Debenhams puts big data at heart of multichannel strategy
Debenhams has unleashed its first big data initiative as it looks to drive a more personalised multichannel content marketing strategy.
The department store is aiming to unify its 40 different databases across categories including its wedding service, email lists and mobile data, to better understand the individual preferences of its customers and shape its marketing communications accordingly.
Debenhams’s head of advertising Jane Exon said a third (30%) of its overall website traffic is driven via mobile devices, while more than half its emails are opened first on mobile devices.
This provides valuable insight into consumer mobile consumption habits but it will now look to tie this back to its other databases and unify customer profiles across its channels and devices.
It is working with Sky IQ, the customer intelligence arm of BskyB, to help make sense of the different data sets. Sky IQ will help build Debenhams single customer profiles so it can better track customer journeys across devices and channels.
Exon said the move marks its first big-data play to date and forms an important step in its overall strategy to provide more personalised, multichannel marketing communications. In future it could also help tie-in other areas of digital activity including video and augmented reality (AR) and potentially location-based mobile activity, according to Exon.
“Currently our AR activity is separate but the great thing about this is we can add in new data feeds as we go. So in the long term that is what we will do. Location will also be relevant as if I know there are certain groups of customers in certain geographic locations I can then send them relevant information. That is a more granular level of targeting that will be of more interest later on,” said Exon.
Initially it will focus on refining its email targeting with the view to expanding to other areas of its marketing further down the line.
“At the moment our emails are still broadcasted out to everyone, but this will let us make the transition to much more relevant marketing communications, so we can make the conversation relevant to an individual’s specific area of interest. When it comes to things like our loyalty scheme Beauty Club it can highlight to us where in the cycle of that programme our customers are so we can communicate with them based on the specific amount of points they have earned for example,” she said.
Sky took full ownership of Sky IQ, which began as a joint venture with Experian, last year. Months after it unveiled a suite of Insight Marketing services created to help advertisers better understand how to manipulate consumer data.
Molson Coors was among some of the first brands to share data from their customer bases in return for in-depth insight into how to harness it for multichannel campaigns.