proof” packaging to the delivery address, so a romantic surprise is guaranteed.

“New technologies can not only help business make decisions. As we users become more careful with our own data, large companies will increasingly value the trust of their customers and reward them with an ever-higher level of customer experience.”— believes Janka.

[1] https://kinsta.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics/

[2] https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/valentines-day-ecommerce-marketing-tips-and-tricks/

[3] https://www.picodi.com/hu/alkudozasi-tippek/valentin-nap-magyarorszagon

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