There are many ways that companies can go about keeping their customers loyal to their brand, but in today’s uber competitive marketplace, a company’s best bet is through the utilization of big data.

What are you doing right at this moment?  Let me guess, you are reading this article on your smart phone or tablet–right?  While your company’s consumers are likewise on their devices, your brands are competing with many others for their attention and loyalty. Your consumers are receiving personalized ads in news feeds, inboxes, and on many of the sites they access via these devices.  Their location, name, sex, and even occupation are being analyzed to create customer experiences that are tailored to individual preferences–this is Big Data.

In this era of declining brand loyalty for many big, national brands, you want to maintain your current customer base as well as gain new customers. Your brand will need to find a way to utilize this data to effectively enhance the customer experience in new ways. You need to create a big data utilization strategy.

Some of the most successful brands are the ones that are able to connect with their customers on a personal level and create a personalized shopping experience–big data is a phenomenal way to achieve this. The more information your company obtains and the faster you analyze it, the better your chances of growing and maintaining your customer base.

Brands like Amazon and Google have mastered the utilization of data and analytics to personalize the customer’s experience.  Amazon goes as far as to suggest items for one to purchase as soon as they log on to the site based on previous purchase history and general  information provided by the customer when joining the site.  Amazon even uses big data to shape consumers shopping experience in real time.

I recall last summer I was shopping for a 4th of July themed beach party via Amazon.com.  I first searched for “American flag shirts” and by the time I clicked on the first match, Amazon had already created a list of items that are similar.  They even took the personalization to another level when they suggested a pair of “Rocky” shorts that had the American flag on it.  This was most likely offered to me due to my proximity to Philadelphia (where the film “Rocky” was based).  I didn’t even have to specifically search for any more items as I was able to complete my entire ensemble from the suggestions they provided me. It was like going to a local department store and asking a store associate to help me find the American Flag shirt, and by the time I got out of the dressing room, a full outfit was assembled for me. That’s how big data can be used to keep customers loyal to a particular brand or company.

There is no better feeling than walking into your local coffee house and the barista remembers your complicated (or even simple) drink order. It is such a pleasant feeling because out of the hundreds of customers this barista serves per week the barista somehow remembers your particular order. It makes you feel important and makes a crowded coffee house feel personal.  Interchange the barista with your company’s data analytics team and that is what big data analytics accomplishes for a brand or company. I know it seems ironic that the best way to accomplish this personalized shopping experience is via big data, utilizing something so immense (terabytes of data) to create a smaller market place for the individual consumer.

Does your brand currently utilize big data analytics? Big data can be used to heighten the consumer experience and build affinity with your brands. To make this happen, you need to first define your big data strategy and then bring it to life by thinking through the process, organization and technology impacts.  Let us help your company utilize big data to its fullest potential.