The 360-degree customer view is a term that comes up more and more when you talk about customer contact. But how do you ensure that you get such a complete picture of your customer data? We give you 7 tips for the 360-degree customer view.

The word says it all: with the 360-degree customer view you obtain a complete picture of your customer by collecting customer data via all contact channels. But how do you ensure that you get such a complete picture of your customer?

Your customer contacts your company through various channels for questions, support and to purchase products. To help him or her as best as possible, you want a complete insight into all customer communication. This helps you to respond even better to customer needs.

Why is the 360-degree customer view ‘hot’?

Due to the advent of different technologies such as mobile devices, video support, online communities and social media, there are an enormous number of contact channels that need to be maintained. It is becoming easier and more accessible for customers to contact, but for companies keeping an overview of customer data from all these channels is becoming increasingly complicated. If you have this process in order, you can therefore excel in the field of User Experience and take a lead over your competitors.

How do you get a 360-degree customer view?

But of course you don’t get that insight 1,2,3. A 360-degree customer view takes consistent effort, a gradual process, and a good plan. We give you 7 tips to gain insight into the 360-degree customer view.

1. Use the right tools

To get a 360-degree customer view, you need to use the right tools. Think of webcare solutions that keep track of exactly what is said on social media about your company and receive direct contacts through these channels, customer contact software (or even call center software ) for handling the contact across all channels and analytics tools that predict customer needs.

For an up-to-date and accurate picture of the customer, it is important that you integrate these tools with each other as much as possible. You can often use an API for this in which customer data is sent back and forth. There are also suppliers who provide far-reaching integrations so that the data is immediately merged.

2. Make sure your data is of good quality

To get an accurate picture of that customer data, it is important that the data you collect is of good quality. This means that you have to make sure that the data is not duplicated, that the data is current and that they do not conflict with each other.

3. Leverage big data analytics

The 360-degree customer view also requires a big data analytics strategy to combine structured data, or data that resides in the rows and columns of a database, with unstructured data such as the data coming in through social media. When you aggregate customer data, you can identify issues that impact your data quality and strengthen your data governance implementation. However, it makes no sense to use different tools for sales or customer service, for example, because they are essentially dealing with the same customer.

4. Make sure you know what customer data you need

What information do you need for the goal you have in mind? You must of course stay within the rules of the AVG and the ethical code of conduct. For example, if you own an insurance company, a customer’s family situation may be more important than his education. Always ask yourself what you need the customer data for, so you avoid collecting useless data. With the right data, you can personalize your customer experience in a variety of ways.

5. Discover what customers want to share with you

This is where integrity and sensitive data meet. Consumers do expect personalized messages and experiences with digital tools, but they do want to have given permission for this. No one wants you to follow what they do on social media unless they approve. Do a survey of your customers. Ask what they want and figure out a way to include that in collecting your data.

6. Get everyone involved

A 360-degree customer view is more than a technological process – it’s about people. You will need to involve and work closely with key figures in the sales, marketing and customer departments to create the perfect customer view. Remember that getting a good customer view and complete customer data is an interdepartmental effort. It’s not going to work if your departments are tucked away. And it won’t work at all if you just hand it over to IT and ask them to match, merge and clean the data or get a report.

7. The 360-degree customer view is never complete

Because each report probably raises more questions than answers, executing the 360-degree customer view remains an ongoing process. It is never complete and therefore not a project with a start and an end point.

Would you like to know more about the 360-degree customer view and how our solution can help? Please contact us.