Today, a frequent problem faced by marketing and sales departments is the excess of information about the customer and, at the same time, the lack of access to the complete customer profile. A trader or marketer would need a view where, in addition to basic contact data, he can find sales information, complaints, active campaigns, interactions between the company and the customer, etc. He should also be sure that this data is complete, which will allow for the most personalized service and understanding customer needs.
Customer data may come from various sources: ERP system, CRM, online store, Facebook / Instagram, customer service application, etc. How can a marketer know if a given interaction with a customer concerns our current customer or is it a new customer? Of course, having a small customer base, we are able to recognize a new or regular customer, but as the business grows, it will become impossible. Data floods us on all sides. So it is obvious that you need a tool that will filter and automatically recognize the interaction and assign it to an existing customer or create a new customer profile.
* If this is also important to you, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the SAP Marketing Cloud tool (https://cx.sap.com/en/products/marketing).
How does SAP Marketing Cloud process contact details?
SAP Marketing Cloud, receiving data from various sources, aims to create the so-called Golden Record – that is, to combine all available data about a contact into one record.
Simplifying the entire technicalities, the contact details are contained in 3 different linked tables.
- Facet -> table where unstructured, unstructured data from various sources are stored,
- Data facet-> as above but the data is assigned to specific structures in the system: address, telephone, e-mail, etc., ordered
- Golden Record -> table where “closest to the ideal” data is stored, this data is selected from the Facet Data table based on data priority settings in the system.
Joining the tables is shown in the example below.
Various data sources (systems) have been defined in the system, and in this case the data is combined by phone number (we define which contact data is superior, which is unique, and which can be shared by many people (e.g. landline)).
The system received a new entry with data -> because a customer account was created in the SAP C4C (Cloud CRM) system, and SAP Marketing Cloud linked this data to an already existing record from the Commerce system and then linked them together. One full contact was made.
For example, when we have received a substantial new customer database from a newly acquired company, it will be important for us to combine this data with the current database (assuming we have the appropriate consents and a regulated personal data management process). Thanks to SAP Marketing Cloud, we can easily import data (using integration tools or CSV files). The system will automatically check the acquired data in the background, look for equivalents in the database and assign new values. (Enrich) current data with new values, or create new contacts.
The system combines data without our intervention – doing it in an automated manner.
SAP Marketing Cloud provides tools with which we can verify this data. Namely, for each client profile there is a tab called “Origin Data”, where we can see the marked main contact profile (in the yellow frame – Fig. 4) and data that was read from another source. Here we can see which data influenced the creation of the main contact record in the system.
For deeper analysis, we can also use the “Inspect contact” application displaying data in a tabular form and the “Browse Contact Origin Data” application presenting data on interactions in an aggregated manner. This allows you to check the correctness of the data import and helps you to view and understand the data (for example, what system it comes from).
What if the system is unable to correctly interpret the data?
SAP Marketing Cloud is prepared for this. The systems are not infallible, therefore SAP has developed a tool for automatic duplicate checking, and in case of ambiguity, the user can decide for himself whether a given record should be merged with another.
- Scheduled task identifies duplicate contacts based on first names / surnames, gender, birthdays, mailing addresses, e-mails, and phone numbers. Potentially duplicate contacts are identified in a similar way
- A business user can review the identified duplicates by selecting the “For review” button
In summary, SAP Marketing Cloud is a complete tool that allows you to manage contact data from multiple sources in a convenient, fast and reliable way. This is especially important when the sale takes place through multiple channels or we collect data from many applications.
In the second part of the blog, we will learn more about the customer profile offered by SAP Marketing Cloud.
