The Impact of Data Science on Customer Engagement

Regardless of the industry, today’s businesses are dealing with an increasingly digital customer base. The current global health crisis has led to the growth of e-Commerce purchases around the world, with eMarketer showing an 18.4% growth. And this is a trend that is expected to continue even after this crisis subsides.

Because of these developments, data science and customer engagement are becoming intertwined. In fact, in order to get a sense of how much data science has changed business you only need to look at the demand for specialists who have studied it at degree level. Projections by Maryville University show that the demand for data science degree graduates is very high with over 2 million job openings in 2018. This is why the university describes the field as one of the “fastest-growing employment areas in today’s tech industry”. And with top companies such as Boeing, Walmart, and Disney investing heavily in data science to drive critical business decisions, its ability to create better customer engagement cannot be underestimated.

Keep reading below for a few ways that data science can greatly improve customer engagement.

Identify trends in customer feedback

Customer feedback is a business’ secret weapon when it comes to creating innovative products. This is why Business 2 Community emphasizes that businesses need to focus their resources on pooling customer feedback, pointing out that reviews left on e-Commerce websites tend to be more genuine than answers given on a survey. Conducting customer feedback analysis on unstructured data points such as social media comments and reviews may take time to analyze, but this is where brands can generate the most insight.

Gauging customer representative performance

Your service representatives are the first in line to address any pressing customer concerns, which means their performance has a huge impact on overall consumer trust. According to CMS Wire’s 2017 article on analyzing call center data, companies can track an agent’s performance and gauge their emotion and tone of voice. Cross-analyzing this data against the post-call survey gives them a better idea of how their representatives are performing and where they need to improve. Of course, companies can also use this tactic to point out examples of great customer service.

Examining competitor strategies

While the current crisis has been difficult for companies across the board, there are some that have stepped up their game to create more inventive digital marketing campaigns. Danish brand Ganni has launched a campaign inspiring its followers to create homemade artworks surrounding a certain theme, while Lego’s new social media videos inject a bit of fun into otherwise drab homeschooling lessons. In order to stay ahead of the competition, companies need to analyze what their competitors are doing right. This can be done by using competitor analysis tools that can track metrics and compile them into useable data. E.g. you can compare their social media page to yours. Analyzing customer engagement for such campaigns can give your company ideas for utilizing social media’s interactivity to its full potential. Such analysis works particularly well for brands who want to engage with a different customer demographic.

Our previous article on Top 5 New Features in Dynamics 365 Customer Service maintains the importance of customer service tools as a way to update existing protocol. In a similar vein, a data-centric approach to improving customer engagement will help your company generate actionable insights and clear goals.

Article prepared by Rivka Jenken for trellispoint.com

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