4 common problems with single customer view

A single customer view is an analytical tool which helps businesses to track the communication between the company and a customer, across different channels. While communicating with a customer, it is not necessary that person might stick to a single mode to communicate a query or complaint. At a time when companies liberally use social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook, along with traditional means of communication like telephones and emails, it can be quite difficult to keep track of things. However, this is where SCV comes to your rescue. The best part about this tool is that it helps marketers streamline customer records from all channels and makes them easily accessible.

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If you are looking for more benefits of using SCV for your business, then improved customers services and high conversion of leads are some of the advantages that is making marketers swear by this tool. However, more often than not people have expressed their inability to tap into this tool. In fact, in a survey by Experian over 89 percent of the respondents said they faced problems while creating a SCV for their business. Read along to find a few reasons why you might be experiencing those problems:

Data linkage

Companies need to have a good data roadmap so that data collected across channels is linked optimally. There may be disparities because of differences in the way data is handled by various departments, which is why companies need to launch consistent methodologies for linkage, irrespective of the data’s source.

Poor quality of data

The kind of data you are getting deserves as much of your attention as your marketing strategies. While third-party sources for data might be an attractive option, companies need to be cautious about how accurate that data is. In 2015, marketing software provider Signal commissioned a survey of 302 North-American marketers. The respondents with the highest return on investment (ROI) said they used first-party data, which is information collected directly from the customer. Marketers could start focussing more on validating their data to avoid this problem.

Working in silos

For departments receiving feeds form multiple channels, coordination can be a challenge. The fact that departments often work in silos and do not share insights often kills the purpose of maintaining a SCV. As per Sailthru’s Neil Capel, a typical example of how siloed departments work is when customers are prompted to download an app, while visiting a website. After downloading the app, they are flooded with emails asking them to revisit the website.

Technical tools

Apart from authentic and relevant data, businesses must use cohesive strategies and technical tools to optimally use the information at hand. Capel uses the example of relational databases like SQL-based tools, which are not designed to handle the big data. He calls for better coordination between chief investment officers and chief marketing officers to see through the importance of cutting edge technical tools that are able to handle the challenges posed by data in SCV.

More than for a organisation, marketers need SCV system as it is the future of online marketing. With this analytical tool, business can centralise huge data into and use to gain useful insights to offer personalised solution to their clientele.