Let data do the driving
Data is the new currency and more and more companies are waking up to the idea that it holds the key to understanding their customers better, and therefore growing their business. This quarter, Ding’s Reggie Lyons, head of analytics, talks all things data and why it matters for everything from marketing to product development.
The results are in and a data-driven approach can better engage customers and boost revenues. And with churn and attrition at all time high – it’s never been more important or timely to use every tool in the box to help to grow business.
Companies with a customer-centric focus will find this unsurprising as the more data you have on your customer, the better you understand them, therefore the better you can serve them, create products they want and grow business. So far, so simple – but what does a data-driven approach actually look like in practice.
“Paying attention to the data and what the user wants and anticipating their needs with new products and services takes time and investment.”
In essence it is making the choice as a business to take a coordinated approach to gathering and analysing data so that all pieces of the business are sharing data and it is recognised as a trusted source of information that will inform business strategy. Paying attention to the data and what the user wants, while anticipating their needs with new products and services takes time and investment, and a buy in from senior management. A long-term view can sometimes be challenging for companies under pressure to grow and scale.
User research is great for getting feedback from your customers but when you are growing rapidly and operating in markets throughout the world, you can’t talk to every customer. This is where a data-driven approach can prove invaluable.
Trust the funnel
At Ding we use data-driven decision making and a touch of intuition to highlight the features and benefits that are most important to users, at the most relevant time. We analyse customer usage of our products in order to identify where we can improve their experiences. We also use data to look at all the steps a user takes to complete a transaction and we see where they may have issues – where the weak points are. At what part of the funnel are they dropping away, or hesitating.
Through this approach we have identified points of improvement – such as adding new languages which improve the experience of our customers. Through testing, we have also found that we can reduce the friction at the payment stage. In the below example, we analysed the customer flows and identified a significant opportunity at the payment stage. We decided to test by removing some fields from the payment form for credit card users. The impact of this meant that less content was being pushed below the fold and more users were able to successfully complete their transactions. These changes had a positive impact for our mobile users.
Figure 1: Payment Conversion Funnels for Mobile Users
For those users, we have seen a more than 10% increase in conversion. All of this comes from monitoring the conversion funnels and using them to incentivise product improvements.
All these improvements lead to more users transacting with a better experience. The better the user experience, the more engaged they become with the product – and the more sticky they become.
But the benefits of using data go beyond just improving communications and the experience – the insights gleaned can help to identify and target new customer segments, and data can help companies to measure and improve their strategies in real time.
Making the connection
It’s not only about building the best product, but also about connecting with our users. We can look at a customer’s history and understand more about their needs. We can communicate to our users more effectively when we know more about where they are in their journey with us.
Do they use the product frequently? How long have they been using the products? When was the last time they completed a transaction? We use this information to build out tailored and targeted communications strategies.
Gaining better clarity on our customer base, has allowed Ding to build better and stronger connections, greater loyalty, and allowed us to personalise our service. Importantly, we have seen strong evidence we can improve customer acquisition and retention through this data-first approach and the all-important bottom line.
