Why is Customer Data Quality Crucial in the Omnichannel Era

The rise of omnichannel retailing introduces innovative methods for attracting and retaining customers but also presents challenges, especially in managing customer data quality.

Today’s customers are more demanding and expect brands to understand and meet their unique desires and needs. As consumer behavior becomes increasingly unpredictable, it is crucial for retailers to track customer interactions over the long term and across multiple channels. Therefore, precise and up-to-date data is essential for success in any omnichannel strategy.

Customer Data

High-quality customer data greatly enhances various aspects of business operations:

• Better Decision-Making: Accurate, up-to-date, and reliable data provide retailers with greater confidence in their decisions.
• Increased Productivity: Error-free data enables employees to be more productive by reducing the time spent validating information or correcting manual errors.
• Optimized Marketing Campaigns: Precise and current data improve segmentation and communication, which is vital in the complex omnichannel shopping environment.

Importance of Quality Data

The 1-10-100 rule illustrates the importance of quality data and the costs of errors. Verifying data at a cost of €1 at the time of collection can prevent spending €10 to correct an error later. If left uncorrected, the error could lead to losses amounting to €100 due to missed sales or reduced profits.

Poor data quality results in both direct and indirect economic impacts. Direct costs are straightforward to quantify. For instance, in an online order, if a delivery fails due to an incorrect address, the retailer faces direct costs from the delivery failure.

Omnichannel

Due to the pandemic, many retailers have experienced a substantial increase in online sales. However, a survey indicates that 1 in 20 online orders is not delivered on the first attempt. This results in additional costs for the retailer, who must pay to rectify the delivery address or accept a return and issue a refund if the customer becomes frustrated with the delay.

Furthermore, a dissatisfied customer due to a poor delivery experience is unlikely to return to your online store. The primary reason for delivery failures is the incorrect capture of customer addresses. Errors can occur both from the eCommerce customer and the store associate during the address entry process.

Four out of five retailers report that customers often do not realize that delivery failures are due to errors in the address they provided themselves.

Indirect Costs

In addition to direct costs, data errors can cause significant indirect costs. For instance, an incorrect email address for a customer enrolled in a loyalty program prevents the retailer from communicating with an interested customer, resulting in missed sales opportunities and a negative impression.

These issues underscore the importance of investing in solutions that prevent customer data errors at the point of collection, especially in the omnichannel era. By enhancing data quality, retailers can improve customer satisfaction and capitalize on sales opportunities.

Capency and Orisha Retail Chains

Capency, a specialist in customer data quality, has partnered with Orisha Retail Chains to create a solution for real-time validation of customer data. This solution validates delivery addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in transactions managed by Orisha Retail Chains POS, OMS, and WMS systems.

For more information on how Capency’s technology can enhance data quality and support your omnichannel strategies, contact us.