Data is incredibly important to eCommerce marketing.

It requires time and resources, but the returns it brings in are well worth it. You’re basically flying blind without gathering the proper data. Who is your customer? What are they interested in? How do they prefer to make purchases?

The answers to these kinds of questions make a huge difference to the efficiency of your online store. You could bring more revenue to your store if you focus on gathering data and using it properly. Not only that, but you could also offer more value in the content and promotions that you provide.

Without data, you are shooting without a target. Read on to find out how to use your data to benefit your eCommerce business.

Hire the right people

The people around you are a huge part of your success. Assemble a team that includes people experienced in sales, marketing, and customer service. Pluck people out from their departments based not on convenience, but on the fact that they are willing to learn and listen to people with different skillsets.

Choose people you are confident can understand data acquisition, analysis, and implementation. Data is most effective when it is able to move freely between departments, and not owned by marketing, because they were the ones who requested it.

It’s also important that once data has been analyzed the results need to be simple enough that everyone can understand and benefit from it.

Intelligent use of data

Your marketing efforts will be much more effective if you hold all your data in one place.

You should grab data about as many customer behaviors as you can. Integrate the data gathered from your different departments into one source that everyone can access and use. This includes everything from mailing lists, purchase records, and spreadsheets to your CRM and email list to data you’ve gathered about user behavior on your website.

One very good use of data is calculating product-specific revenue. This information helps you decide how to best allocate your marketing resources.

Watch for shifts and changes in this data, as it could signal a larger shift in consumer tastes. This data also gives you an opportunity to take advantage of a trend and put out even more incentives to maximize your profits on an already popular item.

Figure out your ROI

It’s amazing to hear, but 75% of marketers have a very difficult time measuring their ROI.

When you’re thinking about your ROI, think of it in terms of the value of a customer. Think of the customer in a single, interdepartmental way. Your criteria needs to be evaluated in terms of the ROI’s contribution to the company’s main goals.

The best way to measure ROI is to choose one metric to target, rather than trying to measure everything and optimize everything. The metric you choose should be one that your interdisciplinary team can all agree is valuable.

One metric you may get some agreement on is customer acquisition cost. This data can tell you if your store is operating sustainably. If it goes up, you’re probably spending less efficiently. It’s a good bellwether for how effective your marketing is.

Get to know your audience

Use your data to put yourself in a position where you have a comprehensive understanding of your audience and can predict customer value. Buyer personas are great for this purpose.

Buyer personas represent your ideal customer, and they are a compilation of your most important customer data in an easy to understand package. The more accurate and more detailed your data, the more effective your buyer personas will be.

You should make identifying high performers a priority. They account for a hugely disproportionate amount of your sales. You’ll find them by keeping your eyes open for behaviors like evangelism, as well as high purchase value and frequency.

There are plenty of ways to get to know your audience. For one, add a few more fields when to your sign up to get a better feeling of who they are. Send frequent surveys that question their motives for buying products, their behavior and psychological aspects of their shopping. Watch their behavior on your site – what they are searching for, where they spend the most of their time and so on.

This data could help you understand your buyer persona better and thus improve your targeting and bring your marketing campaigns to the next level.

Build your strategy

Once you’ve got some good, reliable data and defined buyer personas you can develop your marketing strategy.

Utilize email marketing and segment your list based on your buyer personas. Instead of sending one email out to everyone, you’ll be sending targeted messages to people based on their needs, wants, and interests.

Take a look at what kinds of influencers are out there, and which ones will appeal to your buyer personas. You can choose one or several, based on what you’re selling and ask them if they’ll test and review your products publicly.

Think about how your customers like to make purchases. We’re talking about things like whether they educate themselves, or come to you for education on your products. If you can smooth out their process a bit you’ll remove some friction that can cause frustration, boredom, and cart abandonment.

Based on the data, you can strategize your content and put the right information in front of right people. Ask for feedback on parts of your website flow and provide them with logistics of how their feedback helped – this way, you’ll get loyal and involved customers.

And, make sure all of your tactics within your marketing strategy can work together to help you reach your business goals!

Conclusion

There is so much data out there about your customers, their behavior, and their preferences. Collecting it is the first step, but it’s how you manage, analyze, and use it that determines how effective it is.

Use data to help you make the best decisions for your eCommerce business and you’ll be able to not only improve their experience and target your messages better but you’ll also increase your revenue and be a more well-respected business owner.

If you’re looking to build an eCommerce website, or want some ideas on how to optimizing your website for more conversions, contact Thrive Internet Marketing Agency today!