Once we have PII — like an email — we have a lot of ways to learn more about them! We can:

• Send them a survey and directly ask what else we want to know about them, from demographic profiling to purchase considerations to a rating of their experiences with our brand so far.
• Send them a few emails or digital ads with a range of content or offers, and track what they click on, thereby deepening our understanding of their interests. It’s like an in-market conjoint test that could actually drive some new revenue as a bonus!
• Purchase a large swatch of second- and third-party data about them to append. There are many sources out there with demographic and financial profiling data for sale. Some even have additional information about consumers’ past purchases across several categories, collected from scanned receipts, or their voting history, or their attitudes and aspirations. GALE has aggregated many of these sources of information into Alchemy, our Customer Data Platform, and we can help our clients tap into these kinds of insights about consumers in their CRM databases.
• So, with UKs, we shell out a few dollars and — presto — KKs! Or at least we’re much closer. An experiential loyalty program and/or native app experience are still great ways to keep building more precise knowledge of these customers and, of course, keep them engaged.
  

Our jobs as marketing and customer experience professionals have grown. Brands are now built not (only) on flashy, attention-grabbing campaigns, but on routinely good, relevant experiences and communications. Being relevant requires knowing which customers value which experiences and content, and delivering at the right times in the right channels to the right person. That means not only investing in targeting Known-Knowns, but cultivating more of them from your Known-Unknowns and Unknown-Knowns that are out there in the world.

Robyn Cauchy

Director, CX Strategy & Insights