Interesting and useful articles about marketing, our product and online communications

Tips for Digital Marketing & Sales in Altcraft Blog

We’ll send you a guide 

with 26 strategies for
automating marketing via email.

Our experts will guide you in maximizing the effectiveness of Altcraft Platform for achieving your goals.

Elevate Your Business 
to a New Level

By continuing to use our site, you consent to the processing of cookies that ensure the proper functioning of the site.

Download documentation

Thank you!

Feel free to ask us any questions. Our experts are


Ask our expert 

ready to answer them during business hours.

Anti-Spam policy

Blog

Contacts

Support

Partners

Pricing

Privacy Policy

Why Altcraft

Page not found

Help Center: Guides on How to Use Altcraft Platform

Personal data policy

Privacy Policy
and personal data policy

Request a demo | Fill Out the Form | Altcraft Platform

Get Started With Altcraft's Software

Why business chooses Altcraft

processing of personal data

You can ask us your questions. Our experts are ready to answer them within the working day.

What else 
would you like to know?

How to set up a tracking pixel

What is a loyalty program

How to create a customer database

How to manually import customer data

You may be interested

<Img 
img="/uploads/Blog_3d85602fec.png"
alt="8 Ways to Protect Your Customer Data"
/> 

Previously, only one department of the company stood guard over customer data. Now data safety is the business of every employee, since access to information is provided to almost everyone, but to varying degrees. In this post, we will talk about the constant protection of personal information, the consequences of leaks and the components of reliable protection.

## Why data protection is important

When it comes to protecting customer data, it is about protecting personally identifiable information (PII). PII are individual markers of a person: full name, passport details, residential address, contact information (phone, email, social networks), IP address, payment details and social status. This information should be carefully protected from accidental leaks.

Moreover, not only large companies should think about this issue, but also the smallest ones that have any kind of customer database. Ironically, the worst data offenders are conglomerate companies like Yahoo, Amazon, and Google. However, you can't be too careful in this matter.

From **a legal point** of view, failure to comply with PII protection requirements will inevitably lead to fines. Laws vary depending on the scope of the business and territorial affiliation. They are most often tied to the location of the user, not the data processor. For example, it is likely that any digital business will fall under the [**GDPR**](customer-data-privacy-issues-in-digital-marketing) (General Data Protection Regulation for EU citizens).

There are also **reputational risks**. Leaks to third parties can lead to loss of customer loyalty and trust in your company. At best, the business will get a lot of [**negative reviews**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales) on various resources and a bad reputation in the media, and at worst, it will get a lawsuit, perhaps even a class action lawsuit.

As for **internal business processes**, it is unprofitable for a business to spend extra time (and therefore money) on handling incidents related to the leakage of customer data. Inside the company, it is better to [**build a system**](ways-to-address-customer-data-privacy-issues-in-digital-marketing) for protecting personal information so that it functions reliably almost offline and does not take time from employees.

The most important things are **privacy** and **security**:

- To maintain privacy, take action on information in accordance with the permissions received from users and control access to information.
- To ensure security, you need to have a plan of action to prevent scammers, hackers and untrustworthy employees from accessing confidential information.

## How to get started with data protection

Before you begin to study the components of the security of personal information, try to answer the following questions as honestly as possible:

### Do you have sufficient knowledge of the legal requirements for protecting confidential data in the area of your business?

Not only do the requirements of the legislation vary in different countries and in different areas, but lawmakers are constantly making changes to the set of rules that must be followed.

### Are you sure about the reliability of the third parties whose services you use?

It is likely that your business operates on the basis of third-party services. If they dishonestly dispose of the [**client data**](first-second-and-third-party-data) that you provide to them, the responsibility for what happened will still fall on you. Therefore, carefully choose partners: hosting, CDP, email services, and others.

If you've reviewed your answers to the questions above and come to the conclusion that there's nothing to worry about, it's time to move on to specific steps you can take to secure your client database.

## 8 steps of reliable protection of confidential data

### 1. Define the risks

Good data protection strategies are based on the analysis of risks and threats for the business. If you approach the issue comprehensively and describe in detail all possible threats, you get a full-fledged risk profile. This way, the company will have an idea of the dangers and weaknesses, and it will have time to develop countermeasures. 

### 2. Find a Data Protection Officer (DPO)

Perhaps a small business will find it unnecessary to hire a data protection specialist, but every company should make sure someone is in charge of data protection and security. The specialist is engaged in training and auditing, monitors legislation, and also closely cooperates with regulatory authorities. DPO will also be able to deal with customer requests on data security issues at a higher competent level.

### 3. Store information in one place

The more places where information is stored, the higher the likelihood of leaks. In addition, disparate information is difficult to process and analyze. Most often, such data is not suitable for effective work with them. What’s more, it easily leaks outside the company, gets into unauthorized applications and disappears out of control. The problem is solved by the use of [**Customer Data Platforms**](/features/cdp) (CDP), which combine all information into single client profiles with access to them by a limited number of people.

<Img
img="/uploads/digital_profile_2_e79e5283cc.png"
alt="Customer digital profile"
/>

The CDP traces the history of the data and all associated permissions. This is especially important for businesses that are regulated by GDPR and CCPA laws.

### 4. Collect only the data you need

Extra information will not help you in any way to achieve your goals, and it will soon become outdated, lose its relevance and become unusable. And if this data is leaked, you will be responsible for it. A large amount of information attracts hackers and scammers.

<Img
img="/uploads/tilda_subscription_form_ed2f130145.png"
alt="Opt-In form on a website"
/>

### 5. Limit employees who have access to information

Not every employee in your company needs access to customer information in order to work. Let the information remain at the disposal of only those persons who actually need it for the quality performance of their work duties.

### 6. Choose reliable software

Most modern technology is already equipped with primitive anti-fraud measures. But it is important to make sure that the built-in antiviruses work correctly. Don't rely on them alone. Better install a firewall, use external links, and test the software to see if it flags suspicious emails.

### 7. Develop a contingency plan

Hackers are now progressing and can break even a reliable system. All previous steps were aimed at preventing data leakage: identifying the danger, trying to level it completely, or reduce the negative consequences. If a leak does occur, it's a good idea to have a working emergency plan. At a minimum, you need a good external specialist for expert assistance.

### 8. Train employees

Not all employees need access to personal information, but it is everyone's responsibility to think about the security of work information. You should educate staff about basic data protection practices and how to recognize fraud. In case of violations, employees must immediately inform the competent authorities. Let the issue of safety be included in the onboarding training of newbies.

## Conclusion

Ensuring the safety of confidential customer data is an important business task. The significance of the issue is confirmed both by legislation and reputational aspects. Collect only the data you need. Firstly, users are annoyed when they are asked about all areas of life, and secondly, complete databases are highly valuable and attract scammers and hackers. Take a closer look at the other ways to protect information described in this post. Perhaps one of them will save your business from trouble.

In this post, we talk about why information privacy is important, and how businesses can protect customer data.

Блог.png

In the digital world, information is an attractive source for hackers, so the safety of data is an important task in business.

How to Protect Your Customer Data: 8 Effective Ways

8 Ways to Protect Your Customer Data

<Img
img="/uploads/How_CD_Ps_Will_Save_Marketing_in_a_Cookie_Free_World_c0c129f31f.png"
alt="How CDPs Will Save Marketing in a Cookie-Free World"
/>

Cookies (third party cookies) have been the lifeblood of online marketing for over a decade. With the help of them, marketers tracked the actions of users on the Internet and made advertising. The company received information about the behavior, preferences and interests of the audience.

But with the advent of GDPR and CCPA, which will close access to third-level data in 2023, marketers are beginning to think more seriously about advertising in [**a privacy-first world**](customer-data-privacy-issues-in-digital-marketing).

Marketers are starting to adapt to a world without cookies and are realizing that CDPs (Customer Data Platforms) are becoming a powerful marketing tool. CDP manages, collects and stores customer data in compliance with data protection regulations.

## What a world without cookies would look like

Imagine what would change on the Internet without cookies.

### Google Topics (and others…)

Topics are the third part of Google's decision to block access to third-party cookies. The tool groups users by unique identifiers: the IP address accessed by the client's web browser. The API stores information about three to five topics with which a person constantly interacts on the Internet. For example, sports, news and pets.

Websites are then able to access these topics to produce advertisements that will possibly attract the user when they visit the site. For example, an ad for pet products appears next to sporting goods.

But that's part of the problem when it comes to new ideas for ad targeting.

In the new reality of targeting, marketers are discussing and testing other methods:

- Contextual targeting 
- Universal Identifiers
- Probabilistic
- Cohort-based targeting 

### First-party data precedence

Because of the rejection of third-party cookies, companies and marketers must make full use of first-party data. This is information that the company collects from customers and becomes the sole "owner". Such data is valuable to marketers because it provides accurate information. Another advantage is the transparency of the provenance. 

Data from customers is important in a world where privacy is a priority. When a business has complete information about the customer's journey, it regulates the use of data without any problems: it selects those to which users themselves have opened access.

With first-party data, marketers have access to a wealth of information such as consumer preferences, location, and other demographic data that can all be used to build a complete [**customer profile**](creating-a-customer-profile). Further, advertising is set up for the user and the company's marketing works. First-party data strategies are able to maintain positive and compliant customer experiences, protect personal information and enhance advertising opportunities for marketers.

### Customer Data Platform Benefit

The creators of Data Management Platforms (DMPs) and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) were already gearing up for a world without cookies.

According to the latest research by Zeotap, 1% of marketers are ready to abandon DMP and switch to CDP. Why?  It's all about the [**first level data**](first-second-and-third-party-data) that CDP usually uses (as we now know, this is the key to success in a future without cookies). DMP works more often with third-level data.

## 6 ways CDP will solve the problem of a world without cookies

### 1. Data collection management

The gigabytes of data that companies collect across dozens of touchpoints (customer service, websites, point of sale) can reveal the needs and desires of consumers. However, collecting, managing and analyzing data from multiple sources can sometimes be a minefield.

This is where [**CDP**](/features/cdp) comes into play. The CDP is able to collect information, manage first-level client data from unrelated sources and make it usable.The platform unites information into single customer profiles, sometimes referred to as "golden records".

CDP receives this data in an unlimited number of formats: files, integration with other platforms and even web application pixels. A good CDP will pull information from just about anywhere.

### 2. Resolve identities into a single customer view 

A 360-degree customer view, often referred to as a single customer view, is a comprehensive aggregation of available user data.

This information may include contacts, user purchases, details of transactions that customers have made at business touch points (such as customer service or stores) along the customer journey. Customer data comes from different sources.This is a large amount of information that must be aggregated, cleaned and combined. It is then stored in a secure location that is accessible only to interested employees. But with cookies gone, identifying customers and attributing the right data fragments to them gets harder.

Here, Identity Resolution technologies play a decisive role in platforms. They compare, standardize and verify information. The attributes of the same individual user are linked together under a unique ID by applying a classification scheme to the data labels of your multiple sources. It enables the creation of a single view of the client that the business needs.Therefore, customer data platforms are the best software for creating a secure and complete client profile.

### 3.  Manage Consent

CDP tracks and manages the whole consent journey. This is vital to ensure that the customer's data is only handled in the way that the customer has authorized.

For example, a customer consents to the use of personal data for the company's marketing purposes via a [**mobile app**](mobile-app-as-a-marketing-channel), but might later retract that consent when engaging via email.

In unifying that customer’s data from separate channels and data sources, a CDP integrates customer consent records to work with their data. The process is called consent orchestration, which makes it easier for the user to choose.

### 4.  Enable activation in walled gardens 

In the cookieless future, marketers will still want to use the addressability options that will remain in the biggest platforms. These ‘walled gardens’ like TikTok, Facebook and Google Ads, which will take on a new role as the open web adapts to life without cookies.

But there is one thing. Walled gardens mean multiple data sets with multiple activation requirements: a very manual process which can result in delays. Paid media managers know exactly what we're talking about.

If a business needs a data-driven strategy that launches in a couple of clicks, a CDP is the way to go. With a customer data platform, a company gains access to customer segments that are activated across multiple channels with a single click.

There will be no dependence on data collection teams, and the information received will work more efficiently. CDP will help you [**identify segments**](how-and-why-to-segment-target-audience) of possible customers through behavioral data from various touchpoints. 

Therefore, if in the past you created audiences and thought: “I wish I could combine data from our CRM and website”, now you have found the answer.

### 5. Activation across the open web through Universal IDs

In the future, CDP will become the main tool for dealing with addressability on the open web through Universal IDs.

Universal IDs are shared, persistent identifiers that link users across the digital marketing ecosystem. They are needed to ensure the future of identification and addressability when third-party cookies are deprecated in 2023.

The customer data platform will be able to unify the disparate data collected by the business and create a hashed unique universal user identifier. This identifier is transmitted over CDP communication channels and compared with information from data sources (websites or apps).

If identifiers from different channels match in parameters, then they are assigned as a single universal ID for one user. Then you can launch ads for target consumer segments.

### 6. Provided Opted-In Audiences To Publishers

CDP tracks brand touchpoints and marketing preferences so that a business is only advertised to an interested audience when it reaches different segments on the open web.

**Here are benefits of CDP for marketing:**

- Advertising works according to the law. Each opt-out request is automatically tracked and counted across all channels.
- The accuracy of the audience selection, because data is selected from several sources within the business.

In this post, we talk about why CDP is a powerful marketing tool. We also share 6 options for how platforms will solve the problem of a cookie-free world.

How CDPs Will Save Marketing in a Cookie-Free World.png

As marketers begin to adapt to a cookie-free world, they are quickly learning that CDPs are becoming a powerful marketing tool.

How CDPs Will Help Businesses in a World Without Cookies

How CDPs Will Save Marketing in a Cookie-Free World

<Img
img="/uploads/1st_2nd_i_3rd_party_data_0a6be87456.png"
alt="First, Second and Third-Party Data"
/>

Data is the backbone of marketing. [**54% of marketers**](https://www.invespcro.com/blog/data-driven-marketing/) claim that success of advertising campaigns depends on data. Lack of necessary information about target audience results in loss of money. Businesses that personalize communication with their customers using data have ROI 5-8 times higher. That's why companies are switching to a [**data-driven approach**](data-driven-marketing).
 
Information obtained from several channels gives a more detailed picture of your audience, helps to personalize and scale your business and makes it possible to predict user behavior. There are several different types of data used for different tasks. By the way of obtaining and uniqueness, there are 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data. In this article, we will take a closer look at these types of data, learn how to use them in marketing and how to collect information about customers without violating confidentiality.

## What is 1st Party Data 

**1st party data** is data that companies receive directly from customers through registrations, [**pixels**](ak-pixel), cookies, CRM and other services. There are no restrictions on collecting information when it comes to this type of data. The only thing you need is user permission. Customers can refuse to provide data, although leaving a name, phone number or email address is usually not a problem.

<Img
img="/uploads/1st_party_data_89096760bb.png"
alt="First party data"
/>
 
**1st party data that companies collect:**

- user behavior and time spent on websites and in apps;
- results of email and SMS newsletters (open rate, clicks);
- contact details: email address, phone number;
- information about customer orders;
- feedback;
- demographic data;
- user survey results;
- behavior in social networks;
- interests.
 
**Advantages of first-party data:** it's free of charge and reliable, you have full ownership of it because your competitors don't have access to company information. 

**Disadvantage of first-party data:** it's not enough to scale your business.
 
<Note>
Data collection is a priority for companies. 
</Note>

**Why do businesses need first-party data:**

- It helps to learn about the needs of customers in detail and offer them products that they will definitely purchase. 
- It [**personalizes offers and content**](/features/personalization) for customers. 
- It helps to launch advertising and retargeting campaigns. 
- It makes it possible to predict customer behavior. 
 
*Example. A customer purchased T-shirts of a certain brand in an online store. Six months later they visited the website and added the same ones to the cart. So we can conclude that a purchase is possible in the future. The company «anticipates» actions and pushes the customer: it offers them special conditions, a discount and reminds them about the product in a newsletter.*

## What is 2nd Party Data

**2nd party data** is the 1st party data collected by another company from its sources. Second-party data is bought from partners or third-party companies with a relevant audience. 

<Img
img="/uploads/2nd_party_data_34d23b8721.png"
alt="Second party data"
/>
 
**Why do businesses need 2nd party data:**

- It helps to scale your business. It's difficult to broaden your audience only with 1st party data. If you don't have 2nd party data, you can make a mistake and take wrong actions when working with a new audience. With second-party data, it's easier to launch the first advertising campaigns.
 
*Example. Let's imagine a company that specializes on women's clothing for fitness. The company made a decision to diversify the range and start selling men's clothing. The business doesn't have data on the new audience. But they have partners who are engaged in sports nutrition and work with their potential customers. Information obtained from this company is 2nd party data.*

- It serves as an addition to first-party data. With 2nd party data, you will see problems in the sales funnel.
- It helps to track trends. Your conclusions will lack objectivity if you have only first-party data. 
- It [**strengthens partnership**](/partners). When you exchange data, you increase trust between businesses.
- It brings unexpected ideas to creative companies.
 
*Example. A travel agency buys 2nd party data from an online store that sells suitcases and travel bags. According to the online store, 30% of their customers purchase dog carriers for airline travels. So the agency makes a decision to launch a new product and advertising campaign for travelers with pets.*
 
**Disadvantage of 2nd party data:** you can't be sure that the data your company receives is 100% accurate and relevant. You don't know how and when this information was collected. If you buy 2nd party data, you should trust the seller and their data collection methods. 

## What is 3rd Party Data

**3rd party data** is data from multiple sources collected by aggregators. This includes 1st party data that were bought by outside sources and/or data collected through surveys, studies, interviews and so on. Examples of aggregators: Nielsen, eXelate, Acxiom, OnAudience, BlueKai, Oracle Data Cloud, Peer39, Google services, payment systems, etc. Social networks are also data aggregators that sell companies ready-made audiences for advertising. Third-party data sellers collect information and [**segment it into categories**](how-to-build-an-email-database) for searching by industry, by interests and so on. 

<Img
img="/uploads/3rd_party_data_63efa184d4.png"
alt="Third party data"
/>

**Third-party data includes:**

- gender data;
- interests;
- income level;
- geographic data;
- professions.
 
**How to use 3rd party data in marketing:**

- Use it to expand 1st party data, study your audience in detail and increase personalization. 
- Study and get ideas for business development. 3rd party data provides you with a larger audience reach that 1st and 2nd party data. 
- Launch targeted advertising for a potential audience. 
- Track global trends. 
 
**Advantages**: third-party data is often collected automatically, so this information is always up-to-date and can be used for a quick change of marketing strategy.

**Disadvantages**: you can't be sure of the data accuracy; the same information is available to competitors.  
 
<Note>
It's important to work with all types of data because they complement each other. 
</Note>
 
*Let's go back to the example of the company selling women's fitness clothing (see above), which decided to diversify their range and add men's sportswear. 2nd party data is the basis for the first campaign but the audience reach is not large enough. The company buys 3rd party data to supplement customer information and widen the audience.*
 
If you have all three types of data, you have a comprehensive picture of your audience. The more you know about your customer, the easier it is to reach them and sell your product faster.

## How to Collect Data

The current tendency in the world is to increase the privacy of personal information. Data collection is limited by legislation and by companies that collect data. 
 
[**GDPR**](customer-data-privacy-issues-in-digital-marketing) (General Data Protection Regulation) is a regulation that protects personal data of EU users and is valid for companies that work with EU citizens. A person can request personal data, correct and even delete it, revoke permission to its processing.
 
The Russian Federal Law on Personal Data prohibits disclosing user data to third parties without consent.
 
Google restricts cookies for 3rd party data in the Chrome browser. The company is planning to get rid of third-party cookies during 2022 to enhance user privacy. This approach is the obstacle to tracking customers’ interests and journey to conversion. It will become difficult or impossible for end-to-end analytics to find out customer journey through cross-devices. 
 
Apple restricts third-party cookies (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) for Safari browser (from 13.1). The browser restricts the collection of data from third-party services. IOS 14.5 now requests confirmation to collect information via IDFA (The Identifier for Advertisers). If the user doesn't confirm, the accuracy of data decreases. Apple offers an alternative — anonymous aggregated data. However, it won't be enough to cover all marketing needs with such information.

### Data Collection Rules

- Prioritize 1st party data, collect 2nd party data to [**build your own data system**](ways-to-address-customer-data-privacy-issues-in-digital-marketing) and be less dependent on 3rd party data.
- Notify users about data collection and ask their permission for its processing. You can't consider people whose data is collected secretly your target audience.
- Follow the legislation on user data protection and the rules of the information market.

## Conclusion

Marketing can't function properly without data. However, not all types of data are equally useful. There are 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data. First-party data is obtained directly from users. Second-party data is the 1st party data that companies buy from partners and businesses with a similar target audience. Third-party data is obtained from aggregators that buy information from companies or collect it themselves. 

1st party data is reliable and easy to collect, but not suitable for scaling your business. 2nd party data expands your audience, but it’s difficult to test its validity. 3rd party data contains a lot of information, but you can't be sure of its reliability. Third-party data is also available to competitors. 

Regulations of aggregators and state laws slow down the collection of information. Companies should monitor changes, create their own data collection and storage systems so as not to depend on third-parties.

In this article, we will learn how to use different types of data in marketing and how to collect information about customers without violating confidentiality.

1st-2nd-i-3rd-party-data.png

Data is the backbone of marketing. 54% of marketers claim that success of advertising campaigns depends on data.

What Are 1st, 2nd and 3rd Party Data and How to Collect Them

First, Second and Third-Party Data

<Img
img="/uploads/customer_profile_bd139d94c0.jpg"
alt="How to create a customer profile"
/> 

Whether selling through traditional avenues or eCommerce platforms, marketers must first understand which individuals are most likely to purchase their products and services. Creating an accurate customer profile of who, why, where, and how is the critical starting point for an enterprise to promote its brand.

Social media marketing, for example, offers a fabulous opportunity to develop a targeted presence economically. However, a company must understand where their most likely clients spend their time, how they communicate, their likes and dislikes, and problems they hope to solve.

## What is a Customer Profile?

A customer profile describes your prospective and current customers’ buying behaviors, demographics, interests, everyday activities, and pain points that influence their purchasing decisions. By creating and adjusting their consumer profiles, marketers can adapt their strategies and campaigns to focus on similar customers.

Building from your existing data, you should begin to create a clear image of the attributes and behaviors of prospective customers that will guide your future marketing strategies.

### How Does a Customer Profile Differ from a Buyer Persona?

A Buyer Persona is a generally fictionalized version of the group of buyers that you might hope to target, often developed before your products have reached the market.

On the other hand, a customer profile is a [**data-driven**](data-driven-marketing) analysis of past successful conversions, identifying the common psychographic characteristics that drove their decisions to buy. These are the customer profiling characteristics that influence how and where your product advertising and brand-building should focus.

## Advantages of an Effective Customer Profile

Your customer profile should be specific. Boiling down your profile to a demographic that targets billions of people leaves you with virtually no direction. More detailed criteria that focus on the primary target allows you to:

- Identify prospects that are most likely to convert

- Reduce marketing and acquisition costs per conversion

- Focus better on individual buyers for bot sales and continuing support

- Generate more fact-based rather than speculative decisions

- Define eCommerce and [**social media strategies**](self-marketing-how-to-promote-yourself-on-social-media) that take your message where your most likely customers are hanging out.

## Building Your Customer Profile

Accumulating sufficient data from existing customers to fine-tune a compelling customer profile is the main challenge. Here are some steps to help create a profile that works:

1. Review specific details with your Sales Team to find some common characteristics they may have noted in successful sales situations. How did those customers arrive at the point of buying your products?

2. Survey past clients. Specify common characteristics from sales data, customer reviews, and [**feedback**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales). Determine distinct age groups, gender, and means of contact. Were they buying from a desktop or mobile device, for example?

3. Identify which online forums are most important for your customer base.

4. Who are your customers’ prominent [**influencers**](what-is-influencer-marketing-how-to-build-strategy)?

5. Where was the purchase originated? Hopefully, you can identify by city, state, country, and continent to identify trends.

6. Investigate your industry and competitors, seeking details about the specific places and methods where their marketing efforts are concentrated.

## What’s Next with Customer Data Profiling

With more resources than ever to develop a brand and create a lasting presence, effective enterprises know that customer data profiling is an essential tool for success. While businesses would simply purchase “broadside” advertising through TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines in the past, marketers today can create very specific content in online locations frequented by individuals who are most likely to purchase your products or services.

Companies that are not fully aware of the characteristics and habits of their most likely customers are destined to flounder as the competition moves ahead. Take the time to unearth the data and [**tools**](/en) that will help to define your customers, and create your strategy to meet the demand precisely where it exists.


By creating and adjusting customer profiles, marketers can adapt their strategies and campaigns to focus on similar customers.

customer profile.jpg

Accumulating sufficient data from existing customers to fine-tune a compelling customer profile is the main challenge. Here are some steps to help create a profile that works.

What Is an Accurate Customer Profile and How to Create It

Understanding Your Target Customer: Creating a Customer Profile

<Img
img="/uploads/blog_a3c611b32f.jpg"
alt="How to build an email database"
/>

Today, almost everyone has an email address. In 2021, there are over 4.1 billion email users and the number is expected to shoot to approximately 4.6 billion by 2025. With this trend, there’s a need for every business to have an email marketing database.

Email marketing is among the most effective digital marketing strategies with a high return on investment (ROI). This is because millennials prefer business communications via email.

But how can a business use email marketing to reach more customers and to drive sales? Find out more below.

## Benefits of email marketing

By marketing products and services via email, businesses can approach new clients and retain existing customers by encouraging repeat website visits. Here is why email marketing is beneficial to any business.

### High Conversions

According to DMA, the average ROI for email marketing is [**$42 for each $1 spent**](https://www.oberlo.com/blog/email-marketing-statistics). So if you’re launching a sale or promotion, email marketing would be an excellent marketing strategy to reach more customers and drive sales.

For instance, you can email a special offer or a discount to a prospective client. Altcraft Marketing will help you with it by automating your emails. Set up an [**automated workflow**](customer-journey-automation) and send a welcome email, birthday email, or a re-engagement email to encourage your customer activity. Also, abandoned cart emails will help sell your products and services better.

### Brand Awareness

Email marketing enables businesses to reach qualified leads directly.

Sending emails to potential customers will help keep your [**brand on top of mind**](povyshayem-uznavayemost-brend-ustanavlivayem-avatar-email-otpravitelya). What’s more, email marketing is more impactful than a social media post since it’s highly personalized and targeted.

A business can easily send tons of emails to a large number of recipients at lower costs, contrary to other marketing channels.

### Build Customer Loyalty

An email a week is enough to create [**unbreakable ties**](customer-loyalty) with your customers.

From lead-nurturing to conversion to onboarding to retention, an email will help drive customer loyalty. Businesses can easily build a strong relationship with a customer by creating and sending a [**personalized email**](dynamic-content) with customized content.

## Tips to Capture Email Addresses

For email marketing to work, a business will need to have an email database. And to capture those email addresses, you’ll need some kind of strategy.

Although you can purchase email address mailing lists, it’s essential to build it organically, and here’s how it’s done.

### Personalized CTA

There are three types of CTA’s: basic CTA, multivariate CTA, and smart CTA. Basic CTA’s are the same for everyone. Multivariate CTA’s are used to test two different CTA’s to determine the one with high conversion rates. Smart CTA’s are personalized based on individual needs and interests.

According to research, smart or personalized calls to action are 202% better than general and multivariate CTA’s.

Everyone visiting your website or blog has something specific in mind, and it would be best if they get personalized calls to action based on their needs.

When you serve your audience with content that matches their interests and needs, they are likely to subscribe to your email newsletter, thus increasing conversion rates.

### Slide-in or Pop-up

Timed pop-up ads can help you create an excellent email list. The pop-ups should be relevant to individual behaviors, interests, and needs.

After a visitor spends some considerable time on your page, they can receive a pop-up ad that is in line with the content on the page. An example of this is the exit pop-up which appears once a visitor tries to leave a page. Scroll pop-ups appear when someone scrolls the page to a certain percentage.

<Img
img="/uploads/lego_3b837fd5a4.png"
alt="Pop-up on LEGO website"
src="Pop-up on LEGO website"
/>

### Social Media Accounts

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts are excellent places to reach more people and capture their email addresses. Use both your personal and business [**social media**](self-marketing-how-to-promote-yourself-on-social-media) accounts to pitch email newsletters.

Post insightful content on social media and include links to your website or landing pages containing CTA’s to email subscriptions.

## Collecting the Right Type of Data for Your Email Database

Considering 20% of customers account for 80% of sales, it’s easy to see why Customer Data Management (CDM) should be a crucial part of a business.

The end game is collecting the right type of customer data on:

- **Identity**: this information should help build a unique profile for customized communication throughout the customer journey. Examples include name, address, social media, gender, and date of birth. 
- **Descriptive**: descriptive data aims at painting a clearer picture of a customer persona. Such information includes career, family, education, and lifestyle.
- **Quantitative**: this is the information gathered throughout the customer journey from channel interactions, discovery details, and conversion-specific steps leading to purchase. Examples are social networks, online activity interactions, and outbound and [**inbound marketing communication**](inbound-marketing).
- **Qualitative**: there’s no better way to understand a customer’s choices than collecting their qualitative data as it aids in figuring out why they behave in a certain way, helping you turn them into a qualified lead. Qualitative data entails data on opinion, motivation, and attitudes.

A pain-free way of managing this is employing a [**Customer Data Platform**](/features/cdp) (CDP), a CDM system that collects and coordinates data from various sources into a central, widely accessible platform. The main benefits of CDP’s are:

- **Centralization of customer data**: whether a customer uses a phone or computer, a CDP will collect and organize all that data into a convenient Single Customer View (SCV) platform.
- **Meant for marketers**: unifies all the data into a single customer information interface and enables cross-department communication.
- **Real-time data streaming**: enabling immediate action during the customer journey, such as up-selling opportunities and personalized recommendations.

## Audience Segmentation

Databases are just the first step towards building customer relationships. However, delivering the same content to all customers is not a wise decision. Each client is special and each one is important to you. That’s why you should make sure your customer receives a message that is relevant to him at a point that makes sense in his purchase journey. This is where [**audience segmentation**](/features/personalization) comes in handy. 

You can segment based on:

- **Demographics**: age, income level, job type, and geographic location.
- **Behavior**: what people buy, how often they make a purchase, and why they buy the product.
- **Buyer’s journey progress**: where your customer is in his [**buyer’s journey**](stroim-customer-journey-map).
- **Level of engagement**: regular or infrequent customers.

Segmentation is the key to creating more tailored and personalized messages for stronger connections.

<Img
img="/uploads/personalization_tactics_1e159c03a1.jpg"
alt="What are the most effective personalization tactics used for email marketing purposes?"
/>
## Conclusion

Email marketing is a scalable and cost-effective way to reach out to more potential customers and retain those you already have. Create email databases, segment your audience and start sending personalized emails. This way you will be able to build lasting customer relationships.

Read our article to get some practical tips on how to build your email database. Learn what customer data to collect and how to segment your audience.

блог.jpg

Email marketing is among the most effective digital marketing strategies. For email marketing to work, a business will need to have an email database.

Email Marketing: How to Build a Database and Segment Your Audience

How to Build an Email Database

uzum-case.png

Reduced push notification opt-out rates, increased OR, saved working hours

bnb-bank-kejs-v-menyu.png

The open rate for automatic Viber messages is around 60%, and MAU growth for the year is +19%

All user information is systematically collected in a unified customer data platform

Distributing messages across various communication channels: email, SMS, push notifications, messengers

Promo codes, bonuses, and points for building long-term customer relationships

You can create and edit any HTML template, as well as save your own custom blocks

Personalized distribution of messages to clients through communication channels

Conducting experiments and optimizing marketing strategies

Tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns to make informed decisions

Connecting external systems to the platform and synchronizing data with company databases

Creating questionnaires, surveys, and feedback forms of any level of complexity

The ability to communicate with your clients anytime and anywhere

Increasing user awareness of your company's offers

Customer Data Platform

Omnichannel Marketing

Loyalty programs

HTML Email Builder

Personalized mailings

A/B/n Testing

Real-time analytics

Integration and WebHooks

Forms and Surveys

Messenger Communication

Pop-Up Windows

Interesting and useful articles about marketing, our product and online communications

Don't forget to subscribe to our Blog