4 Email Data Capture Best Practices

Struggling with understanding the “what, how and why” rules of data capture? If so, you’re not alone. Many marketers view data capture as a one-time only event — asking for too much or the wrong type of information.

Traditionally, marketers use data capture forms to collect as much information as possible to help build complete customer profiles. It’s no secret, however, that there's a direct correlation between the number of questions asked and abandonment rates on data capture forms. Not only is this approach counterproductive, it’s fundamentally wrong. The bottom line is customer data isn't an entitlement; it’s something you earn. 

To gain consumers' trust, marketers need to shift their thought processes and view data capture as a continuum — a multiphase process that unfolds over time with the exchange of value between you and consumers. Unfortunately, the value exchange is the most overlooked aspect of a well-designed data capture strategy.

As such, prospects or customers won’t divulge personal information unless they receive information in return. Remember, your objective in the data capture stage is to move the needle from an anonymous visitor on your website to a fully qualified prospect.

Here are four tactics smart marketers employ during their data capture processes to move prospects from anonymous visitors to named visitors that sales can engage with:

1. Serve up valuable content opportunities. Begin by analyzing your customers' behaviors on your site (e.g., how long they visit certain pages) to determine their areas of interest. In doing so, you then can build in opportunities to ask them for additional data in subsequent interactions as trust deepens and more value is provided. Admittedly, this approach requires a bit more lifting, but the end result likely will be full customer profiles.

2. Never ask for more information than you need. Remember, each request for data represents a test of your trust/value relationship with your customers. So don’t test it unnecessarily. Similarly, don't ask about preferences unless you're at a point at which you can act and fulfill those preferences. Design your questions to be both relevant and actionable.

3. Be transparent about data usage. Be honest and up-front about whether this customer data will be shared with others. And if so, how? Consider providing customers with a link to your privacy policy, which should be in close proximity to your data request. Remember, if you institute a change in your privacy policy, you need to request permission from your customers to implement those changes.

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