Augmented Customer Strategy

12Data Marketing for Customer Intimacy

We can probably all remember an excellent salesperson. A person who recognized you because it was not the first time you entered this shop, who called you by your first name or who, on the contrary, remembered that you prefer a little distance. A person who advised you according to your tastes and preferences, according to your latest purchases or a person who wished you happy birthday. This concept of “customer intimacy” is more difficult to bring to life in the digital sphere, which is by nature colder and more distant. However, the collection and use of data, generated by both connected consumers and businesses, make this approach realistic. These data can be used in a customer knowledge approach to develop, on a large scale, a service-oriented logic based on relevance and personalization.

As early as 1993, Roland Rust [RUS 93] formalized a paradigm shift faced by many organizations. This paradigm shift could be summarized by moving from a so-called “product” scenario to a so-called “service” scenario. The product scenario consists of companies offering their customers a relatively standardized offer and in observing in return a flow of aggregated information that gives an indication of the customer’s response to this offer and therefore of performance. The service scenario, on the other hand, reflects a more interactive plan between the company and its customers, which reflects the idea of a company that develops an active and individualized ...