What is the role of progressive profiling in business?

In the modern age of personalized marketing and increased focus on customer experience, we are surprised that people are unaware of progressive profiling. Essentially, it combines these two in a streamlined way, making both data gathering and customer management a lot easier. So, for all those that don’t know what it is, we are going to take a closer look and see what progressive profiling is all about.

What is progressive profiling?

Progressive profiling is a systematic approach to dynamically gathering and making use of customer data. To understand it properly, you first need to understand the difference between declared data and inferred data. In simple terms, declared data is the data that customers provide you on their own accord. Think of forms, questionnaires, and rating scales. Inferred data, on the other hand, is the customer data you gather from their behavior. What pages do the customers usually visit? How long do they stay on specific pages? What online journey brought them to your website? The answers to these questions are all essentially inferred data, as you monitor what the customer does, and get your info from that.

The data you gather from progressive profiling is a bit of both. On the one hand, you do present your customers with questions. For instance, you can ask about their name, address, and email. But, later on, if you see that they’ve visited your moving page, you can ask whether they plan to move and where. You are dynamically asking questions and progressively building up the profile of your customer. Hence the name.

What are the benefits of progressive profiling?

If you are an experienced marketing manager, you are probably already aware of the benefits that progressive profiling can bring. If used properly, it can be a powerful tool that will bridge the gap between what your customers want, and what you have to offer. From the customer’s perspective, you will always seem to ask the right questions. Desing it properly and your customer might even feel as if they have a conversation with your website. And from your perspective, you will gather customer data that you can later use for a multitude of purposes.

Improved personalization

Personalization is slowly turning from a marketing luxury to an industry norm. Namely, if you wish to have an effective marketing strategy, you need to rely on personalization. Luckily, progressive profiling makes personalization quite easy. The data you gather through it can easily be utilized for personalization efforts and improved segmentation. If you combine it with CRM email marketing for movers, you will have a terrific engagement strategy on your hands.

Gathering declared data with ease

Once you start gathering declared data, you’ll soon learn that it is far from easy. Most customers are reluctant to give personal info, even if it will benefit them. Long, drawn-out questionnaires are tiresome to fill out. This tends to deter customers from filling them out, even if you offer some benefits for doing so. Meanwhile, with progressive profiling, they are never bombarded with too many questions. A couple of questions are always easy to answer, regardless of what you are currently occupied with. So, overall, you’ll be gathering much more data than you would by pushing full-fledged questionnaires.

Better conversion rates

It is worth noting how your customers will perceive progressive profiling once they visit your website. Namely, if you optimize it properly, they will essentially feel as if the website is talking with them. After all, based on their behavior, your website will automatically ask questions and then organize the CX accordingly.

Therefore, the customer will feel appreciated and will feel that your website is a dynamic tool that is supposed to help them with their relocation. Not a static website that only serves to draw in customers. This, as you can imagine, leaves quite an impression on new customers. And will effectively lead to them doing business with you.

How to implement

Unfortunately, the process of implementing progressive profiling isn’t always straightforward. As a moving company, you need to consider what kind of customers are most likely to visit your website, and how you can improve their experience of it. Some customer management software for movers can help you gather customer data. And you will need to collect and analyze it before you start with profiling. If necessary, consult with a more experienced marketing manager. The better you prepare, the smoother the process will be.

Presenting the right form

Firstly, you need to figure out how to present your questions. Design, timing, and phrasing are key, as you don’t want to confuse your audience. Keep the format of the questionnaire in line with the website design. Make sure that the questions are simple and easily comprehensible. Never ask negative questions, and always make sure that the questions you ask are worth it. At all costs, you ought to avoid redundant questions, as they bring no info, and only stand to irritate customers.

Gathering customer data

The longer the process of profiling goes on, the better data you will have. With it, you can use customer care software for movers and improve your overall customer care. And you can also improve the profiling itself and enhance its effectiveness. Remember that you need to keep track of inferred data, and see how people react to your profiling. More often than not, there will be things you can improve upon. So, the sooner you recognize them, the better off you’ll be.

Analysis and decision making

At the end of the day, the point of progressive profiling is to make decisions. If you need to reorient your services, redo your website, or engage a different demographic, profiling will show you. Also, keep in mind that the more you put your analysis into practice, the better you will get at analyzing the right data.