: Using omni-channel data to connect one-on-one with customers
Purpose This overview of data ownership provides key insights for marketing practitioners and executives. Those serving and interacting with consumers through multiple channels, including online digital, mobile, social and even physical locations will strongly benefit from the recommendations. Executive Summary Online consumer behavior, along with the entire customer journey, has dramatically changed as customers gain access to more channels, devices and apps. That's why a single marketing view is no longer enough to drive a full digital experience or relevant messaging. This overview of data ownership provides key insights for marketing practitioners and executives. Understanding customer intent in order to deliver personalized experiences across an omni-channel journey requires a new approach to data ownership. But third-party audience data and closed marketing suites restrict the marketer from understanding individual customer intent and leveraging the best applications for action. Ensighten is the only company that offers complete, first-party data ownership on an open platform. This allows companies to collect, own and act on that data across any channel, and take immediate action on the one-to-one level customers expect. The Omni-Channel Customer Journey How do customers search, view, select, and convert or purchase? The journey can take many paths: website, mobile, social, kiosk, ads, even direct mail and in-store. That's why it is no longer sufficient to base marketing efforts on a one-dimensional view of the customer path, or attempt to reach customers with uncoordinated channel engagements. Understanding this journey has never been more critical. According to Forrester, 60% of consumers interact with brands they like across multiple channels. This behavior is expected to increase, with great impact on revenue: By 2018, cross-channel sales will account for $1.8 trillion or 50% of all U.S. retail annual sales. By 2018, commerce conducted on mobile and tablet devices will be $293 billion annually. These statistics highlight a fast-changing environment, requiring marketers to customize interaction with consumers across channels and devices. Marketers risk losing revenue and market share to competitors who are more effective in collecting, owning and activating data. Collecting customer data across all digital channels and then combining it with offline data sources are keys to success in the new digital commerce world. According to Forrester, 60% of consumers interact with brands they like across multiple channels. This behavior is expected to increase, with great impact on revenue: However, the marketer s ability to respond to customers with improved targeting and messaging depends on the quality of customer data collected across channels. That quality is derived from non-personal identifiable information (non-pii), gleaned across channels. Non-PII data comes from multiple sources, including owned digital properties, campaigns on third-party properties, third-party data providers and owned offline systems. It improves the relevancy and effectiveness of acquisition, retargeting, optimization, personalization, and even loyalty and retention programs. It is core to successful digital marketing. 2
Data Ownership with Ensighten Consumers now expect brands to tailor digital experiences to personal preferences. Brands can provide this if they are using non-pii data from multiple online and offline sources. But if marketers rely only on third-party audience data and onsite analytics, they can't possibly meet the consumer's high expectations. Ensighten solves the marketer s dilemma of responding to consumer behavior and intent with a complete and timely picture of where the customer is in the purchasing journey. It enables enterprises to dramatically expand the breadth and depth of their first-party data across online and offline channels. Ensighten supports omni-channel marketing in three ways: 1. Collect first party customer data on any channel or device 2. Own that data forever. It s yours. 3. Activate the data at a 1:1 level. Leverage first-party customer data to optimize the individual customer s experience, or integrate with any application to drive desired outcome. Consumers now expect brands to tailor digital experiences to personal preferences. Brands can provide this if they are using non-pii data from multiple online and offline sources. Leading brands recognize the need to deliver personalized experiences. That's why they are embracing complete data ownership of first-party data across all customer channels, including onsite, offsite, mobile, social, cross-domain, and even offline touch points. Only Ensighten enables marketers to achieve complete data ownership. And with Ensighten, the marketer sees these omni-channel interactions at the individual level. Ensighten Data Ownership vs. Third-Party Experience As consumers interact with a brand beyond a main website, the journey to conversion becomes more complicated. If marketing is one-dimensional (website only, for example), the brand is missing key customer interactions and behavior taking place offsite and offline. Marketers must move beyond site analytics in order to improve the customer experience. Data management platforms (DMPs) provide a temporary solution by aggregating consumer data from across client bases, then renting this third-party, audience-level data to the marketer. As customers in these audience segments arrive on the marketer s website or landing page, the third-party data provides the marketer with high-level audience data, which can be used for developing more targeted content and messaging. However, in order to deliver a complete and in-context experience, it is important to understand customer intent at an individual level, and not just at an audience level. After all, customers expect to be treated as individuals, not as groups. They want relevant messages and offers. Marketers, therefore, can t simply rely on website analytics data combined with third-party audience data to deliver that personalized experience not when their customers are on an omni-channel journey. Here's an example of how Ensighten works: A customer views an ad on a publisher website. Within the ad, the marketer serves an Ensighten pixel associated with the customer's web domain. The pixel enables the marketer to see whether the customer has viewed or clicked on this offsite ad. This provides valuable customer profile data, which marketers can use to deliver a personalized message or offer once the customer arrives back on the site. Ensighten then allows marketers to track in-session behavior and respond to actions in real-time while the customer is still onsite not in an hour, or tomorrow or next week, but right now. 3
Ensighten Open Platform vs. Closed Suite Data ownership isn t just about personalizing the onsite experience from first-party data. Your first-party data can also be sent to third-party audience data networks, including DMPs, data aggregators and demand side platforms (a system that allows buyers of digital advertising inventory to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange accounts through one interface). These networks help improve the effectiveness of offsite advertising programs. Additionally, with data ownership the marketer can optimize the customer experience on the main site, working with multiple DMPs across networks to expand customer reach within a unified first-party data set. This is true omni-channel ownership of customer data. With Ensighten, all data is combined into actionable customer level records, or profiles. Ensighten enables the import of external and third-party data via SFPT or custom APIs. The imported data is transformed into actionable profiles, merging anonymous profiles with known ones. This means brands can respond to customers across any digital property. Imagine the impact on optimization and retargeting programs if customers experience relevant interactions based on fresh insights. Ensighten's leading tag management solutions, Ensighten Manage and Ensighten Data Layer, deliver first-party, omni-channel data and customer insights into marketing action systems to drive conversion. The Ensighten open platform is flexible for integrating both third-party and first-party data across online and offline channels. Ensighten's open platform is very different than the closed product suites advocated by several vendors. Closed platforms are systems where the carrier or service provider has control over applications, content, and media, and restricts convenient access to non-approved applications or content. With Ensighten's open platform, there are no restrictions, and no compromises are required to deliver the customized experiences. It allows the marketer to leverage the best marketing solutions for the application. 4
Conclusion The customer journey is complicated and it takes an agile marketer to adapt to constantly changing behavior. Personalized marketing demands a first-party data strategy that tracks customers across any touch-point, coupled with the ability to take action on this data at the right time. With Ensighten, brands can engage consumers in one-to-one relationships, the most effective way to drive conversions. Ensighten gives marketers complete data ownership of customer interactions across channels. It is the industry s first Agile Marketing Platform (AMP), built to meet the needs of enterprise marketing organizations. With Ensighten, brands can: The customer journey is complicated and it takes an agile marketer to adapt to constantly changing behavior. Transform the way they collect, own and activate business and customer data. Reduce time to value by accelerating the execution of their analytics, personalization and other marketing initiatives. Enhance visitor engagement by delivering the right experience to the right customer with omni-channel personalization. Increase user satisfaction with fast-loading and responsive pages. With these capabilities, marketers gain a more comprehensive understanding of individual customer intent, and can rapidly execute any marketing initiative, achieve one-to-one marketing, and deliver great user experiences. About Ensighten Ensighten, the global leader in omni-channel data and tag management, is changing the face of digital marketing by transforming the way enterprises collect, own and act on their customer data across every marketing channel and device. Using the company s Agile Marketing Platform (AMP), enterprises can now achieve true 1:1 marketing while accelerating the execution of their marketing initiatives and delivering superior user experiences. Powered by its unique hybrid-tag technology, the Ensighten platform processes tag requests across 150+ countries, for companies transacting over $1.9 trillion in revenue. The world s leading brands (Microsoft, Capital One, United Airlines, T-Mobile and Walmart) are achieving marketing agility through Ensighten s single line of code implementation 5