Retailers Still Struggling With ID Management, Study Finds

Retailers are widely employing identity management strategies to improve their targeting in email and other channels, and 58% have implemented technology for identifying their customers.

That doesn’t mean they are succeeding, judging by Campaign Intelligence: How Retail Marketers Use Customer-Focused ID Management to Increase Satisfaction & Profitability, a study by Etail Insights, sponsored by IDme.

Many retailers are struggling to understand their customers because they can’t integrate their technologies. And while 26% can identify a shopper who makes a purchase, 34% have no strategy in place for doing so.

In addition, 42% have not employed ID management technologies for personalization and better targeting, although 35% are considering it. 

At the same time, 30% are working with these systems but say it’s still a developing part of their business. And 28% are using the technologies, saying it’s a core part of their business.

Companies that do have such ID processes are using them with these goals in mind: 

  • Using this data for customer insights and/or predictive modeling — 51% 
  • Website personalization — 51%
  • Gaining a deeper understanding of customers — 47%
  • Triggered emails — 40%
  • Remarketing to audiences in online media channel — 37% 
  • Targeting audiences in online media channels — 30% 

The benefits include gating group discount options for affinity groups and/or fraud protection, cited by 59%.

In addition, 55% are tailoring marketing opportunities to customers in innovative ways. And 49% say they are pinpointing their best customers.

But there are challenges. The main ones are:   

  • Our technologies do not integrate in a way that facilitates data integration and enrichment — 38%
  • We have a data aggregation and enrichment strategy, but we are not there yet — 32% 
  • We have struggled to index or key our internal data to outside data sources — 24%
  • We have none, because this is not a priority for our company — 23%
  • We are still working on integrating and mining our internal data — 21%
  • We have none, because we are doing this successfully — 20% 

The study also found that millennials are the most sought-after group — 47% target them directly. Specific consumer categories are next (43%), followed by college students (39%), company employees (35%) and military & veteran (35%).

Major percentages also prioritize these group, while not directly targeting them.

Etail partnered with WBR Insights to survey 100 retail processionals in the U.S.

 

 

 

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