Big data are the sets of data that are huge and complicated far more than traditional data. This data may be structured and unstructured flooding a business on daily basis. Yet, the amount of data is not the so important. The use of big data by the organizations is all that matters. For the better future decisions and strategic business moves, big data is evaluated.
Big data is being used by the companies for understanding the behaviors and preferences of its customers. A number of ways are being used by the companies to expand traditional sets of data including social media information, browser logs, sensor data and text analytics for getting a perfect picture of the customer.
Following are the 5 ways companies use big data to deal with customers as an individual. These tactics to make their customers happy, build long-term dealing and persuading the customers to buy more stuff.
Guessing what customers want before they say it
Companies collect a large amount of data about their customers of not only their purchasing choices but also the websites that they visit frequently, their location, the time when they contacted customer service and whether they are in contact with their brand on the social media.
This data collected by the companies may not seem relatable, this is the reason it is termed as big data. Companies analyze the big data keenly so that they can make an offer to you with a personalized touch. For predicting the future, companies should sponsor the correct products to the correct customers on the right channel.
For instance, Amazon worked on the recommendation of toys, books or kitchen utensils that might get their customers interested. Some more companies followed the same practice, such as recommending movies on Netflix, music on Spotify, or Pins on Pinterest.
Making customers excited about their own data
Customers nowadays have access to more data about themselves than they had ever before. The reason behind such access is the rise of the wearable tech such as Jawbone’s UP, FitBit, Nike+FuelBand. MyFitnessPal is a food diary platform that allows the people to know about the calories they have each day and also breaks it down into protein, carbs and fat. Web sites such as LearnVest and Mint.com offer its customers to know about their spending by category and to review where their money is going in a given week, month or year.
Definitely, providing the customers their own data is not enough. It is necessary for the companies to filter out the data and come up with the most relevant data which makes the experience of the customers easily digestible. If the companies successfully achieve their goal of exciting their customers about their own data related to money, health or fitness – can make a difference on the investment return of a company.
The companies use data that is important for the customers and build great followership. Once the customer has developed trust in a brand, he may continue using their products. This leads them to become the brand loyalists. For instance, a man in love with the Fuel Band is more likely to purchase Nike athletic gear or a woman who appreciates the way UP has made her sleep good will invest more in the Jawbone product.
Advance customer service interactions
Leveraging big data for many companies is a very effective marketing and product development. Yet the companies who use their customer service are one step ahead. When the representative has the right data in front of him then whenever a customer has a query, it can be solved quickly and efficiently.
The customer service is also important because it lets the brand to connect with customers. Companies that connect with the customers either by using social media or answering a query call develop a good interaction with the customers. For instance, Southwest Airlines use speech analytics to filter out the big data from the live-recorded interactions between customers and personnel so that they are able to better understand their customers.
The companies should remember that their customers may be aware of the fact that their data is being collected; there is a line between being sneaky about it and the use of the data to help the customer. Companies should make sure that their customer service has the right data and also know the correct way of communicating the knowledge of data to customers.
Spot customer problems and solve them
Most of the time, a company is fully aware what problems their customer is facing. The companies that dig deep into the customer’s information in order to solve their issues are building an improved customer’s experience.
For example, Delta. All the airlines already know that the passengers are most concerned about their lost baggage especially when they are on a flight that is delayed and has missed connection involved. Delta is used to look into their data and generate a solution that will likely solve the issue of where the bag of a passenger might be.
The Delta app allows its users to click a picture of their baggage by using a tag “Track My Bag” and then keep tabs on their luggage as it makes its way to the last destination. Even if a bag does not reach its planned flight, passengers have saved enough time while tracking it down. The new innovative ways of using big data for the service of the passengers has kept Delta in the front of the competitive market.
Improving treatment by decreasing health care costs
Big data is also being used by the health sector to improve the quality of the treatment a patient receives. In Singapore, big data collected from analytics platforms is used to transform how health care providers manage chronic diseases.
Take the example of disease such as diabetes, a condition that might need extended stays. This is both costly and hurts the medical infrastructure. However, in Singapore healthcare providers dig into analytics for a better understanding of the condition of the patient, his work and home environment, lifestyle preferences, this helps them to create a personalized treatment plan that is complimentary to the individual person behavior. For instance, a patient forgets to take medicine on time, his personal treatment will allow addressing this specific problem.
Health care providers are following the example of Singapore to lead and administer patient care, cost, and outcomes. Big data used by health care providers and doctors is assisting them to better understand individual patient’s condition, his history, genetics, demographic and cultural factors. This is helping them to more quickly and efficiently formulize cost-effective treatment for patients.
23andMe sell an at-home mail-in DNA testing kit. It has created a whole model by extracting big data for the provision of 360-degree understanding of customers history. 23andMe earlier has also offered health-related results by which the customers will be able to know what diseases and conditions are they risk at.
However, the FDA wasn’t a big fan and ordered the company to stop. 23andMe is now preparing for launching a completely new online platform that will encourage patients of chronic illness to share health-related data for drawing insights and will have the potential of solving problems that the doctors cannot by using the big data.
Conclusion
While the big companies are collecting big data to better understand and provide their customer improved service, there is a lot more that needs to be done beyond the just collection of customer data. Companies that are good at using big data stand out in categorizing through the white noise of data, filter out the relevant information and draw insight from its analysis.
This way, companies will be able to use the big data correctly for targeting and re-targeting the right customers, solving their problems, personalizing their experience or building product that satisfies their needs. Of course, big data is valuable but only when it is used efficiently and with actionable insight.