Don’t overthink how to collect first-party data. Just ask.
Unless you happen to live and breathe privacy, AI and other technology reform legislations, all the recent changes have caused a lot of uncertainty in marketers lives. It can be overwhelming at times to keep track of what data is okay to collect from your customers.
One of the byproducts of these changes is that marketers seem to be hesitant to ask their customers simple questions. Coupled with a cautionary sentiment that introducing any ‘friction’ in the purchase path could lead to a loss of sales. I see so many missed opportunities for marketers to create useful first-party data that would help their business grow.
Building a robust profile on your customers is the best way to better understand their needs and marketers should keep in mind that your customers ARE willing to share their data with you if it’s done in a transparent way – you just need to get comfortable asking!
“Getting hitched”
I recently purchased a trailer hitch for my car. For those unfamiliar with the process of buying a trailer hitch, what you can buy largely depends on your specific vehicle. Things like “tounge weight” and “receiver size” are not familiar terms to most people. Most of the websites I visited made it easy to find what product I needed based on the make, model and year of my vehicle. Once I answered those easy questions, I was presented with a list of choices sorted by lowest price and I was off to the races. Hitch purchased and an appointment set to have it installed.
Where things got interesting was when I went into a bricks and mortar store. Behold, a wall full of fancy accessories I could purchase to make my new hitch more useful. I could add bike carriers or additional storage by simply attaching them to the hitch. When I inquired about these accessories, I was told I didn’t purchase the “right” hitch to accommodate these additional items and the “better” hitch wasn’t available to be installed right away. As a consumer, I was bummed out but as a marketer, I was enraged. Why hadn’t the company asked me a few more simple questions about how I planned to use the hitch I was shopping for? Did I need to carry bikes? Would additional storage be useful? Did I know I was limiting my choices by choosing a product based solely on price?
It would be easy to dismiss this as just one example of a bad UX or a retailer missing an opportunity to upsell me, but I did some research and sure enough, most of the hitch companies were completely missing questions that would have helped them build a more useful profile on me. Not only were they missing a chance to create a better experience for the customer, but they were limiting their future growth by not asking when they had my attention.
Their marketing teams had done the hard work of getting me to their site, but once there, they were too focused on getting me through the funnel as quickly as possible that they missed their chance to learn more about my actual needs by asking questions that I would have happily answered at the time. Ironically, after this purchase, I received an email with a coupon for 10% off a future HITCH purchase – the problem, I only have one car!
The million-dollar question
One of my favorite examples of where this can go wrong is when companies fail to ask one simple question – Who are you shopping for? How many times have you searched for the perfect gift for someone else? Whether its a loved one, or a colleague with specific interests, you scour the web, find the perfect item and make the purchase, only to be re-targeted with ads for something you are never likely to buy again.
Instead of asking whether the purchase is for someone else, companies mistakenly assume this is something for you and then waste precious media dollars trying to get you to buy more of that particular item, instead of reaching out to their actual target audience. Most consumers are happy to answer that question, particularly if it’s done in a simple and transparent manner and asked at the right point in the transaction: during the checkout process. It can make a huge difference in where marketers focus their attention next
So, just ask everything we want to know?
Now, before skeptics jump in to say “friction kills”, I’m not advocating that you start all web visits by asking each user what their mother’s maiden name is! It’s crucial that you build trust when asking questions. Knowing when and what to ask is part art and part science and you may need to experiment first to get it right.
For starters, you should only ask questions that are relevant to the purchase at hand. A “Why we ask this?” explanation can really help put the customer’s mind at ease. Use plain language. “We use this information to determine if you should be part of our future advertising programs.” Giving the customers the ability to opt out right then and there helps build their trust and could potentially save you $$ in wasted media spend.
Choosing the right moments to ask questions makes a big difference in a customer’s willingness to answer. Making the experience simple, clear and relevant can be the decider between good and great data. Many companies use-post purchase surveys to support their net promoter score or attribution data, but often response rates are very low because their customers have already moved on with their days. Asking one or two well-placed questions during the purchase flow can yield higher responses and lead to better results.
It’s all about finding the right balance for your organization. The key is not being afraid to start.
