Data

BARLEY LAING

UK and Ireland managing director, Melissa

www.melissa.com

When customers are shopping online, “autocomplete reduces the number of keystrokes required when typing an address by up to 70%, accelerating checkout and increasing the likelihood of a completed purchase,” writes Barley Laing

Four ways clean customer data can help retailers prosper as the pandemic abates

Barley Laing, UK and Ireland managing director at data quality and ID verification business Melissa, outlines how accurate customer data can improve the shopping experience and reduce costs

The 2020 economic outlook for Ireland is challenging, that is not only accurate but easily recognised, and properly with the European Commission recently predicting formatted. Autocomplete also reduces the number of that the Irish economy will contract 8% this year. keystrokes required when typing an address by up to 70%, This is a worry for grocery retailers who might have had mixed accelerating checkout and increasing the likelihood of a fortunes during the lockdown, and particularly for those who do completed purchase. not yet offer a standout online shopping and delivery service.

Convenience chains and supermarkets have been forced 3. Save money and improve the customer into selling online or improving their online offering during experience the lockdown. This is out of necessity to drive purchases, as Removing duplicate data reduces costs and protects the they need to make the most of increasing demand for online retailer’s reputation. For instance, when customers receive grocery shopping as the pandemic abates. As the grocery sector two mailings in their name, with one spelled incorrectly, this experiences huge demand for online sales and delivery, it has not only wastes marketing resources and opportunities, it become clear that having clean and accurate customer data is also demonstrates to your customer a lack of understanding crucial to their success. If retailers are serious about standing out as to their identity and needs. By merging and purging the from the competition, they must tap into better data to improve most difficult records with an advanced fuzzy matching the customer experience, reduce costs and drive growth. tool, retailers save money with targeted customer

1. Timely delivery of goods and communications 4. Improve logistics and reduce

Customer data – collected at the shipping costs onboarding stage and through Use accurate Eircodes. They ensure retailers can precisely ongoing communications - is one of locate individual addresses or premises, and are critical to retailers’ most valuable assets. Only providing better logistics, planning and faster deliveries. data that is clean, contemporary, While Eircodes specify an address, use geocodes — which and verified ensures sales-driven deliver latitude and longitude coordinates — in order to customer communications, and gain pinpoint (rooftop) accuracy. Geocoding helps retailers importantly, enables products avoid costly return-to-sender scenarios, and also makes ordered to be efficiently delivered. it possible to accurately determine the shopper’s distance This is vital in providing a standout from the distribution point and therefore generate real-time customer experience in an increasingly calculation of shipping costs. Retailers can then offer a range competitive marketplace. of delivery options and prices depending on how fast the

Retailers need to remember that without routine data customer wants to receive their goods. quality processes, customer data degrades at 2% each Geocoding can also power efficient retail store location month and as much as 25% annually. Also, with customers and local search lookups. This drives footfall and enriches increasingly providing data via their mobile devices, mistyping the shopping experience, increasing customer satisfaction. contact details on a small screen has become a problem. It’s Customer experience can also be enhanced with why approximately 20% of addresses entered online contain geolocational offers that target audiences based on their errors such as spelling mistakes, wrong house numbers, and whereabouts, and the nearest outlet or distribution inaccurate Eircodes. point to them.

Fortunately, data that is simply incorrect, such as a

communications and enhance the customer experience. customer name, address, email, or telephone number, can Clean data powers success be easily rectified if retailers put some simple procedures in Online grocery sales are set to surge in 2020 in large part place. Straightforward and cost-effective, these practices involve because of the pandemic. With Covid-19 still in circulation, cleansing and standardising existing customer data as a basic shoppers continue to worry about the safety of the high business practice. Currently held records can be updated in street and have come to appreciate the convenience of a batch form and, moving forward, updated in real-time as new simple click for home delivery. data is collected and becomes the critical driver of a seamless In the UK, recent research by Mintel reveals the online customer onboarding experience. grocery sector is set to grow by 33% and reach £16.8 billion in 2020, up from £12.7 billion in 2019, with an increase 2. Speed up checkout and reduce cart in shoppers across all age groups from digitally savvy abandonment millennials to the over 65s. Address autocomplete tools are a good place to start with the Grocery retailers simply must be prepared to compete in this collection of accurate address data, correcting information new landscape. Data is the key, and if they have not already, at the customer onboarding stage. These tools automatically grocery retailers need to ramp up their access to accurate, reveal a suggested correct version of the address as the customer quality customer data as a new driving force in their online and completes an online contact form, enabling them to select one overall business success. n