Well, if you own a business, you know that the customer journey doesn't end after the sale. In fact, one of the main objectives and challenges is to retain that customer. But what if we told you that, in this retention mission, structured data can be your great ally?
If you're familiar with the world of Inbound Marketing, you've probably heard of data analysis. After all, whatever the products and services, every company receives a constant flood of data. But between you and me, the important thing is what you've been doing with this data.
When it comes to organizing this information, here at Mkt4Edu we rely on the best technologies for accurate and efficient analysis, especially in fields such as Data Science, Big Data and analytical intelligence, which can help your company make the best use of its data.
If customer retention is also one of your objectives, this information is essential for a more assertive strategy. But before we get to that, it's important that you understand what structured data is and how it differs from unstructured data.
What you'll learn in this post:
- Structured data: what is it and how does it work in practice?
- Structured and unstructured data: what's the difference?
- 3 advantages of structured data in your retention strategies;
Read on and find out how data analysis can contribute to your marketing strategies.
Structured data: what is it and how does it work in practice?
If you're a regular reader of our blog, you've probably already read about data analysis. This is a fundamental process in both acquisition and retention strategies. But despite being such an important tactic, some people don't know exactly how structured data works in practice, so today we're here to explain it in an uncomplicated way.
In short, structured data is information that is in a clearly established format. Generally, this data has a predefined pattern and is easy to read.
To give you a better idea, let's look at a practical example. Imagine the following situation: within your company, there is a quantitative database that is updated regularly. In this case, the database is made up of columns and rows, and since it is quantitative, it is only updated with numbers. In this fictitious example, you can see that the format is already pre-established and well-structured, right?!
The focus of this data model is to adopt a standard so that the information is organized and easy to access, providing a more dynamic reading. Oh, and it's important to remember that if, by any chance, you want to "break" this pattern by including text or something else, it won't be accepted in the format.
Another example of structured data are spreadsheets, like the ones you make in Excel, you know? Or the popular XML files, which are hierarchically organized documents.
With this information well organized through structured data, you'll find it easier to control, search for information or even delimit the data. What's more, with the structure of this predefined data, you can analyze your target audience's responses in a practical way.
Structured and unstructured data: what's the difference?
The main difference between the two classifications of data lies in their formatting. While structured data has an established order, in unstructured data your company may not be able to identify a clear organization.
As the name implies, this type of data does not have a well-defined structure and is not limited to spreadsheets or tables. In other words, structured and unstructured data are complete opposites; while one has a pattern, the other does not.
Remember the example we gave in the previous topic? In it, you can't add any different characters, right? In unstructured data, this is not a problem, you can merge numbers and text without complications, because the information is dynamic and even flexible.
An example of unstructured data is Word documents, Powerpoint presentations or even our social networks.
Now that you've understood the main difference and how both classifications work in practice, let's get down to business. You're here to find out how they can contribute to your retention, right? And that's the subject of our next topic.
See also:
- Student retention: 6 strategies that can help improve;
- Student retention: educate, engage and build loyalty!
- Student retention: the 3 essential and effective techniques!
3 advantages of structured data in your retention strategies
Okay, at this point you're probably wondering what the point of analyzing structured data is for your retention, right? To answer your question, we've listed the three main advantages of adding it to your marketing strategy. Let's go?
1. It helps you really get to know your customer
Do you know your customer? Even if your answer was "yes", we know that consumer behavior is not immutable; on the contrary, it changes all the time. But how do you create assertive strategies with this ever-changing behavior?
This is where data analysis is a great ally! In order to achieve customer satisfaction and keep your company up to date, structured data analysis helps you store and organize information about your consumer's behavior and use it effectively.
With structured data, your company has valuable information on consumer habits, demographics, profile, reasons for resistance and even negotiation time. And it's clear that all this helps your brand not only to get to know your consumer, but also to understand their actions in depth and obtain satisfied customers.
2. Helps you make strategic decisions
Imagine creating your tactics using only subjective facts and "guesswork". It's like taking a shot in the dark, and it could be a huge financial loss, after all, you wouldn't be using any real data about your customer in your strategy.
But don't worry, thanks to technology and structured data, you don't have to. When it comes to decision-making, structured data is more than welcome here!
By analyzing information, you can make decisions easily, rationally and safely, based on solid data about your customer. What's more, you can analyze the process of the customer's journey up to the present moment and demonstrate more authority and confidence when it comes to serving the customer.
3. Contributes to more assertive strategies
And while we're on the subject of retention, you're well aware that marketing strategies play a fundamental role in your mission to retain customers.
But in order to create more assertive tactics, we know that it is essential to know your customer's difficulties and needs. At this point, you've already seen how structured data can help a lot, haven't you?
With the information we mentioned earlier, your marketing team can understand your customer's actions, create strategies and achieve the main goal: loyalty. But it doesn't end there! By using metrics and KPIs, your team can still discover data that produces new insights.
Well, if you don't know what KPIs are, don't worry, we'll explain, OK?! A KPI is a kind of tool for measuring the performance of a certain process, you know? In a nutshell, a KPI or key performance indicator is a key performance indicator.
In other words, with well-structured data and added performance indicators, you can make certain necessary corrections and drive your team to develop more accurate retention strategies.
Let's face it, using structured data has only been an advantage so far, hasn't it? After all, as well as directing your team, analyzing this information contributes directly to more assertive content marketing.
If knowing your audience can contribute to your retention tactics, not knowing them can cause you to lose them to the competition. To avoid this, it's time to start implementing software in your company and use this information to your advantage within your Inbound tactics.
And while we're on the subject of your marketing strategies and new technologies, be sure to check out our website and find out how the team of experts here at Mkt4Edu can transform your customer retention process.
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