Using a Smart WiFi system to manage customer data is a great way to create effective marketing campaigns and learn about customer demographics. However, your business should not feel entitled to using the valuable and sometimes personal information you gather to achieve better sales outcomes.
Consider the benefits of customer data, common misuses, and how to use it to your advantage.
What is Customer Data?
The easiest way to define customer data is the demographic, social, or personal information obtained and stored by a business about its customers.
This can refer to a wide variety of data, and some examples of this information include:
- The ages of your customers
- Birthdays
- Website login information
- The frequency with which they visit your business
- Racial or cultural data
- Email addresses
- Gender
- Income
All this data is precious for marketing purposes, but every business must ensure it remains safe while in its possession.
What are the Benefits of being Able to Manage Customer Data?
Customer Data Management (CDM) refers to gathering and storing customer data with an emphasis on the ethical acquisition of the data and responsible storage.
CDM comes with numerous benefits, including:
- Customized marketing campaigns
- The opportunity to upsell your services and products
- Developing customer loyalty and retention
- Data centralization
- Learning about the customer’s journey and experience
Each of these benefits makes obtaining customer data very tempting, but the information must be used appropriately and securely stored for the process to be ethical.
How Businesses Manage Customer Data Incorrectly
Businesses can misuse customer data in a variety of ways. You can avoid ethical and legal problems by ensuring your company does not misuse customer information in any of the following methods:
- Using data for purposes other than those outlined in customer use agreements
- Taking data out of its intended storage environment
- Giving too many workers access to information
- Using personal data for numerous businesses at the same time
- Selling data outright
- Not properly securing customer data
These are just a few of the ways that businesses misuse customer data. These practices have a high cost on customer trust and can even put your business at legal risk.
Misusing customer data has high costs, and your business does not have to pay them. Secure the data by making it need-to-know, requiring security checks, initiating alerts for data access, and ensuring you have transparent processes within your business to access data.
Use the Data to Your Advantage
The data you obtain from customers is highly actionable in most cases. Every bit of information your customers entrust with you can be used to your advantage. Consider some of the best ways to utilize customer data to your advantage.
- Learn which social media your customers prefer and market your business there. You’ll save money and stay on the cutting edge.
- Increase sales by using a more direct, personalized advertising approach. For example, provide existing customers with unique, time-gated coupons to influence sales.
- Provide a better customer experience by delivering and considering customer surveys.
These are three great methods for using customer data to your advantage, but they are hardly the only ways to reap the rewards of safely keeping and using the information. This information is precious, from developing new marketing directions to bringing in new customers.
Are you ready to start improving on the three main areas of your customer data? GoZone WiFi is here to help. GoZone’s Smart WiFi platform can assist in collecting valuable consumer data through your guest WiFi network.
Collect data seamlessly across guest WiFi, social media, email marketing, and more. Get better use out of your customer data with GoZone’s Smart Email and Coupon Builder. Protect your data by providing a separate guest WiFi hotspot that keeps your backhouse network away from potential hacks.
Contact us today to learn more about how Smart WiFi can better your customer data processes.
