That’s a potentially powerful source of insight into both the giver and the receiver, which over time, can be used to orchestrate marketing campaigns that target groups based on their shared contacts and shared interests. While most customers will be glad to be recognised on a repeat visit to a business or offered suggestions based on items they’ve previously bought, most customers however, if asked about a TV show they’ve watched, the health of their parents or pets, or their recent holiday in Mexico - thanks to information gleaned from their Twitter account - would likely find it all a bit weird and unsettling.Īgain, from the order history of an e-commerce customer, for example, a retailer will typically be able to see not only their personal purchases, but also details of gifts - who they were bought for, when and where they were delivered. However, the problem is that some customer intelligence efforts may also start to take advantage of these shrinking connections between us all, as organisations increasingly begin to build a picture of customers’ networks of personal contacts - their family, friends and colleagues. What customers however don’t want companies to do, is to overstep the mark, by launching into interactions with a customer that make it seem like they’ve been snooping or stalking.

A high level of visibility leads to better customer intelligence and, from there, to a better customer experience. In fact, that’s often a good thing to do, because information from social posts, clickstreams, review sites and surveys provide important clues to preference, sentiment and propensity to buy, rounding out the organisation’s view of that customer and offering new opportunities for increased personalisation and more timely, targeted interactions that they will welcome. This doesn’t preclude a company from integrating elements of a customer’s data trail into the record it keeps on them. That makes it imperative for organisations to embrace their role as good custodians of customer data and work to win customer trust by keeping it safe and using it only for purposes to which the customer has previously agreed.

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