Experience starts with the right data

The cliché saying, “Data is King” is really only meaningful if it’s reliable. It’s like putting the wrong type of fuel in your car. It will still run, but the effects over time could prove to be unfavorable. The endless possibilities of  having quality data is a driving force amongst all industries as we depend more on information across the board. But what if your data was off? What does that mean? Personalization, fraud detection, and customer service would all be in jeopardy just to start if the data at the onset is wrong.

The more real-time information you know about your end users, the better service you can provide. By leveraging location, marketers are able to segment consumers and offer them relevant and personalized content. How data is gathered is continuously changing, which in turn makes companies access that information a high priority. Customers with connectivity via phones or internet, airwaves or cables, audio or video, deserve the most premium IP data available.

Getting the most accurate data

Let’s face it, location data reveals a lot about not just where we are, but who we are. Finding an “information middleman” with geotargeting capabilities will undoubtedly create a more personalized user experience for customers. One that is fast, seamless, and customizable to the user. However, our fast-paced digital world comes with high expectations.

When I think of customer experience, having the most reliable data at your fingertips the first time you ask for it is a no brainer for the consumer, but its importance is often overlooked in other sectors. Data quality should be a superseding component to support a business’s reputation.

How location accuracy leads to stronger personalization

Imagine you’re in Seattle looking for flights and airports on your phone, and it gives you one in Charlotte, nowhere near your current location. Or you jump on your smartphone to look up the nearest sub shop and it offers you one ten blocks away. In a different city. When the IP address is not correlating to the actual location, that can pose an issue. Sure, not one that is detrimental but not ideal either. The user simply manually types in their zip code, and all is refreshed. In other cases, it causes a bigger headache, a longer delay to get information quickly and a missed expectation.

It happens on a larger scale as well. Take Netflix for example. With 120 million subscribers watching over 140 million hours of video every day on over 450 million different devices, most customer’s geolocation isn’t an issue. But imagine if the IP data was off by just the slightest, say on the US/Canadian border. If it’s off by the smallest measure, those within miles of the border may be told they now have Geo-restricted access. That can mean real implications for customers denied the service experience due to inaccurate pinpointing. An aggravating occurrence when they’ve been patiently waiting for that newly released series or for Netflix who prides itself on delivering on viewers expectations.

How does accurate data work?

By 2040, it's estimated that 95% of all purchases will be facilitated through the Internet. Now more than ever, it’s important for businesses with an online presence to begin personalizing the way they serve content to their users. Personalization and ease of use are key components to building trust with your website’s visitors.

Customizing your customers’ visit for them leads to a subconscious “that was easy” experience on your site. Any e-commerce platform, like Amazon, has different stores for different countries. If you know a German visitor is looking at books, it’s proactive to redirect them to a .de site and provide German language options. This leaves your customer feeling like that extra step of figuring out the correct place to be is off their plate.

With consumers purchasing nearly everything online these days, detecting anomalies to prevent fraudulent internet transactions becomes relative. You become reliant in distinguishing orders made from suspicious locations and flagging them for manual review.

In cybersecurity, getting ahead of the curve is critical in protecting your business and making sure traffic is blocked from high-risk locations or networks before they make it to you. However, if the data is not right, it may get interpreted wrong, and you run the risk of denying legitimate users by blocking access to people that should have the green light.

How data impacts the bottom line

Looking back at the Netflix example, they won’t necessarily lose revenue, but delivering the wrong content leads to frustrated customers. Being able to offer content unbound by geographic restrictions plays an important part in maintaining satisfaction with loyal members as well as attracting new subscribers. In the USA alone, Netflix has 46 million subscribers and getting 1% of the data wrong represents half a million users affected. Not to mention the countless movie studios who rely on this data accuracy to abide by copyright laws in certain countries.

With all the streaming services available, brand recognition in terms of user experience reigns supreme. Frustrated users who are accidentally blocked out of content they want to watch affects credibility and may lead a customer to seek the same service elsewhere.

With payment processing companies like PayPal, data accuracy is essential for detecting fraud. In the first quarter of 2020, PayPal processed around 3.26 billion payments. As of that period, PayPal had 325 million active user accounts worldwide. With this number of transactions, even a 1% accuracy improvement represents millions of dollars saved.

Recycled consumer goods sites like Craigslist having poor data would result in more fraudulent postings and would lead to outraged buyers. Having more reliant data creates better tools to combat those reprehensible scammers, hence why every percentage of accuracy counts to improve the integrity of the website’s listings.

It starts with knowing your data quality

Not having accurate data to fuel your campaigns is risking more than just time. It puts a bruise on your reputation, impacts customer experience  and can hurt your bottom line. That small percentage off may not matter in the beginning, but if it’s a rudimental misstep and continues to grow, it will reveal itself. By offering a site that’s fully automated and personalized to every customer who visits, will result in a better overall service experience, leading to improved conversions, fewer questions, and less headaches for all. When the most precise customer location is automatically generated, customers see the most relevant content, having all their expectations met.

You may think you’re doing everything right to keep your car running smoothly when in reality, you could be doing damage to your engine. Find the premium nozzle for your data.

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