How to Leverage Transactional Data

There are many sources of information that can be used to study the target audience and customer behavior. For example, you can track the actions of visitors on the company's website — any data collected will be very valuable. It is better for a business to build marketing campaigns based on the analytics of the accumulated information, because this way the creatives will hit the target.

Transaction information is a type of data that is easy to collect, yet very valuable. In this post, we will explain what transactional data is and how to use it to improve the effectiveness of your marketing.

What is transactional data

Transactional data is any information relating to customer transactions. A transaction in an online store is defined as an "event" during which the user's web browser and the company's website exchange data. What is the difference between transactional data and other data types? It contains the exact date and time of purchase.

In addition to the date and time of payment, managers get other valuable information: the product or set of products that attracted the customer, the type of payment, the frequency of purchases and the promo codes used. It is also possible to analyze user behavior before and after a purchase.

How to use transaction data

It is not enough just to gather data — you need to use it in the right way. The value of this information is that it provides businesses with a comprehensive view of customers' online behavior. The company tracks clicks and knows why users drop off the site without making a purchase or abandon their shopping carts. Analytics gives tips on where business growth points are and how to increase customer loyalty.

The undeniable advantage of transaction data is that it is reliable because it comes from first-party sources — directly from prospects and leads.

Examples of using different types of transactional data

Location info

For offline business, information about the "hot spots" of potential buyers has a huge weight. It is taken into account when opening new outlets. But when it comes to online stores, location is just as important. Geography of customers is useful in product planning. Logistics should be thought out more carefully in cases with seasonal goods. For example, you can move goods from regions with low demand to where demand is higher.

Payment types

The payment type is an important piece of transactional data. Firstly, it is useful for businesses to calculate how much each transaction costs, and what it includes: a commission from a bank or another intermediary. Ultimately, all this affects the profit of the organization.

You need to add all the payment methods demanded by customers in order to grow in sales. The more comfortable the payment process is for customers, the more they are attracted to the company, and the more likely they will make repeat purchases.

Payment information is also used to quickly troubleshoot technical issues. If a company is used to tracking transactional data, it will see and respond to errors in card reading and delays in payment processing in time. All this together will reduce the number of abandoned carts and unsatisfied customers.

Discounts and promotional codes

This is probably one of the most useful types of transactional data. There is a certain category of people who make purchases only on favorable terms. The analysis of such sales statistics brings the most unexpected insights, on which effective advertising campaigns are built.

You may find that a 10% discount on products has no effect on customer demand, but when a free shipping promotion is running, sales increase. It happens that the same discount, presented with different wording, is perceived by consumers in completely different ways. Let’s compare: “Buy one item and get the second one at half price” and “25% off the entire range of products.”

As for promotional codes, their validity period is limited and the time frame of the offer is precisely known, so you can analyze sales for this period and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of using promotional codes in marketing campaigns.

It is important to always compare different types of transactional data with each other. Consider both the location and the payment method, but do not dig into the calculations. Use only the data that you need at the moment.

User behavior before and after purchase

Everything we talked about above applies directly to the purchase. Time, date and type of purchase are undoubtedly very important transactional data, some of which is captured by the sales platform. Data on customer behavior before and after the purchase is considered to be indirect, but it cannot be classified as secondary. By studying this information, you can answer the following questions:

• How many times did the user view the item before purchasing?
• What products did the customer compare the product with?
• Did they read product reviews?
• How long has it taken the customer to buy the product since they saw the product for the first time? What pushed them?

Perhaps the company sent out promotional codes at the time of purchase, and this spurred the consumer to purchase. Answering these questions and analyzing patterns will help you better understand the goals and motives of your target audience. The deeper you understand customer habits, the more effective your marketing campaigns will be.

Transactional data makes sales easier

All obstacles to sales must be removed. By tracking transactional data, the company gains insight into the types of payments that often fail, as well as the people who started checkout but didn't complete it. Perhaps there was no convenient option in the list of payment methods, or maybe another problem “scared away” the person.

Profit grows if the company aims to facilitate the sales process in such a way that the client does not encounter any obstacles. This means minimizing the number of clicks, forms to fill out, and eliminating all system errors. Otherwise, the sale will not happen, and the business will miss the customer.

Increase customer loyalty using transactional data 

Transactional data helps personalize offers. Customer loyalty is extremely important for any business, and every opportunity should be taken to maintain it. All information about transactions, even anonymous ones, is useful for these purposes. The company can tailor promotions to the needs of a specific audience if it understands the needs of customers.

Take a closer look at the statistics of purchases of a particular type of products and determine the time that is best for your offer. Let's get back to seasonal items. To free up space in the warehouse for the new collection, you can come up with a promotional offer for the old one. Customers become more active, and you will spend less on moving the old collection to a location with high seasonal demand.

Marketing automation platforms and transactional data

Companies accumulate terabytes of data every day. It is quite difficult to process such a volume. Information is an asset, and there should be just enough of it to solve a specific business task. The same rule applies to transactional data. When there is a lot of information coming in, companies don't know what to do with it. And even if they know, there is often not enough capacity to process such a volume.

This is where modern marketing automation platforms like the CDP Altcraft Platform come in. With the right tools, transactional data works for your business.