Customer Behavior in Marketing – How to Know Them Better

Two crucial questions arise from this:

• What is essential customer behavioral data for B2C businesses and how should it be collected?
• Why marketing people should be interested in consumer behavior?
• What is the right way to use this that benefits both the business and its customers?

What is consumer behavior in marketing and how to know your unknown customer

There is no way to process people’s personal data who have not consented. But this doesn’t mean that no data is collected. Instead, information is aggregated and not attached to a customer profile with identifying features. Businesses may only collect behavioral data from anonymous customers. Only when the person completes a form and agrees to the processing of their data can businesses add demographic data. Our Internet behavior (page visits, clicks) still reveals a lot about us. And when a visitor buys something or submits personal data, his or her profile expands with the acquired data. This means that no customer is a blank page.
But what kind of data are we able to acquire based on customer behavior on the web?

Every click counts 

The first place you can start collecting data about your clients is your website. By implementing tracking codes, you can gain valuable insights into your customers. Some examples of valuable data you can collect include:

1. Device information and location

e.g. web browser, OS, even exact phone model) together with customer location are valuable.
For example, it enables you to target customers with banners or campaigns on a particular system who look like your most successful customers.
Additionally, you can use web pushes and banner campaigns based on geolocation.

2. Customer preferences and interests

With Synerise’s tracking code, you can also learn about users’ real interests.
Every customer behavior, every click, reveals a lot about their interests and preferences. This means you can deliver targeted ads that match individual customers.

A few examples:

To create effective targeted campaigns, you need the data to determine what content should be featured and to whom. This is very easy with Synerise.

If a potential customer visits products in Category X a certain number of times, they are very likely interested in it. You can add a tag that will include that person in future campaigns for other products in Category X.
An alternative way of achieving the same with Synerise is through segments. Instead of using tags, you can create real-time segments based on appropriate attributes.

Whether you use customer tags or customer segments, the goal is the same – delivering personalized content that increases engagement and conversions. To achieve these results, you must clearly define the conditions for users to join.

For example, a single page visit is not enough to determine that someone is interested in the product type on that page. Maybe they clicked accidentally. However, more than 2 visits and 3 products examined in the same category is a much better indicator.
Such conditions will help ensure you add customers to the correct campaigns for them.

3. Filters and searching

The exact search terms and filters visitor use is also useful data.
If someone searches for certain clothing types or even clothing sizes, you can add tags to their profile or add them to segments. The same is possible for other industries, such as accommodation, electronics or financial services. Based on this data, you know what products you should offer and what recommendations you should show. This massively reduces ill-matching offers and the customer seeing your communication as spam.
Of course, it’s impossible to be 100% certainty about a visitor’s interest. Sometimes, someone is browsing products to give advice to someone else. Or someone else is using their device. But in most cases, you can be confident enough to send personalized adstargeted individual customers.

4. Personal data (and the power of email)

Everything mentioned above concerns customer behavior. But what about personal data?
Demographic data (such as name, place of residence, gender, age) can be obtained in a few ways. This could be by completing a website form for a promotion, doing a survey, or from the checkout process. Whenever customers provide their personal information by such means, Synerise is able to identify them. For most businesses, a customer’s email address is the unique identifier used. This creates opportunities. If a given email is connected to other accounts (e.g. social media), you can find more information about the customer which can be added to their profile.

With Synerise, this is done automatically. Synerise CDP checks email addresses and matches them to social media profiles. This allows you to see people’s public profile information on Facebook, Google+, FourSquare, Picasa, LinkedIn, and many others.

If a user has enabled strict privacy settings, such data will be limited. But it possible to build buyer personas and basic data with other public data. Synerise can find additional information about a customer via Google search engine. This is also by using the given email address.
This data can then be used to personalize offers based on many different criteria. Some immediate examples could be gender (match products for women or men), location (promotions based on store proximity), or birth date (birthday promotions).

Every piece of information you gather can help make customers’ experiences better and more personalized.
The challenge remains – how to use it to benefit customers.

Better data, not all data

When collecting data, you are not limited to your website and mobile app. Many apps allow you to gather data from many data sources. With Synerise this is unlimited thanks to the powerful API.
But first, you should determine the quantity and quality of data. You must understand which sources provide crucial information. Even if the system allows it, there is no need to collect all the data.
Everything needs to be evaluated based on benefits and opportunities, and how it can best be used. For example, prioritizing data that allows you to create exceptional omnichannel experiences.
Data quality matters over sheer quantity.

Why is behavioral data collection so important?

Many different tools and platforms can help us to collect data about customer behavior. But knowing how to use them is crucial. It requires a team that understands how to get insights from data – and what automation to build. It also requires a tool that is exceptionally easy to use – one of the guiding principles of Synerise.
When you have those ingredients, you can get amazing ROI from personalized communication.

Customized content, including offers matching each individual customer, is the future or marketing. The winners will be those who are ready for the opportunity.
If you’d like to see how Synerise can help you understand your customers better, you can schedule a guided demo with a team member.

First of all, keep in mind that there is no way to collect data about people who have not consented to share personalized marketing data. However, this doesn’t mean that no data is collected. It simply means that the information is aggregated and not attached to a particular customer profile with identifying features.

Companies are able to collect only behavioral data from anonymous customers. Their customer profiles may only be supplemented with demographic information when they complete the form on our website and agree to the processing of their data. But you have to bear in mind that our behavior on the web can tell a lot about us.

Our solution

Synerise allows you to collect such data even for anonymous users. When a particular user buys something or just fills in the form with his personal data, his or her profile is expanded with previously acquired data. This means that no customer is a blank page since we can use the huge amount of data that has already been collected in the past to learn more about his interests any time. But what kind of data we are able to acquire based on customer behavior on the web?

Imagine a world in which customers only receive offers for products and services they are interested in. Where they don’t lose time searching for the best offers or opening countless emails showing products they will never buy.

Customer data analysis, customized content, including offers matching each individual customer, is the future of customer-centric marketing. The winners will be those who are ready for the opportunity.

• if someone buys items for newborns on multiple occasions, they are likely expecting a baby,
• if someone bought various items for a specific sport more than two times, you can be confident that they practise that sport,
• if someone regularly buys food for a specific pet, you can be confident they have such a pet,
• if a man is looking at or buys a wedding ring, he is probably getting married, etc.