• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 8, 2019

Consumers' beliefs and motivations drive them to purchase one brand over another, but many manufacturers selling through retailers like Macy’s or Wayfair don’t have the luxury of accessing data that provides insights and ultimately shapes their decision.

Resonate, which provides data about consumers to marketers, launched a new version of its market-redefining SaaS platform that enables marketers to understand why consumers make purchases. Developers at the company built the R7 platform on segmentation, intelligence and engagement. Upgrades in each area provide users with more in-depth functions and descriptive data.

While there are several components to the platform, more than 12,000 attributes unique to Resonate’s Intelligence Center provide insight into consumer behavior, including the TV shows people watch, the websites they visit, and the mobile apps they use. This data helps to build out customer profiles and determine why consumers make purchasing decisions.

Twin Star Home, which makes electric fireplaces and furnishings, has worked with Resonate for years to understand consumers, beyond simple demographics. These consumers purchase the brand’s products through retail stores. Lisa Cody, VP of marketing at Twin Star, said Resonate helps identify consumers' intent to purchase their products and what is important to them in a retailer.

“Knowing the end consumer is a good way to get the retailer to choose our product to sell,” Cody said, adding that knowing more about consumers who buy a company's products gives the brand a competitive advantage.

Marketers understand when their brand sells through a retailer, rather than direct to consumers. They do not own the data, making it difficult to understand the needs of consumers who buy from retailers that work with Twin Star.

“The data paints a full picture of Haley - -who she is, where she lives, where she shops and her influences,” she said. “She is very different than Ricardo, another consumer segment we have, one that’s married with kids.”

The data also helps Twin Star develop new products. To respond to the macro trend of people living in smaller spaces such as tiny houses, having data that suggests people who buy through Twin Star retail customers downsize into smaller homes could help the company design products to fit their needs.  

As a part of Resonate’s commitment to new products, the company also announced the appointment of Errol Apostolopoulos to SVP and chief product officer. Apostolopoulos joins Resonate from Brandwatch, a social analytics platform that recently merged with Crimson Hexagon. At Crimson Hexagon, Apostolopoulos spent several years building the company's SaaS platform from nascent technology into a $50 million business.