Personal information, surfing behaviour, preferences and buying habits, and more: if we take into consideration the different interactions that can occur between brand and consumer during the entire customer journey, there is really a lot of information that the latter releases and that can be collected within the company’s digital and non-digital properties.
Much of the data collected can be ascribed to the category of “first-party data” which, as we know, includes all data released under informed consent by users, as mentioned, within the company’s properties.
Historically, digital marketing and advertising have always made little use of first-party data, but increasingly stringent privacy regulations and the announced deprecation of third-party cookies have turned the spotlight on their potential also in the B2B scope.
Let us not forget, in fact, that first-party-data, and even more so zero-party-data, the latter provided directly by users, are linked to valuable information, which is released in the context of a relationship and interaction with the brand: the more value users perceive to derive from this very exchange, the greater the likelihood that they will release valuable information, provided that the company shows transparency and accountability regarding its use.
Lead generation and first-party data: the value of profiling
In a context in which first-party data take on a new centrality at the strategic level, lead generation activities make it possible to exploit their full potential.
Literally, the term ‘lead’ means “potential customer“, in reality it is more than a potential customer, since it is a user who, in addition to having expressed interest, has provided valuable contact data as well as consent to receive information of a commercial nature.
Here, then, the term “lead generation” identifies a whole series of activities aimed at the acquisition of qualified contacts, i.e. characterised by contact information that can be put to good use by the company’s marketing and sales departments.
An effective lead generation activity not only allows for the collection of a contact, be it an email or a telephone number, but also provides for the collection of data and information useful for profiling the user: think, for example, of the content visited, the campaign from which the user comes, or more simply the data he or she releases at the very moment he or she provides his or her contact (e.g. company name, sector, role…).
This information, as we can well imagine, is fundamental for putting in place the first customisation activities of the browsing or purchasing experience.
Lead nurturing and first-party data: the importance of progressive profiling
Data collection and profiling activities in the lead generation phase, but not only: if the latter represents the initial phase of the relationship between user and company, the time in which the former chooses to transform from “anonymous user”to “known user”, however, it is in the subsequent phase that this relationship is structured.
This is the lead nurturing phase, represented by all those activities and strategies that are implemented in order to qualify the newly acquired contact. It is a phase as articulated as it is important, since it is precisely the one in which the transformation of a contact from ‘cold’ to ‘warm’ takes place, i.e. really interested in the brand’s proposal and therefore ready to turn into a potential customer.
Especially in the B2B scope, the data collected during the lead generation phase becomes fundamental to personalise the interaction itself with the user, offering personalised in-depth content based on his real needs and expectations.
But can the information gathered in the first phase be sufficient? Often not! A lead nurturing activity involves, in most cases, the sending of targeted email communications and the customisation of content and insights during the user’s various interactions within the company’s digital properties.
Even during these activities, a lot of information can be progressively collected, in a more or less direct way, in order to increasingly profile the potential customer.
First-party data can thus be enriched and at the same time be used as a basis for progressive profiling activities that allow one to get to know one’s audience in depth.
We must never forget that the objective of a lead nurturing strategy is to transform a lead into a customer, accompanying him/her naturally to the choice and purchase of a product/service.
Lead generation and lead nurturing: how to enhance first-party data with Blendee
Acquiring leads is only the first step: turning them into prospects and later into customers involves building a real relationship.
Blendee allows you to deploy effective profiling and dynamic audience segmentation strategies, as well as personalisation activities through the use of engines and APPs
Behavioural messages, dynamic smart forms and surveys are the basic engines on which to build one’s lead generation strategy. They enable you to request the right information at the right time, making the user himself more ‘predisposed’ to release it.
Although collected at different stages of the user’s customer journey, these data are normalised to single and unified customer view. Finally, identity resolution processes make it possible to know and recognise the user uniquely in omnichannel contexts and from a cross-site and cross-device perspective.
From collection to advanced segmentation with the ‘Segments’ engine, to personalisation, the step is short: Blendee enables the setting up of personalised and automated workflows and follow-up activities through the “Campaign Manager” engine.
Personalised content and messages, based on the collected data, can thus be conveyed to the different users and accompany them throughout the entire customer journey.
