Data Collection Methods to Boost Your Marketing Intelligence

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Big data collection is a major activity among small to large business enterprises. Business intelligence is enhanced while marketing strategies are optimized with the help of the data collection process. There are varieties of ways by which internet marketers are able to gather data for their marketing needs. Which data collection strategies will best fit your marketing campaigns will depend upon what types of technologies you are using and whether it is optimized in collecting the specific data you need for your marketing campaigns. Your ability to collect data and use them to your business advantage will also depend upon how you are able to interpret what the data means. But before you reach the data analytics stage, it is crucial to use technologies that will enhance your data collection process.

1. Collecting data using the internet technology

Web marketers are getting more inclined to start collecting the data available from their customers using the internet. The collection data process using the internet technology takes two approaches:

Collecting active user data

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This data collection strategy involves the process of directly asking your customers for the data that you need for your business analytics. Your website visitor will be asked to take the time entering their personal information that will be useful for your targeted marketing goals. This form of data collection approach is challenging because of the barrier involving privacy issues that make the consumers reluctant from cooperating. Here are the things that you can do in order to optimize your active user data collection strategy.

• Demonstrate to your active users that your data collection process is secure and confidential.
• Explain how their information will be used for your data collection and analytics process.
• Give your customers something to benefit in return of providing their information.
• Allow your customers to express their opinions, preferences and needs.
• Give your customers an option to voluntarily provide their information by giving away freebies that will require them to provide some information in order to avail of it.

Collecting passive user data

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This data collection strategy allows for the collection of customer data without requiring them to take an active part in the process. Web marketers use tools that will allow for the storage of data based in the customer’s interaction with their site, as well as the information available that the website visitors provide voluntarily through its interaction with the site’s server.

• Use cookies to capture the information shared between a website server and the website user’s computer. Servers, by using cookies, can associate a computer to a user’s profile and can capture any update on the information provided by the users each time they visit the site.
• Cookies can also help track down the history of the user, such as its viewing activities and website searches. Use the information in optimizing your banner advertisements and search engine optimization campaigns.
• Use http logging in order to collect information from the log file of your website server. Among the data that you can possibly collect using this strategy include the browsing habits of the user through the time spent for viewing web pages, the referring URLs to your website which can provide the traffic information source where you can optimize the exposure of your business and the various web pages viewed by your visitors that can help you identify their fields of interest.

2. Collecting data using the mobile technology

It is very apparent that Smartphones have become a part of the lifestyle of the majority of humanity across the globe. About 67% of the American mobile users use their smartphones for checking messages, alerts, obtain information and to look for products and services. Its implication is huge for the internet marketing industry for the mobile data can be a rich source of information about the consumers’ activities, preferences and shopping habits. Mobile users also use their mobile devices to look for location services and in downloading apps based on their interests and lifestyle activities. The windows of opportunity to capture significant information that can help enhance your internet marketing strategies is very wide in terms of mobile data collection.

• Use a reliable data collection software to keep track of the mobile data available from your website. Make sure it is capable of capturing mobile data from various mobile hardware devices.
• Keep track of the location based information from a mobile phone in order to identify common places your customers like to shop and what products and services they are likely to be interested about.
• Monitor your target customer’s mobile searches.
• Design your own business’ application that your customers can download directly on their mobile devices.
• Use Google analytics for mobile data monitoring and analytics to your website to obtain useful information that can help improve your internet marketing campaigns.

3. Using online survey tools

Using survey tools is a very straightforward means of obtaining data from your customers through the web. It helps you to offer specific questions that are relevant to your marketing goals. The data collection survey allows you to connect to your customers using the internet to ask for their opinion, interests and preferences that can help improve your online marketing strategies.

4. Data collection using Global Positioning System (GPS)

Collecting data from the global positioning technology or GPS will benefit local based marketers. The information collected using this technology can help marketers identify predictable patterns of shopping activities of the consumers, their purchasing behavior and local stores that they often visit. You can also target the travel history of your customers, as well as your potential local competitors that your customers also visit. Use this information to learn more about your competitors’ own marketing strategies.

Read more:

• Collecting Customer Data: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself
• 5 Steps to a Marketing Information System