The Social Commerce Accelerator asked Jake to present to their members about how you can use data to optimize your customer experiences and become more effective at acquiring new customers. The highlights of the presentation were:

1) Use different categories of data depending on what you are trying to achieve.

Depending on what you want to measure and improve, the categories can include:

• Revenue
• Life-cycle analysis
• Segmentation

2) Extend data driven optimization of the business to your social media initiatives.

Use data to understand which initiatives and channels are generating the best returns.

Social media intersects with data in the areas of:

• Acquisition of new customers
• Retention of existing customers
• Referrals to friends and followers – help your customers market for you

3) More data is not always better. Focus on what is most effective.

Use actionable metrics. If seeing the data then makes you take action, then it is worthwhile.

• Know what you are trying to accomplish, and focus on the end goal.
• Know whether the data you need is accessible.

4) Where do companies see the biggest gains from data:

Companies see the biggest gains from data in making better customer acquisition resource decisions. RJMetrics’ customers (more than 100 e-commerce sites) see 5x difference among best and worst channels. Know your lifetime value (LTV) by channel.

5) Tactics you can use – targeting lapsed customers:

• Remarketing: repeat purchased from existing customers are much more cost-effective than acquiring new customers.
• Reactivation: send a targeted offer to your customers to keep them engaged.
• Segmentation Marketing: tailor your offering so it is more interesting, and give different offers to different segments.

Examples of how to segment your customer base:

• Those who haven’t bought in the past 90 days
• People referred by a friend
• People who have referred friends
• Customers with the highest order values

Keep it simple to start. Split customers by multiple segments and keep testing.

The webinar is posted here on inSparq and is part of the inSparq Social Commerce Accelerator (SCA). SCA is a 10 week program for established retailers, brands & e-commerce sites aimed to revive their social commerce strategy to drive sales life.