New-School Analytics: Knowing Your Customers’ Communities

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Personalization drives nearly every marketing and sales initiative nowadays. Businesses try to duplicate in the digital realm the face-to-face interactions that small-town grocers have with their customers.

Advanced data collection and analytics help fill the void of actual conversation to make sense of all kinds of customer information: historical data from past purchases, behavioral data about how people shop, social media data that reveals how they publicly communicate about products and brands, and psychographic data that shows individual personalities, attitudes and interests.

The ability to convert this knowledge into predictive engagement is what enables them to build loyalty. But it can be tough to truly marry online and in-store shopping experiences and to compile the data and analytics necessary to execute an omnichannel vision.

Another type of information has become essential: hyperlocal data. Towns and cities each have a unique flavor, with their own collection of people, places and events. Treating even two communities alike fails to consider what sets them apart. Local shop owners know the differences — and fortunately, so does hyperlocal data.

It’s everywhere — web community forums, social media groups, local news, weather reports and in some cases even local traffic patterns and loads. It’s often time-sensitive with details of upcoming fairs, charity runs, sporting and other events. Today, if a national potato chip company wants to grab the attention of tailgaters in a community that’s about to host a state championship football game, it can.

Predictive Analytics: The New Way to Build Customer Loyalty

Combining hyperlocal data with your enterprise data using cognitive computing can reveal how a distinctive group of people behave in a distinctive environment. The ability to keep a pulse on the community and personalize marketing and sales messages with the knowledge of a local authority engenders trust and loyalty. Instead of communicating broadly and potentially looking generic, your timely, localized messages will carry the wisdom of a small-town grocer stocking up on the right flavors of ice cream during a popular town celebration.

Your customers will feel that you really know them, and they will respond in kind. While general stores might seem like a bit of nostalgia, the old-school way they got to know their customers lives on in the form of new-school analytics.
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Learn more about mastering the art of advanced analytics.