Customer data or consumer data refers to all personal, behavioural, and demographic data that is collected by marketing companies and departments from their customer base.[1] To some extent, data collection from customers intrudes into customer privacy, the exact limits to the type and amount of data collected need to be regulated.[2][3] The data collected is processed in customer analytics. The data collection is thus aimed at insights into customer behaviour (buying decisions, etc.) and, eventually, profit maximization by consolidation and expansion of the customer base.[4]
A possible classification of business customer information was proposed by Minna J. Rollins, who distinguished the levels a) market b) organizational c) business unit, and d) individual.[7] For private consumers, different levels are a) personal identifying data b) psychographics data, c) transactional (buying) data, d) demographic, and e) financial data.[6] While the individual data level for business customers has some overlap with the data gathered from individual consumers, the other business-related levels roughly correspond to the demographic part of individual customers.[8]
^Brown, Brad; Kanagasabai, Kumar; Pant, Prashant; Pinto, Gonçalo Serpa (2017-03-15). "Capturing value from your customer data". McKinsey & Company. Retrieved 2018-08-15. In an increasingly customer-centric world, the ability to capture and use customer insights to shape products, solutions, and the buying experience as a whole is critically important. Research tells us that organizations that leverage customer behavioral insights outperform peers by 85 percent in sales growth and more than 25 percent in gross margin.1 Customer data must be seen as strategic. ... Information on what customers purchase, how many times they contact customer service, and how long they linger on a given website can create an insightful narrative about buying habits and preferences.
^Rollins, Minna J. (Oct 2014). "Types of customer information collected about business customers". Customer information usage and its effect on seller company's customer performance in business-to-business markets – an empirical study (Report). Archived from the original on 12 Mar 2024 – via ResearchGate.
