Imagine living in a world where the right information reaches you at the right place and the right time. How much of a productivity boost would your company receive? Business owners spend massive amounts of time keeping up with information, which leaves them with little room to focus on building up their companies.
But with the growth of Big Data, the dream where company owners have more time to focus on the core needs of their business is becoming attainable. Pertaining to the information stored in everyday applications, Big Data comes in both structured and unstructured forms inventory overviews, transaction records, CRM systems and social media. You can learn more about the different types of Big Data in our previous article on Big Data and marketing. Its market value is expected to reach 43.4 billion this year.
In terms of practicality, Big Data works on the basis that the more knowledge you possess about business situations, the better you can make predictions about how they will turn out. It is impacting companies of all sizes in many different ways, but I have found the following four the most relevant:
- Spotting Customers’ Pain Points & Providing Solutions
Businesses that dive deep into Big Data analytics will be able to identify areas that ignite customers’ concerns and provide viable solutions. Apple, for instance, realised that, because of its size and wire-free functioning, people were afraid of losing their newly released AirPods, and this was a top factor in purchasing decisions.
The company looked further into the data (social media sentiment, Quora questions, etc.) and created a software solution that removed the concerns. Find My AirPods – a feature that enables people to keep tabs on their AirPods when they’re lost – was integrated into the latest iOS software Apple released for iPhone users. Leveraging Big Data to address customer concerns has increased the demand for Apple’s AirPods and helped them increase sales.
Since only 6 percent of companies consider tracking sentiment on social media as the primary goal of their Big Data projects, there is an opportunity out there to beat the competition by analysing what your customers need and providing solutions first.
- Up-selling & Cross-selling
Based on data related to customer’s personal details (e.g. clothing size and style preferences), companies have been able to predict what type of products would appeal to people and accordingly target them with promotional campaigns.
Likewise, based on the shopping history of customers, companies are cross-selling and up-selling complementary and supplementary items to people, as well as sending out reminder messages related to product maintenance or bringing the items back for repair. Moreover, Big Data is being used to analyse what products are preferred by people in a customer’s network so that the customer can be recommended similar items.
Amazon is an excellent example of using Big Data to keep customers in the buying mood. Whenever people are viewing products on its website, Amazon recommends other products that people have bought after viewing certain items. Also, it gives recommendations on products that go together in bundles. Clearly, Big Data is among the major factors that drives Amazon’s sales upwards.
- Providing Better Customer Service
While Big Data is usually leveraged to improve product development, some companies are taking it a step further by using it to provide better customer service. With the data in front of them, customer service representatives can effectively resolve customer complaints without asking too many questions, as they already know most of the answers. The helps prevent customer frustration or having to keep customers on hold.
This is important in the omnichannel age where customers have multiple channels to connect with brands. Whether it’s an email complaint or angry reviews posted on Facebook, companies that are providing in-depth data to their customer service representatives are gaining a competitive edge. Moreover, they are letting customers know that the data is collected to provide a better service.
Airlines are a prominent example of how to use Big Data to deliver an improved customer service experience. For instance, Southwest utilises anonymous, aggregated data to promote products and provide improved customer services on multiple devices, channels, and websites. No wonder gaining insights into customer behaviors is ranked as one of the highest priorities for airlines that use Big Data.
- Better Equipped To Accommodate Demand Spikes
Big Data has been essential to companies that aim to accommodate demand spikes in a hyper competitive economy. Through using data analysis for sales predictions, inventory evaluation is becoming easier, helping businesses prepare for demand spikes at high-traffic events like Cyber Monday or Black Friday.
The meaningful insights on customer behaviors and preferences through machine learning and other emerging methods of data processing enable companies to push customised, loyalty-driven content. As a result, these businesses are able to truly predict what product type and quantity each customers will demand even before the customer realises they’re going to purchase particular items.
The new algorithms available for Big Data projects offer a vast range of inputs from supplier stock to weather. As a result, the possibilities for companies to give more value to customers and get the maximum out of their supply chains are endless.
Conclusion
Exciting though the use of Big Data may be, a big pool of potential payoffs remain unexplored. Companies could do even bigger and better things once they join the dots between their offerings, their customers’ experience and the external factors affecting them. Overall, Big Data will continue to play an integral role in segmenting operations and shaping business revenues, and help businesses connect with their customers. Here at Buzzoole we analyse data through our Artificial Intelligence system that provides a thorough analysis of the talking topics of our Influencers and insights into their behaviour on the web, in order to provide the best match for our Brands so they can reach their audiences in the most effective way.
If you want to learn more about Buzzoole for Brands, visit our dedicated page.