Unifying customer data is key to winning digital consumers
Yet, despite investing heavily in digital channels, many businesses still fall short of delivering meaningful engagement.
A report on personalisation revealed that 34% of South African customers feel frustrated when a brand doesn't remember their preferences based on previous encounters and purchases.
For marketers, this statistic should be a wake-up call. Consumers are shopping, browsing, and engaging across multiple platforms whether email, app, social media or in-store, and the real challenge isn't how to reach them, but how to do so intelligently and consistently.
At the heart of this challenge lies one fundamental issue: fragmented customer data.
Fragmentation is the hidden enemy of personalisation
Imagine this scenario: a customer browses headphones on your website. The next day, they receive an email promoting a different product altogether but decide to go in-store and make a purchase of a different set.
Later that week, they see an Instagram ad for the item they already purchased in-store. This kind of disjointed experience is all too common, and it's not just frustrating for the customer. It reflects poorly on the brand, undermines trust, and signals that the business isn't really paying attention.
The reason? Most organisations collect customer data across multiple touchpoints, but that data is rarely unified.
Marketing, sales, support, and product teams often operate in silos, using different tools and datasets. The result is a patchy understanding of the customer journey and missed opportunities to engage meaningfully.
The role of customer data and engagement platforms in creating a unified view
A Unified Customer View (UCV) is the solution to this growing disconnect. It's a comprehensive, real-time profile of a customer that brings together data from all their interactions across digital and physical channels into a single, accessible source of truth.
This is where Customer Data and Engagement Platforms (CDEP) come into play.
Modern marketing demands real-time intelligence and agile execution, and CDEPs make this possible by doing the heavy lifting needed to unify customer data and power personalisation at scale.
They integrate customer data across channels, process it intelligently, and activate it across marketing campaigns—helping brands deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
To break it down even further, CDEPs:
- Connect fragmented systems and databases
- Clean and standardise data for accuracy
- Enable cross-team visibility of customer insights
- Power AI-driven recommendations and segmentation
- Automate engagement across channels like email, push, SMS, and social
So that there is a UCV in place for brands to:
- Understand individual preferences and behaviour
- Personalise communication across all touchpoints
- Create consistency in messaging, tone and timing
- Eliminate redundant marketing efforts
- Make smarter, data-driven decisions
Think of it as putting together a customer's puzzle. Without all the pieces, the picture is incomplete, and your strategy will reflect that.
Why this matters in the South African market
South Africa is undergoing a rapid digital transformation. With over 70% of consumers shopping online, digital channels have become a key battleground for brand loyalty and market share.
However, this has also raised the bar for customer expectations. Today's consumers are not just comparing brands—they're comparing experiences.
When businesses get personalisation right, the results are immediate and tangible. Research shows that brands implementing unified customer profiles have seen up to a 20% increase in average order value.
Others have reported higher click-through rates, stronger conversion and greater customer lifetime value.
Beyond marketing, the impact is far-reaching for business across industries. It influences product development, customer support, loyalty programmes, and even executive decision-making.
Retailers, for example, use unified profiles to understand which channels drive conversions, leading to smarter media spend and targeted promotions.
Banks and financial services personalise product recommendations based on customers' transaction behaviours, improving relevance and uptake.
Travel and hospitality brands deliver seamless booking and check-in experiences across apps and websites, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty and consumer brands are building stronger post-purchase journeys by delivering personalised content and offers that keep customers engaged long after an initial purchase.
These are not just digital conveniences; they are powerful business levers that drive revenue, retention and long-term competitive advantage. In a market where every percentage point in engagement matters, a unified customer strategy is more than just a technological investment; it's a competitive differentiator.
Small steps, big impact
Building a UCV might sound like a major undertaking, but the journey can start small. Brands don't need to rip out legacy systems overnight.
Instead, begin by identifying the most valuable data sources and integrate them step by step to activate insights where they matter most - customer engagement.
A good starting point is asking:
- Are we speaking to our customers with a consistent voice across all channels?
- Do our teams have access to the same data when making decisions?
- Are we measuring what matters or just what's available?
The answers to these questions can reveal both quick wins and long-term strategic opportunities.
South African brands stand at a critical inflection point. With customer expectations rising and digital competition intensifying, those who invest in unifying their customer data will be better positioned to deliver standout experiences and drive measurable business growth.
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