CXM big and small data integration

Today’s businesses and brands face an unprecedented number of disruptors, with every customer interaction and touchpoint becoming increasingly important each day. In this Experience Economy, customers are in control and have more choices than ever before.

What is differentiating companies is the experience they offer their customers, which is why customer experience (CX) has become a strategic imperative for all organizations that want to create sustainability and grow their businesses. An overwhelming 98% of respondents to this study cited that knowing their customer is crucial for effective CX management.

This is why data has become businesses’ most valuable asset. The challenge, however, is finding and using the right data to inform CX. While big data—clickstream data, website analytics, social interaction data—has typically become the primary data source to try to understand customers’ behavior, companies are finding that they are missing the most critical piece of data to predict how a customer will act—why customers do what they do.

To understand the why, small data—from research using surveys, focus groups, qualitative interviews, and mobile diaries—can paint a comprehensive picture of an audience in the moment and over time, allowing a business to travel through the experience with the customer at the helm. This insight gets companies closer to the “why.”

According to this study by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services sponsored by Forsta, companies that are integrating and using big and small data are achieving business goals all the others are striving for—revenue growth, profitability, the successful introduction of new products and services, and operational efficiencies. But leaders of those companies account for only 15% of the study respondents. The rest of the companies admit to having data issues that hinder their ability to create a customer experience that pay dividends.

The improvement of CX is dependent on a company’s ability to collect data from multiple sources—both big and small—and integrate that data to inform and create CX that encompasses every touchpoint and interaction. Only when using both big and small data will companies be able to accurately anticipate and predict how their customers will behave, in turn empowering those companies to create experiences that can provide them with a competitive advantage.

We’ve sponsored this research by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services to examine where companies are in their journeys to create compelling experiences and which barriers they need to overcome. We also wanted to understand what the companies that are far along that journey are doing right and which benefits they are experiencing.

Through deep analysis and in-depth interviews with companies grappling with transforming their customer experience, this study shares the struggles most are facing and the leaders’ secrets to how they created tangible business impacts to help their companies survive and thrive. There’s never been a more crucial time for companies to revolutionize how they attract, serve, and retain their customers.

Download infographic for invaluable insights and strategies for gathering and using the right data to win in this Experience Economy