Using primary data to its full potential 

Editor’s note: Maureen Quirk is a CMO at Chief Outsiders, a Texas-based business and consulting firm.

With the growing movement away from third-party identifying data, it is critical for most organizations to adopt a new data strategy. There is tremendous power in harnessing primary data, as it is unique to your business, data that you direct, collect and own. Despite significant benefits, most organizations are not yet harnessing the power of first-party data at all, and certainly not to its full potential. 

This article will cover the best sources of primary data, an approach for obtaining and managing this data, and how to put this data to work to improve your customers’ experience and grow your business.

Evolving purchasing behaviors create new opportunities for primary data

The evolution of the buying journey is nothing new. Still, certain behaviors that became more prominent during the pandemic will continue to accelerate, which has created rich new sources of primary data. Estimates vary, but all agree that the pandemic pushed the buying journey forward into digital realms that were not anticipated for several more years. Digital Commerce 360 noted that while e-commerce was moving quickly in 2019, the next two years pushed more customers toward online solutions and "accelerated e-commerce growth years into the future."

The implications of this acceleration on data strategies are clear. After all, primary data is collected from your customers and prospects through their interactions with your business. Examples include data shared by customers through your websites, applications, landing pages, lead response forms and in response to the communications that you send out, such as marketing initiatives through e-mail, events and webinars. Because this data comes from the direct relationship you have with your customers, it helps to build familiarity and create authentic conversations. 

In Chief Outsiders' third annual CMO survey, CEOs identified digital building capabilities as a top-six priority of the 2022 growth plan. Digital capabilities can take on many forms. Therefore, it is wise to consider what type of digital presence may meet your customers at various stages of their buying journey while authentically exchanging information.

Before your organization begins collecting data through your digital strategy, you should set a clear road map to establish what data should be collected in the first place. Your approach must be driven by your overarching business strategy and be rooted in the customer experience, and needs to distinguish between necessary and discretionary data. 

For example, one of your business goals may be to acquire new customers by pulling them into a thought leadership funnel. You create a robust content plan complete with webinars and demonstrations to push toward this goal, all designed to attract new customers seeking solutions. You would use this as your focused primary data source. In addition, you would use this program to provide personalized content, target high-priority customer segments and create forums for knowledge creation. This will create rich data points for your organization and increase engagement with your organization's products and services. 

The survey shares priorities for capturing primary data. Across the board, over 90% of CMOs surveyed asserted that owned websites and social channels were the best methods for capturing and managing first-party B2B data. An almost equal number (95%) of CMOs said that marketing technologies such as CRM and marketing automation must be in place to support these efforts. 

If your organization did not use the last two years to build its marketing stack, there is no longer time to delay if you wish to be poised to capture your share of valuable data. A primary data collection plan should be constructed with measurable objectives to guide which data will achieve your business objective, where your organization should invest in harvesting this data and how these points of intersection may impact the customer experience. 

There are costs to data acquisition that need to be considered, including risks to the customer experience, data privacy compliance, data governance and security and impact on the perception of your organization. However, these costs can help prioritize your data collection efforts when weighted with your objectives.

Win-win strategies for obtaining primary data

People want to understand how their data will be used and why it is being requested. There is also some latent resentment that they must give up some aspects of their data to interact with a business. Customers feel better about sharing their information when they gain something in return, such as promotions, contests and access to information. The term zero data, which was first coined by Forrester in 2018, addresses this sentiment and focuses on data that your customers and prospects give to you in exchange for other content. This reciprocal relationship creates a currency exchange between primary data and knowledge. Having content to barter for customer information can create a mutually beneficial relationship where everyone feels they are winning.

Your customers also have more positive sentiments toward giving up their information when they believe that the business is handling this data responsibly. An example of this is to show customers that your organization has strong data governance and processes to ensure data integrity and minimize data breaches.

In addition to your processes, another critical area to ensure that your collection and storage practices are on point is ensuring that you have the correct technology. To correctly harness the power of your primary data strategy, your digital marketing practice must be sufficiently mature. Many organizations try to do this in-house while accelerating their primary data strategy. This is a lot to take on at once, so determining capability technology gaps is critical.

Activating data for optimal customer experience

With a clear understanding of which data is most important for your business strategy and how this data will be collected and managed, you are now ready to put this data to work to improve your customer's experience. The holy grail of customer experience is one-to-one personalization, a tall task that depends on your initial data collection and management techniques. One misstep in your personalization (using last name instead of first name as an example) can undermine your credibility.

You can also provide content at critical points during the purchasing journey using your data intelligence. For example, improving search results based on specific behaviors or providing curated content to audience segments when browsing your website can give critical differentiation and improve conversion.

Data strategy: Measure for results

After activating, it is time to measure and then begin anew! Measuring the effectiveness of your organization's data strategy also informs your overall business strategy. As an example, a SaaS company used its events as its primary source of data and lead generation but, upon measuring results, found that the leads were not actionable. As a result, the company began employing segmented landing pages that provided targeted webinar content for each segment. This approach immediately produced better qualified and actionable leads that allowed the company to focus its efforts on a narrower audience with more significant results.

Primary data allows closer connections to our customers, providing better experiences for your clients and ultimately accelerating growth. The first step in primary data is governance to ensure that data is being used responsibly to ensure trust and longevity.