Due to the rapid development of mobile payment technologies, China is quickly moving closer to a cashless society. Aside from BAT (Baidu Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.), which greatly digitalised both the economy and Chinese society, the newer platforms from companies such as Didi, JD, Byte Dance, Meituan, are also significantly changing the lifestyles of Chinese people.
Together, they have dramatically changed the way businesses approach marketing and sales in China. Marketing activity must now be based on universal data in real time and be enabled by technology or data intelligence. But market research, like many industries in the marketing services sector, is clearly facing serious challenges.
For researchers, the dream for years was to obtain behavioral data in real time and survey attitudinal data concurrently. However, as this has become a reality, it has brought much turbulence and uncertainty to the market research sector. This is reflected in the difficulties experienced by most global MR companies, in growing revenues today.
Ipsos has selected China as a test market for innovation and has successfully transformed its business to meet the challenges. Over the last two years, Ipsos has maintained double-digit growth in its research business, and built a large scale, digital social CRM business in China.
So, what is Universal Data?
In the past, research agencies worked mainly with survey data, either from customised surveys or panels. Now the platform companies access behavioral data in real time. Social listening companies gather opinions and comments from the internet instantaneously. And research companies, per the expectations of their clients, have opportunities to integrate the learnings from behavioral and social media data by partnering with these data owners. So, the whole data domain, or Universal data, is now available. Universal data not only makes it feasible to integrate the learnings from different sources, but also allows brands to communicate with consumers directly on a range of touch points via different social media platforms or through their own consumer data platforms (CDP).
Universal data not only makes it feasible to integrate the learnings from different sources, but also allows brands to communicate with consumers directly on a range of touch points via different social media platforms or through their own consumer data platforms (CDP)
Then why technology?
Previously, statisticians relied heavily on computers for tabulation and multivariate analysis. Nowadays, clients expect delivery of results much more quickly or even in real time. Research agencies must leverage technology more than ever, to build sampling, survey, analysis and reporting platforms. Ipsos introduced its social research platform in 2018 in China, IS Community, as well as Intercept Sampling Approach, which effectively takes social networks as survey panels. In addition, besides new data collection platforms, Ipsos in China, through its company partners, has also developed a social CRM business by building technology platforms that help brands communicate with their customers or consumers directly.
We describe these efforts, made by Ipsos in China and its associated companies, as a closed loop of ‘Data-Insight-Action’.
How does the ‘Data-Insights-Action’ loop work?
Citing an example, based on a service quality management platform built by an Ipsos affiliate, a Shanghai based mobile phone operator wanted to better understand consumer complaints about their service quality, so as to intervene in advance through precision marketing. By leveraging the ‘Data-Insight-Action’ loop, Ipsos not only helped the operator discover the ‘what and why’ of complaints, but also provided an intervention strategy that effectively delivered their solutions.
- Integrating the learnings from big (behavioral) data and survey (attitudinal) data is important. Big data tells us what consumers do, while smaller/survey data explains why.
- Through their CRM data, the operator knew what consumers did, but they didn’t know why. The custom platform, built by Ipsos’ affiliate, investigated a group of consumers, and then labelled them by combining their attitudinal and behavioral data (without breaching confidentiality). Through a look-alike method, by identifying labels of consumers, the platform helped to tag a much larger group of consumers and thereby forecast the preferences or behavior of each consumer and intervene with appropriate messages in a timely way.
- The platform revealed the driving factors that impacted on NPS (Net Promoter Scale) and behavioral preferences of dissatisfied consumers, and uncovered the reasons behind them, through cause-effect analysis. By simulating the effects of planned actions, the platform helped identify the interventions that would improve consumer satisfaction and increase sales.
Data partners
The starting point of a ‘Data-Insight-Action’ loop is data. Ipsos in China has developed strategic partnerships with numerous data owners, including operators, maps, social media platforms, cloud companies, eCommerce platforms etc. It has also modified many of its research solutions by integrating the learnings from big data and social listening data through their partnerships with the TMIC (Training Management Information Centre) of Alibaba and JD.com.
An Ipsos associated company in China has also built a social CRM platform, in PAAS or tailor-made format, to help clients digitise their marketing and CRM work. This Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Management Platform (DMP) collects information and manages the customer experience throughout their ownership life cycle. On one hand, BI digitalises and visualises the data, and on the other, DMP uses AI to label consumers and predict their behaviors in different situations. Using CRM marketing tools from the platform, the client can provide a customised offer for each follower in different scenarios. All offers can be communicated to consumers directly through social media, apps, official websites, online stores, etc.
- In the auto industry, the consumers’ decision-making journey is long and auto clients often need to inspire potential customers at a very early stage. Understandably, many auto-makers prefer to maintain existing consumers than convert new consumers. A car owner can bring much additional, incremental revenue to the car-maker during the entire period of ownership, through aftersales service, etc.
- There are different approaches that can be utilised to maintain customers. One is to predict customer behavior in a different context, based on their preference labels, and then provide appropriate offers. Another is to contact customers in a timely way when they face a product/service challenge. In addition, companies can contact consumers to promote client-marketing events. Using AI and machine learning technologies, social CRM forms an automated process with policy mechanisms embedded from proposal to execution and evaluation.
- The social CRM platform can not only extend the life cycle of an existing customer, but also apply learnings to identify and convince potential customers, with the client benefits of cost and time reduction.
- As a result, in a recent 12 months of period, accredited to this platform, the after-sales revenue of one Chinese manufacturer increased by 30%. It also greatly improved the aftersales experience of its’ five million car users.
Traditional market research companies provide insights. But through a ‘Data-Insight-Action’ loop, Ipsos and its partners in China transform actionable insights into real time marketing actions. We help clients make precise marketing and CRM decisions to increase sales and improve consumer experience.
It has driven tangible growth in the Ipsos research business in China. Over the last two years, Ipsos in China and its affiliates have won tens of million euros of incremental revenue, comprising 60% from research business and 40% from tech-driven digital marketing and social CRM business.
