In today’s competitive market, data is power. The more comprehensive your contact database is, the better you are at making decisions, improving customer service, increasing customer retention, managing marketing efforts, tracking social media interaction, and predicting sales trends.

Your contact database shouldn’t be limited to your customers; it should also include high-quality leads, suppliers, and partners. But when it comes to customer data, you should be focusing on the four types of data:

Basic Data

The most basic type of contact information is the name and address. This is the minimum amount of information you need to send somebody a letter or package. But if you want to do more than just send mail, you’ll need to include additional information like phone numbers, email addresses, and social media profiles.

Email addresses are essential as most business is conducted via email. People also use their email addresses to sign up for everything – from user accounts to social media and other online platforms. Social media profiles can be useful as well, especially if you’re trying to reach a younger audience. Including additional information like birthdays, anniversaries, and interests can also be helpful. This can help you personalize your communications and make a stronger connection with your contacts.

Behavioral Data

Behavioral data is information about how someone acts.It helps you understand purchasing trends to finetune your marketing efforts and streamline market segmentation efforts. This can include things like:

• Purchase history – The types of products they purchase

• Purchasing frequency – How often they purchase them and when they purchase them. For example, Black Friday, sales, or holidays

• What channels do they use to make their purchases (online, in-store, etc.)

Attitudinal Data

If behavioral data is how a customer acts, attitudinal data is how the customer feels. Therefore, attitudinal data can include things like:

• How satisfied they are with your product or service

• How likely they are to recommend you to a friend

• What kind of emotions do they feel when they think about your brand

This type of data can help you understand how people perceive your business and what you can do to improve their experience. This type of data is typically gathered manually through surveys, interviews, or questionnaires. You can also leverage a customer data platform that allows you to collect, manage, and analyze customer behavior and attitudes.

Engagement Data

Engagement data is the information about the interactions between your business and a customer. Engagement data can be broken down into categories such as brand engagement, support engagement, product usage, and successful engagement. Engagement data can include things like:

• Website visits

• Email opens and clicks

• Social media interactions

• Customer service interactions

This type of data can help you track how engaged your customers are with your brand and where they are in their journey. Understanding how your customers engage through the various touch points allows you to improve interactions. 

At RunnerEDQ, we know the benefits of the different types of contact data. We offer Data Enhancement Services which help optimize your current contact database with geocoded addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, social media handles, and more.