Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar business or e-commerce, there are many ways you can use customer data to your advantage. From the way data is collected to how you can give customers that final nudge towards converting, below we’ll take a look at the strategies you should be aware of and how to implement them in your retail business.

What is retail marketing?

Retail marketing refers to the strategies, campaigns, techniques and tactics that retail businesses use to promote themselves and their products. The overall goal is generally to increase sales, and therefore revenue, whether that be through sales in-store or online.

There are four Ps of retail marketing, which are:

• Product – this is what you sell and what your customers are interested in buying.
• Price – You want to ensure your prices are reasonable and in line with your competitors, while at the same time ensuring you can make a profit.
• Place – This is where you are, whether that’s a physical store or online.
• Promotion – This is how you tell your customers that you’re here, because without promotion, you’re far less likely to find your customers (and they won’t find you).

As part of your marketing efforts, there are many different types you may wish to undertake.

• Digital marketing – this includes your website, social media channels, and SMS and email marketing. Digital marketing is a great tool for both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce retailers.
• In-store marketing – this includes displays, events, promotions, interactives and samples.
• Other methods – this includes posters, TV advertising and direct mail.

Which types of marketing are right for business depends on many factors, including your target audience, the products you sell and your budget. Data is also a key piece of the puzzle that will tie all of these together and help you make the right decision.

What is customer data?

Customer data refers to any of the information your business collects related to customers who come to your shop or engage with your brand online. This could be either by visiting your website, contacting customer support or engaging on social media.

Data can come in many forms and can be used to tell a wide variety of stories. It could be something related to their demographic or geographic information, or something more complex such as their behaviours, purchasing habits or interests.

This data can be used by your business to make the customer experience far more positive, both for them and, by extension, your business. This is because data can help you produce a far more personalised and relevant customer journey, which can result in them spending their money with you.

When any business collects customer data, it must abide by data protection and privacy regulations, such as GDPR. This means customers must opt-in and agree to it being used as part of your marketing efforts. Typically, customers are more than happy for you to use their data so long as it’s going to benefit them, and sending them personalised communications, offers and promotions is just that.

How is customer data collected by retailers?

There are many different ways your business can collect customer data through multiple channels and touchpoints. These include:

• Through your website, whether the customer makes a purchase or not. If a customer creates an account you will generally have their name, email address, address and payment details. You may also ask customers about their communication preferences during the sign-up process.
• Cookies, web beacons and pixels can be used to collate information related to customer browsing and behaviours. This includes page views, visits, clicks, session duration, content viewed and interactions. This helps you create a more personalised experience for them by showing them more of what they engage with.
• Email and SMS marketing is something your customers opt into, usually on your website, such as pop-ups or forms.
• Social media engagement, such as how customers like, share and comment on your content on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X and LinkedIn. Social media is also a great customer service tool.
• In-store activities and purchases at point of sale, specifically if you have a loyalty program that can track what customers buy and when.
• Surveys and feedback requests can be incredibly useful and help you gain valuable insights into customers’ experiences.
• Mobile apps, much like your website, can collect data on browsing behaviours and purchase habits.
• Customer service interactions can be used to gain information on customer preferences and perceptions. You can use it to turn a negative customer experience into a positive one.

Online vs offline

Collecting data from your customers can be done in many ways, both online and offline. Depending on your business and whether you have physical or online stores (or possibly both) you may want to gather data using online and offline methods.

Offline data collection relies on physical interaction with customers and manual processes. Data and tracking will be limited and there may be a delay to the insights you can put together.

Naturally, customers visiting your website will leave a digital footprint that tells them a lot of information that offline data can’t, including what products they browse, then they visit, how they engage with you on social media, whether they read your newsletter and more. It offers you the ability to track in real-time, collect data in large volumes and have a far greater level of personalisation.

Loyalty cards

If you’re a brick-and-mortar retailer, introducing a loyalty card scheme can be a great way to gather in-person customer data that gives you a similar level of insight to data collected online (similar, but still not as comprehensive).

Loyalty cards offer a great two-pronged marketing approach. Firstly, you can offer members exclusive points, discounts and offers, which encourages them to remain loyal customers. Secondly, you can collect data related to their purchases and some behaviours, which you can then use to personalise their experience.

How can customer data be used in retail marketing?

Once you have customer data, you’re ready to use it to your advantage. Not only this, but it’ll also be to your customers’ advantage, as it will improve their customer experience thanks to them being presented with a more relevant and personalised journey. This will then result in your customers seeing more of what they want and enjoy, which encourages them to spend more money with you – it’s a win-win scenario.

To effectively add personalisation to your marketing communications, you’ll need to segment your audience. This allows you to send customers only the most relevant content that they’re most likely to engage with. This can increase your conversion rates and decrease unsubscribes, as well as improve the overall efficiency of your marketing efforts.

You can also use data to implement lifecycle marketing strategies, wherever they may be on the buyer’s journey. This means you can convert new customers, retain existing customers and reactivate dormant customers.

Data can be analysed using AI models to improve forecasting and future trends and customer behaviours. This allows you to double down on marketing channels where necessary, identify churn risks and push new products based on historical data and patterns.

Data gathering and analysis are vital if you undertake A/B testing. When you test various channels, messaging, offers, content, segments and more, you can use data in real-time to see what’s effective and make instant changes to improve results. 

You’ll also want to pay close attention to customer feedback. Making changes based on feedback will go a long way towards improving the customer experience, which contributes towards additional revenue and loyalty.

This is just a selection of how you can use data in retail marketing. Data is an incredibly valuable resource that can be the difference between making and breaking how your marketing strategy performs. Data can help create a solid omnichannel experience that will drive brand advocacy.

Email marketing

If your business utilises email marketing (and if it isn’t, it really should be – read our guide to targeted email marketing for more information) then it simply won’t be effective unless you use data to implement personalisation. To put it into perspective, 71% of consumers say personalisation influences their decision to open brand emails. So, don’t waste your time, resources and opportunity – use your data.

Ways to use data in your email marketing efforts include:

• Segmentation, so you only send customers the most relevant content and information.
• Personalisation, so customers know you’re communicating with them as an individual, not as a walking wallet.
• Behavioural triggers, which are sent following specific actions or behaviours, such as abandoned carts or birthday discounts.
• Relevant promotions and offers.
• Sending emails at the optimal time and frequency.
• A/B testing.

Loyalty schemes

A loyalty scheme is a great way to collect customer data, especially if you have physical stores where it can be more difficult to track what customers buy and what kind of things they like.

When members enrol in your loyalty scheme they’ll have to accept terms and opt in or out of marketing communications. You can then use the data you collect to send SMS and/or email communications which can be personalised to include content, offers and rewards relevant to them.

You may also offer a points system that loyal customers can redeem for discounts or rewards. This gives customers an incentive to use their card, which encourages them to become brand ambassadors as they see value in becoming a member. It also gives you the opportunity to collect relevant data to personalise their customer journey. This gives you an advantage over competitors as it allows you to get to know your customers and what drives them to make a purchase.

Make the most of your customer data

Customer data is one of the most valuable assets your brand can have and is your key to beating your competition. The only trouble is, that raw data is like a block of metal, and you have to use analytics to shape that metal into the aforementioned key. That’s a rather clunky metaphor, but the sentiment still stands, so make sure you take advantage of what you likely already have at your disposal.

Customer analytics is the process of collecting and analysing data so you can identify patterns, trends, behaviours and opportunities to improve how you communicate with your customers to drive them to make a purchase.

Analytics are a vital part of the process because by not analysing your data you simply won’t reach the right audience with the right content at the right time. You and your competitors are all fighting for customers’ attention. Whichever business tells the customer what they want to hear (such as how they can offer them the product they need or offer they need, or help them solve a particular problem) is the one most likely to get engagement.

The only trouble is, analytics can be a time-consuming and complicated process, which means it can sometimes take a back seat to other tasks. However, there are tools available that can make it a far more efficient, effective and rewarding process. For example, Apteco Orbit streamlines lengthy processes to produce comprehensive and actionable insights in next to no time.