The world of e-commerce is tough, and it’s only going to get tougher as more and more companies shift away from traditional brick and mortar stores and go with online enterprises. Because of the increase in competition and products offered, it’s more important than ever that companies get their marketing strategies right. And in a world filled with so much noise from email, social media, apps and the like, that too is getting more and more difficult. Not only is it harder than ever to get a customer's attention, but it’s also harder than ever to keep them coming back to your site/store. With big data technology and programs like Hadoop Hive, however, it’s becoming much easier.
For quite some time there’s been an evolution in consumer loyalty. It used to be that you shopped where you lived because that was your only option. You got to know the owner and the employees, and they knew who you were. It was a close relationship, and people wouldn’t consider shopping anywhere else.
Slowly, that changed with the explosion of big box stores. Individuals could drive to these stores relatively quickly, and with cheaper prices it made it more attractive than the store down the street. Still though, many consumers would stick with the store down the street because of the relationship and the personalized experience, even if the prices were a little more expensive.
Today, the number of ma and pop shops is ever dwindling and it’s easier to shop online than ever before. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home and you get things delivered to your door. The problem with this, from the store’s point of view, is that there’s no loyalty. It’s easy for consumers to shop at whichever store offers them the best price because there’s no emotional or psychological connection to your store as opposed to your competitors.
The challenge then for every e-commerce site is to establish loyal customers that will keep coming back, even if you might not always have the cheapest price. It’s called retention science. If companies get it right they’ve got an enormous leg up on the competition.
So, how can big data help?
Focus
Marketers have a difficult job trying to get the consumers attention in a world full of stuff. With emails, apps, social media, and a host of other “things” it’s easier than ever to get lost in the noise. Some companies might be tempted to try marketing strategies that address all mediums — email, mobile apps, social media and the internet — yet still not find success. It’s a complicated process. Big data can help companies focus their efforts on the mediums that will bring them the highest amount of success — whether that’s one medium or numerous mediums.
The strength of big data in retention science is its ability to gather and analyze in real-time huge amounts of data that can change what companies put in emails, when they send emails, how they market on apps, when they market via social media, and how and when they market to different demographics.
Resource Efficiency
With small businesses, especially, retention science can be difficult because of the associated cost. With relatively small marketing budgets, it’s hard to really do what a company wants. The restrictions placed because of low capital can be extremely detrimental. It’s vital that they get the most of every marketing dollar spent. Big data can do that. Not only does big data in the cloud make big data technology available to all sizes of business, but it helps companies become much more efficient with their resources. There is much less marketing waste, and much more revenue. It’s a positive cycle that keeps rewarding the company.
Your business too can benefit from the advances that big data brings to retention science. You’ll be bringing in more customers and keeping them for longer periods of time. Best of all, with big data in the cloud it’s more affordable than ever before.