Today’s consumers have become accustomed to higher service levels thanks to data churned by ecommerce giants like Amazon and others that has led to a demand for increased levels of personalization and seamless shopping experiences.
Ecommerce businesses that wish to compete need to properly utilize big data. And, there are tangible benefits of doing so. According to a study by BARC, some of the benefits of using big data include:
- Making better strategic decisions (69%).
- Improved control of operational processes (54%).
- Better understanding of customers (52%).
- Cost reductions (47%).
However, the scale of customer data proves a challenge for many ecommerce businesses. It is predicted that our accumulated digital universe of data will grow from 4.4. zettabytes to 44 zettabytes (or 44 trillion gigabytes) by 2020, showing the sheer magnitude of data creation (Big Commerce).
So, how can ecommerce providers manage data to give end users what they want?
The first step is to focus on your Master Data Management (MDM) system, as this is where data should become a common point of reference.
But for many ecommerce providers, this isn’t the case. Research has found that one-fifth of businesses believe more than half of their customer data is wrong (eMarketer).
The key to solving this problem is address standardization and validation to help manage your MDM. Information entered by end users should be verified at the point of capture because it’s common for shoppers to make mistakes when keying in longer information such as addresses.
Type-ahead technology that can detect mistakes is useful in this instance, as it prevents inaccurate or duplicate data being stored in the system. Type-ahead is also beneficial for the end user because it generates address predictions based on a few characters and their IP address, meaning checkout is a smoother experience.
This can then be used for more effective marketing and personalization efforts, and validated address data provides reassurance that your messages are reaching shoppers.
A final benefit of utilizing big data is the overall financial goals your company will achieve. According to the ‘Big Data Use Cases 2015 – Getting Real On Data Monetization’ study, organizations using big data reported an average 8% increase in revenues and a 10% reduction in costs.
At Loqate we provide access to the most accurate global database of addresses and leading validation technologies. You can find out more about our offering here, and if you’d like to find out more about the benefits of this, get in touch.
