360 Degree View of Your Customer

Understanding a 360 Degree View of Your Customer [eBook]

Table of Contents

360 Customer ViewYour Customers Are Interacting With You On Multitudes of Channels

 

How do you define your 'own' version of having a 360 degree view of your customers? Surprisingly, there is no one generally accepted view of what a 360 view even is.

How Hubspot Defines It

 

Having a 360 degree view of your customer means understanding their interactions with your brand and their wants and needs. Hubspot enables this by providing a marketing and sales automation platform that tracks every interaction a prospect and eventual customer has had with your company, across a variety of channels, all of which you can see within the Hubspot CRM. However, this presents both opportunities and problems. It's complicated, but with the right tools and a scalable marketing plan, you can unlock the full potential of a 360 degree view of your customer.

 

 

Here is How You Should Think About Yours

First off, your customers certainly have multiple '360' slices of life they are engaged in, yours is but one of them.

 

So you must first understand that when you talk about having this mythical 360 degree view of a customer journey, you are really talking about having it within the context of how they are engaging with you, your brand and their wants and needs.

 

Complex Customer Journey's

 

Today's customers take a long, complex, and winding path to purchase.

 

Winding Customer Journey Path

 

They interact with brands through multiple channels, leaving a trail of data that businesses can use to better understand their wants and needs. To keep up with this complex customer journey, businesses need CRM systems that can track these interactions and offer helpful content as prospects progress along their road to becoming customers.

 

Critical Role of Marketing Automation Systems

 

Marketing automation platforms like Hubspot enable businesses to see every interaction a prospect has had with their company across various channels, both digital and physical. However, this presents both opportunities and problems, as businesses need to collect, analyze, and market using massive amounts of data, which can be costly. Despite the hidden costs, having a 360-degree view of the customer journey is essential. To achieve this, businesses must collect granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, last purchase data, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more. In short, businesses must be willing to invest in scalable marketing plans to effectively navigate the complicated loop of the modern customer journey.

 

Customer's Listen to Other Customers

Customers today have access to a wealth of information about products and services before making a purchase, and one of the most important factors they consider is the reviews of other customers. Reading reviews helps customers make an informed decision by giving them insight into the experiences of other customers who have used the product or service. As a business, it's important to incorporate customer reviews into your overall marketing strategy using tools like Hubspot. By collecting and analyzing customer feedback, you can identify areas for improvement and adjust your products or services accordingly. You can also showcase positive reviews on your website and social media channels to build trust and credibility with potential customers. With Hubspot, you can track every interaction a prospect or customer has had with your brand, including their reviews and feedback, to gain a comprehensive understanding of their wants and needs. By leveraging this data, you can create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences that meet the unique needs of each customer.

 

 

Marketing Platforms are Multi-Dimensional Lenses - But Cannot SEE Everything

With a marketing and sales automation platform, such as Hubspot, you are able to see every interaction a prospect and eventual customer has had with your company, across a variety of channels, including both digital and physical channels.

 

If you are running Google Pay-Pay-Click (PPC) advertising, you are also spreading cookies into many nooks and crannies of their online digital life. 

This presents both opportunities and problems.

 

Problems Scale UP

Many times, the unwary entrepreneur has been heard to say, if we get more demand than we have capacity, that's a good problem to have.

 

Perhaps. Perhaps Not.

 

But, if you are spending money on marketing, whether within the e-commerce realm or the more complex worlds of services, if you get someone to knock on your front door, only to find that you have to turn them away because you don't have what they came to buy, you have wasted money.

 

If you are spending money on Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, and most businesses are these days, if a customer doesn't find exactly what they were looking for, you can be sure they'll bounce.

 

Often times, to a competitor, such as Amazon.

 

What Do You Know About Your Customer?

 

360 customer view

 What You Know About a Customer May Not Be All There is to Know

 

If you truly want to get an idea of how complex it can be to 'know thy customer', just imagine you're a major retailer, such as Wal-Mart.

 

Millions of people enter their store everyday, buy something, often in cash, even today, and leave.

 

The retailer knows that inventory was consumed, but not by whom.

 

Should They Care?

Yes, but remember that 'Problems Scale Up', and when you're talking anything like the retail scenario, if you capture all this customer data, what do you do with it?

 

Do You Share it With the Manufacturers?

If so, what do you share with them?

If you give them everything, the who, what, where, when, why and how, do they have a plan on how to use it.  

Are your customers ok with that?  If not, why not?  Would that just be due to past habits? 

Perhaps no one ever bothered to ask them before.

 

Systems Make This Possible - At A Cost

If you combine all the information generated by a system like Hubspot, which is busy collecting data across all digital channels along with systems like SAP POSDM (Point of Sale Data Management), you will be creating massive amounts of data.

 

This cost money to collect, analyze and market too.

 

No surprise there.

 

The surprise is not just how much of this is NOT currently done, but how many companies are rushing to make this happen.

 

The Hidden Cost

If you've heard automation is going to take your job. Rest easy.

Marketing Automation platforms just keep on generating work.

It is one thing to market and sell to a few hundred leads each month, typical in a small to mid-size company.

It is quite another to do it when you have thousands of new website visitors everyday, purchasing numerous items and services over extended periods of time.

Combine that with POS data, and a desire to market to the legendary customer segment of 'one' and you quickly realize that having a 360 degree view of the customer is going to require you to have very scalable marketing plans in place.

 

How Should You Define 360 Degree View Then?

Though there is no 'written in stone' guideline here, our experience tells us:

  • Collect very granular data on each item purchased.

    • You sell men's suits?

      • Size, color, material, price

      • How about, last purchase data, reason for buying

      • Acquisition channel, online, in-store, combined.

      • Up-sells

      • Cross-sells

    • You sell services?

      • How about type of service, number of hours bought versus number of hours to deliver

      • Rating given or received

      • Project successful or not

      • Talking about you or their experience - tracked in every channel

      • Content consumed before, during and after the sale

      • Type of content consumed

      • Requested content which you could not provide

      • Cost of Customer Acquisition

      • Acquisition Channel

      • Campaigns they participated in or were a member of.

 

It's Complicated

Bottom line, the relationship between many businesses and consumers can be very hands-off and mostly transactional or very deep.

The marketing platforms available today provide an almost overwhelming capability to slice and dice the data and respond to the wants and needs of your customer. But you have to know not just what is important to your customer but as well, what is important to you.

 

Improve Your Customer Experience

Having a 360-degree view of the customer journey is essential for businesses to provide a highly enhanced customer experience. With the help of marketing and sales automation platforms like Hubspot, businesses can track every interaction a prospect has had with their company across various channels, both digital and physical. For instance, in the real estate industry, businesses can leverage tools like Google Cardboard to provide an immersive experience for customers. By collecting granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, last purchase data, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences that meet the unique needs of each customer. However, collecting, analyzing, and marketing using massive amounts of data can be costly, and businesses must be willing to invest in scalable marketing plans to effectively navigate the complicated loop of the modern customer journey.

 

Closed-Loop Marketing

 

As you can see, this is a complicated loop.

 

One way to effectively navigate the complicated loop of the modern customer journey is through closed loop marketing. This approach involves tracking every interaction a prospect has had with your company across various channels and using that data to create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences. Hubspot is a marketing automation platform that enables businesses to collect and analyze granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more. By leveraging this data, businesses can create virtual tours of houses, for example, providing an immersive experience for customers in the real estate industry. While closed loop marketing can be costly to implement, it is essential for businesses looking to deliver a highly enhanced customer experience.

 

Actionable Insights

 

Closed loop analytics delivers actionable insights by tracking every interaction a prospect has had with a company across various channels and using that data to create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences. With the help of marketing and sales automation platforms like Hubspot, businesses can collect granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more. By leveraging this data, businesses can create immersive experiences such as virtual tours of houses for customers in the real estate industry. However, the cost of collecting, analyzing, and marketing using massive amounts of data can be high. Therefore, businesses must be willing to invest in scalable marketing plans to effectively navigate the complicated loop of the modern customer journey. Ultimately, closed loop analytics allows businesses to gain a 360-degree view of the customer journey, delivering actionable insights that can enhance the customer experience and drive business success.

 

Impact of Real-Time Data Collection

Real-time data collection is a game-changer for sales teams looking to provide customized customer journeys. With Hubspot's closed loop reporting capability, businesses can track every interaction a prospect or customer has had with their brand across various channels, both digital and physical. By collecting granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences that meet the unique needs of each customer. Leveraging this data, companies in the real estate industry can offer an immersive experience to customers through virtual tours of houses. While real-time data collection can be costly, it is essential for businesses looking to improve the customer experience and drive business success in today's competitive market.

 

Use Cases of Closed-Loop Reporting

 

One use case scenario where closed-loop reporting can be highly effective is in shortening the buying cycle time using Hubspot. By tracking every interaction a prospect has had with your company across various channels, both digital and physical, businesses can collect granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more. Leveraging this data, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences that meet the unique needs of each customer, ultimately leading to a quicker and more efficient buying process. With the help of Hubspot's closed-loop reporting capability, companies can gain actionable insights that can enhance the customer experience and drive business success.

 

Introduction to Closed Loop Marketing

Closed loop marketing is a revolutionary approach that can help businesses navigate the complicated loop of the modern customer journey. By tracking every interaction a prospect has had with your company across various channels, both digital and physical, businesses can collect granular data on each purchase, including size, color, material, price, acquisition channel, up-sells, cross-sells, and more. This data can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns and provide personalized experiences that meet the unique needs of each customer. The beauty of closed loop marketing is that it yields higher quality customer data, which greatly assists sales and marketing teams. With the help of marketing and sales automation platforms like Hubspot, businesses can gain a 360-degree view of the customer journey, delivering actionable insights that can enhance the customer experience and drive business success. Although closed loop marketing can be costly, it is essential for businesses looking to improve the customer experience in today's competitive market.

 

 

That's why we think you might want to learn more about closed-loop marketing.

Intro_To_Closed_Loop_Marketing.jpg

 

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Thanks

 

Topics from this blog:
Closed-Loop Analytics CRM Hubspot CRM

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Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP

About the Author: Lonnie Ayers is a Hubspot Certified Inbound Marketing consultant, with additional certifications in Hubspot Content Optimization, Hubspot Contextual Marketing, and is a Hubspot Certified Partner. Specialized in demand generation and sales execution, especially in the SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Partner space, he has unique insight into the tough challenges Service Providers face with generating leads and closing sales using the latest digital tools. With 15 years of SAP Program Management experience, and dozens of complex sales engagements under his belt, he helps partners develop and communicate their unique sales proposition. Frequently sought as a public speaker in various events, he is available for both inhouse engagements and remote coaching.
Balanced Scorecard Consultant

He also recently released a book "How to Dominate Any Market - Turbocharging Your Digital Marketing and Sales Results", which is available on Amazon.

View All Articles by Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP

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