Are you looking into 2018 desiring to power your company’s growth, but not sure where to start? There are countless directions you could go, but if we could tell you one thing, we would say to always start with your data. Believe it or not, your current data is a goldmine just waiting to boost your revenue! And the best way to do that is through a Customer Data Platform. Many people ask us what Ascent360 does, and what a Customer Data Platform actually is. So, in this article we hope to answer most of your questions and give you a comprehensive overview of just that.
We are a team based in Denver, Colorado, where we love enjoying the outdoors and the 300 days of sunshine 😊
At Ascent360, we have created a Customer Data Platform that can hold data on every customer. It holds every transaction related to that consumer, and we help companies reach those customers through different mediums. Essentially, we help our customers grow, manage and measure revenue through the tools in our platform.
We work with brands (Thule, Marmot, Smartwool), retailers (Alpine Shop, Mark’s Jewelers), resorts (Mammoth Mountain, Sun Valley, Wachusett), and event companies (Ragnar) of all sizes. While some of our customers are very sophisticated, others only send their data periodically. When it comes down to it, our mission is for companies to get more value from their customer data. From a revenue standpoint, we know that customer data is the least expensive method of making future sales and really is the best investment you can make!
We’ve had clients tell us “I just take the scatter-shot approach to market to my prospects and customers.” But we have found the archaic approach of shooting mass emails to a large group is no longer effective. It's quite simply a waste of time. When companies use this approach, they aren’t getting the most bang for their buck. This is because they aren’t targeting the right people at the right time. Our philosophy is to start with your ideal customers. We advise to push that segment into our engine and understand them better through our analytics. From there, it's easy to create campaigns to retain those customers and acquire more customers that look like them.
Perhaps through that process we find that your ideal customer is the 35-year-old, single male, living in Northern Oregon, whose hobbies are hunting and fishing. An example campaign we tend to find great results for marketing to current customers is using a look alike model. You can read more about look alike models and other campaigns we suggest you start with in our new Marketing Playbook.
From a software perspective. We have created a robust software platform (CDP) that integrates the company’s data from all their sources! Additionally, the Ascent360 platform includes several tools to help companies analyze their data, like our in-depth custom reporting. This particular tool is a great way to go as in-depth or as broad as you want to see. It allows you to see your customer database and current and past campaigns. Additionally, you can see what’s generating the most revenue, and what may need to be tweaked. Another feature we offer is our segmentation tool. It allows companies to quickly and easily create audiences based on a variety of attributes like demographics, behavior, and geographic attributes.
Our client success team is a highly valued service to our clients. When companies start with Ascent360, we automatically assign a client success member to every account. Our client success team helps companies define what to actually do with their data and are available to answer any questions. It also allows them to learn from the client success member’s comprehensive industry experience, equipping companies to build productive campaigns that have high ROI.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) doesn’t have to be scary, you just have to know its importance and how to use it. Once you have a CDP, you'll see revenue growth and a vibrant, new way to analyze and use your data!
If you’d like to read real examples of how our customers use their CDP, visit our downloads page. Here, you’ll find multiple case studies, campaign results, and helpful content for you to get started with your CDP.
And if you have a question we still didn’t answer or want to run through a demo, feel free to send us an email!