5 Reasons To Reward & Incentivise Your Customers - REASON #5

In the world of e-commerce, big data analysis is the collection of large amounts of information in order to determine shopping patterns and insights about customer behaviour. Using big data provides many opportunities and benefits for both yourself as the business and your customer.

As soon as a customer registers for a loyalty program their details are maintained in securely in the relevant database. Companies can use this data for multi-channel, offline, and ecommerce segmentation. Customer profiles can be analysed and rewards, discounts etc can be tailored according to specific consumer groups and customer preferences.

Data from loyalty programs give you a complete view of customer behaviour, purchasing habits, and preferences. Such information can be utilised to maximise management of inventories, adjust pricing, and plan promotions more effectively. Results from special promotions can easily be measured and you can see where there have been additional purchases, increase in engagement on additional channels, or decreased time between purchases.

Speaking about Tesco’s loyalty program, John Gardiner, (chairman 1997-2004) noted, “What scares me about this, is that you know more about my customers in three months than I know in 30 years.”

You can use data to cross-sell and up-sell, offering extended warranties after an item is purchased, make a suggestion for accessories that go well with the purchased item, and provide discounts on related purchases. Another great line is to promote offers during slow times/days/seasons in order to maximise productivity and capitalise on providing value for your “ad-hoc” shoppers

Big data allows for real-time analysis on your customer’s habits and preferences. When you’re able to tailor their experience based on their likes/dislikes, demographics and other feedback it gives a lot of awareness and ideas towards how you might increase profits. That being said, it is imperative to maintain customer information securely and ensure you handle such information sensitively and, within the bounds of the GDPR guidance (or your own country’s data protection rules). Information such as gender, nationality and age can all be used towards the building of a customised experience. Being able to develop bespoke processes with big data gives business owners a huge advantage in terms of sales.