Tag: data analysis

Surprising Solutions to the 9 Business Challenges of a Customer-First Strategy

Posted on by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Adopting a customer-first strategy is more than just an option these days. But did you know that, perhaps surprisingly, it can answer most business challenges? And it is, therefore, essential for the survival and growth of every single business.

Yet, I know this paradigm shift can present formidable challenges that many organisations struggle to overcome.

In 2023, I wrote a popular post covering the ten most common challenges businesses face when starting their journey to customer-centricity. It is called “Top 10 Challenges Facing Companies When They Adopt a Customer-First Strategy.”

However, a lot has changed in the past year, so I decided to update my suggested solutions to the latest obstacles businesses face when pivoting to a customer-centric approach.

As before, I provide supporting data and some inspiring case studies to get you going.

If I haven’t covered your challenges here or in the previous article, feel free to comment.

From reshaping ingrained company cultures to harnessing the power of big data, I’ll explore how industry leaders like Toyota, Salesforce, Target and Netflix have successfully navigated these challenges.

Whether you’re a startup looking to disrupt or an established enterprise aiming to evolve, this article will equip you with the knowledge and tools to transform challenges into opportunities.

Let’s take a look at nine key hurdles I have noted in working with my clients, and discover how to solve them, ensuring your business stays ahead in the race for customer loyalty and sustainable growth.

If you prefer to listen rather than read:

 

1. The Biggest Business Challenge – Revolutionising Company Culture

The transition from a product-centric to a customer-centric culture demands a complete overhaul of organizational mindset. This seismic shift often faces resistance from employees deeply rooted in traditional practices, who may struggle to see the immediate benefits of a customer-first approach. Companies grapple with ingrained behaviours, leadership communication gaps, and inadequate training programs.

Solution: The key lies in unwavering leadership commitment and consistent, clear communication. Take Zappos, for example – they’ve woven customer service into the very fabric of their core values, reinforcing this through ongoing training and aligning it with customer success metrics.

To facilitate this cultural metamorphosis:

  • Implement regular workshops that highlight the tangible benefits of customer-centricity
  • Develop a comprehensive internal communication strategy
  • Create a reward system that recognizes and celebrates customer-focused behaviours

The payoff is substantial: companies prioritizing customer experience see up to 1.7 times higher customer retention and 1.9 times higher average order value. This isn’t just a change in strategy; it’s a revolution in how business is done.

If you’d like to know the most effective way to overcome resistance to change in your company culture, please book some time for us to discuss your needs and identify three actions you can immediately take; click the link below.

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2. Mastering the Art of Customer Data Analytics

In the age of big data, businesses are drowning in information but thirsting

… Click to continue reading

Unlocking the Huge Untapped Potential for SMEs through the Superior Use of Data

Posted on by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

All CEOs face many challenges, perhaps those of small and mid-sized companies more so than others. However, the current data-rich environment offers an enormous untapped potential for SMEs. Let me explain.

Today’s technically advanced and data-rich environment makes the strategic use of data a crucial element for success. While many companies recognise the importance of its leverage for marketing purposes, an often overlooked aspect holds immense potential: the comprehensive and superior use of customer-centric data. This is what I want to cover in this post.

If you would rather listen than read:

 

Understanding the Potential for SMEs to Use More Customer-Centric Data

Superior use of customer-centric data means going beyond basic data collection and analysis to integrate customer insights into every facet of a business. This holistic approach uses data to enhance product development, service enhancement, operational efficiency, and strategic planning.

Let’s look into each of these in more detail.

Why the Superior Use of Data Matters

1. Personalised Customer Experiences: Superior data utilisation helps all organisations, especially SMEs, create personalised experiences that resonate with individual customers.

Businesses can tailor their offerings, communications, and engagements to create meaningful connections by understanding customers’ preferences, behaviours, and needs. According to a report by Epsilon, 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalised experiences.

2. Predictive Insights for Proactive Strategies: Leveraging data allows SMEs to anticipate trends and predict future behaviours.

This foresight enables proactive strategies, such as developing new products or services that address emerging needs or adjusting marketing tactics to stay ahead of the competition. Gartner predicts that by 2025, AI-driven businesses will be able to capture up to $2.9 trillion in business value.

3. Enhanced Decision-Making: Data-driven decision-making eliminates guesswork and reduces the risk of costly mistakes. SMEs can make informed choices based on concrete evidence, leading to more effective resource allocation and improved outcomes. According to McKinsey, data-driven organisations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times more likely to retain customers, and 19 times more likely to be profitable.

4. Operational Efficiency: Analysing customer data has huge potential for SMEs to identify inefficiencies and streamline processes. This enhances productivity, contributes to cost savings, and improves the overall customer experience. A Forrester study found that organisations leveraging data effectively see a 10% reduction in operational costs.

If you are an executive who believes you have untapped potential in your own organisation and would like to discuss your current challenges in data usage, innovation, or marketing, then why not CONTACT US? In a 30-minute CALL, you will walk away with at least three suggested actions immediately impacting your business.  

Transforming Marketing with Superior Data Utilization

The power of superior data use cannot be overstated for marketing heads. It revolutionises how marketing strategies are conceived, executed, and evaluated.

However, this means that they can no longer rely on creativity alone. They need to

… Click to continue reading

A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming the Most Common Data Integration Challenges

Posted on by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Insight development is based on gathering information, then data integration and analysis. However, organisations often find this challenging due to multiple sources, formats and time scales. Do you?

Many companies struggle to benefit from all their data and information because they don’t know how to turn it into insight, or their insights remain interesting but not actionable. There are many reasons for this.

From data quality issues to technological limitations and resistance to change, organisations must navigate a complex landscape to unlock the full potential of their data.

This comprehensive guide delves into the ten most common challenges in insight development, offering detailed analysis and strategies to overcome each obstacle, ensuring your organization can harness data for strategic advantage.

If you prefer to listen rather than read:

 

What an Actionable Insight Really is

I get so frustrated when people refer to numbers, data, or the findings from research projects as insights. None of these are!

In addition, developing actionable insights from a single survey is rare.

The reason is that insight development, getting to that “aha” moment that everyone immediately understands and wonders why no one thought of before, needs a 360 perspective of the challenge or opportunity under investigation and uses information from multiple sources.

There are many definitions of insight, but the one that I use, and that resonates with my clients, is a statement that impacts the attitudes or behaviours of current or potential customers/shoppers of a brand or category based on a human truth that results in an emotional response.

At first glance, this may seem like quite a mouthful, so to simplify retention, I refer to it as ABCDE:

A = Attitudes and Actions

B = Brand or Category

C = Customer, consumer, client or shopper

D = Deep human truth

E = Emotional response

To fast-track your understanding, here are some great examples of the insights behind some of the best-known brands:

  • Heineken Jillz: I want to drink alcohol on a night out, but I don’t like beer and wine is too variable in quality.
  • Kraft Philadelphia: Food is delicious, but I don’t want to eat too much fat (butter versus cream cheese).
  • DTC Diamonds: I want to stand out (shine), but as a modern woman, I also want to be seen as gentle and feminine.
  • Unilever Dove: I want to be admired for my beauty on the inside, not for what I look like on the outside.
  • AXE (Lynx in UK): I (young men) want to attract as many beautiful and sexy women as possible.
  • Haribo Starmix: There’s a child inside every adult.
  • Dulux sample paint pots: I love to decorate my home, but I don’t want to look stupid by choosing the wrong colour.

You’ll notice that most are written in the first person as if the target audience is speaking. This makes it much easier to understand and resonate with the reader without much effort … Click to continue reading

Got Data? It’s Never Big Enough For Business’s New Demands

Posted on by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Did the title that you’ve got data make you curious? Great! 

Of course, in today’s data-rich environment I’m not really suggesting that you ignore it, rather the opposite! But in working with clients around the world and in numerous industries, I’ve found that many are lost by all the information that is available to them.

In fact it seems to drown out their reasoning of what to do and they remain frozen in indecision. Is this your case? If so, then just follow the steps I detail below and you will soon be doubling, quadrupling, if not 10x the ROI of your data!

 

The Current Situation with Data

Data is everywhere and most organisations are drowning in it! Technology is at the heart of this data explosion and is being blamed for disrupting businesses, but most have simply not adapted to this new information-rich world.

I admit, a lot has changed in recent years. Consumers are learning how to adapt their behaviours and now trade their personal information for extra benefits. In response companies are changing their business models as their value shifts from products to services, or in some cases, to the sale of the information they gather.

Some organisations are reinventing themselves to take advantage of these changes. Others are ignoring them – at their peril, since they risk becoming the next Kodak, Borders or Blockbusters. If you’re interested in reading more about the US Retail Apocalypse and the 23 big retailers closing stores then I highly recommend this post on Fox Business.

So what should you do, whether you are in manufacturing or retail? Well, I believe that you should start by renovating your business model to take advantage of the countless new opportunities that the wealth of data offers you. And in my opinion, you had better do it sooner rather than later, because your competition almost certainly will!

 

The Opportunity

Yes you have data and information, but if you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that it’s not enough. You have to turn these into knowledge and understanding, and then into actionable insights. And this can only be done by asking the right questions of your data and information.

If you are struggling to take needed action despite a wealth of information, then this is certainly where you should start making changes – fast!

A 2015 Capgemini and EMC study called “Big & Fast Data: The rise of Insight-Driven Business” showed that:

  • 56% of the 1,000 senior decision makers surveyed claim that their investment in big data over the next three years will exceed past investment in information management.
  • 65% admit they risk becoming irrelevant and uncompetitive if they do not leverage data. This is especially true given that non-traditional providers, like startups thriving on big data processing, are moving into their industries.
  • Although companies realise they desperately need to dig into data analytics to maintain their business position, 45% surveyed think their current internal IT development cycles are not
… Click to continue reading

Why Technology Won’t Help You Understand Your Customers

Posted on by Denyse Drummond-Dunn

Were you surprised to read the title of this post? Do you believe that using technology to understand customers is the only way today? Then let me explain why I believe it’s not quite that simple. 

In today’s data-rich environment I’m not really suggesting that you actually ignore data nor technology! However, in working with clients around the world as well as in numerous industries, I have found that many are lost by the wealth of information that is available to them.

In fact it seems to drown out their reasoning of what to do with all the data and they remain frozen in indecision. Or worse, they invest in the latest platforms and systems in the hope that using technology to understand customers will help them with their knowledge void. Is this your case? If so, then just follow the steps I detail below and you will soon be doubling, quadrupling, if not getting 10x the ROI from your data.

 

The Current Situation with Data

Data is everywhere and most organisations are drowning in it! Technology is being blamed for disrupting businesses, but in most cases these companies have simply not adapted to this new data-rich world.

I admit, a lot has changed. Consumers are adapting their behaviours to the trading of their personal information. Companies are changing business models as their value shifts from products to services, or even to the sale of the information they gather.

Some organisations are reinventing themselves to take advantage of these changes. Others are ignoring them – at their peril – since they are at risk of becoming the next Kodak, Borders or Blockbusters. And of course the latest covid-19 epidemic will hasten many others to unfortunately follow suit in the coming months.

If you’re interested in reading an analysis of the US Retail Apocalypse and the 23 big retailers closing stores then I highly recommend this post on Fox Business from last year. No doubt it will need updating in 2021 when the fallout from the current pandemic becomes clearer.

So what should you do? Well, I believe that you should start by renovating your business model to take advantage of the countless new opportunities all the data and new technologies open up for you. And in my opinion, you had better do it sooner rather than later, because your competition will almost certainly be investigating ways to make use of it all!

 

The Opportunity

Yes you have data and information, but if you’re a regular reader of my blog, you will know that you have to turn these into knowledge to understand your customers. And then develop insights and actions. But this can only be done by asking the right questions of your data and information. The latest technology is not going to make up for your lack of thinking!

If you are struggling to take needed action despite a wealth of information, then this is certainly where you should start making changes – fast!

A 2015 Capgemini … Click to continue reading

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