Imagine a member seeking assistance only to be bounced around various departments, needing to describe his or her circumstances at each touchpoint. When they finally arrive at someone who can assist them, that person can’t access their entire membership history.
This frustrating member experience is a result of data silos. You can’t give your members the seamless, personalised service that they’re after when their member data is divided between separate systems.
The result? Frustrated members, who might be loyal but feel like strangers to your organisation.
How do data silos impact member retention and satisfaction?
Data silos cause disjointed experiences and ultimately, unhappy members. These are some of the ways that disjointed data affects your members:
Disjointed member experience
In siloed environments, poor communication between departments leads to the organisation never really knowing its members. Interactions become chaotic, and people begin to question the competence of the organisation.
Poor personalisation
A gold-tier member is treated like a first-timer because the loyalty platform isn’t feeding status into the CRM. A member could receive beginner tips instead of higher tier perks and early access.
Delayed problem resolution
Support staff waste hours digging through various systems to build a profile on your members. What should have been an easy reply is transformed into a long, drawn-out interaction.
Lack of proactive engagement
Due to the departmental insights that data silos keep locked away, organisations may be missing out on re-engagement opportunities for at-risk members and potential additional support.
Lost opportunities for upselling and cross-selling
Teams that communicate poorly or don’t collaborate with one another overlook opportunities to cross-sell and upsell additional products or services.
What are the root causes of disconnected member data?
Data silos arise due to growth cycles, technical limitations and even company politics.
Common culprits include:
- Departments designing their own system in isolation
- Legacy systems with poor integration capabilities
- Organisational cultures in which teams gatekeep “their” data
- Technical barriers between incompatible software formats
- Explosive growth with no regard for how new tools need to plug into the rest of your IT infrastructure
And these factors add up over time, forming progressively complex webs of disjointed information.
How can you start breaking down your organisation’s data silos?
Take a holistic approach combining technology-led solutions and cultural change across your business. Start with these key steps:
1. Audit your current systems
Map where member data resides throughout your organisation. Create a detailed chart of who holds what information, and see if there are any key missing points or overlaps.
2. Choose a centralising platform
Build out a customer data platform (CDP) or an integrated membership management solution that can draw from various sources such as reward programmes. Seek out solutions that provide APIs for integrations with the tools you are already using.
3. Establish data governance policies
Put clear rules in place for data ownership, responsible updates and access permissions. Write down who bears the responsibility for ensuring that information in each system stays accurate.
4. Build cross-departmental collaboration
Put together a data integration team made up of members from all your departments. Setting up periodic meetings can help pinpoint pain points and guarantee that solutions will work to everyone’s benefit.
5. Train your teams thoroughly
Demonstrate to employees how integrated data enhances member engagement and makes their jobs easier on a daily basis. Also provide hands-on training for new integrated systems.
6. Start with high-impact connections
Start by connecting your CRM and email platform, and slowly build from there with other systems, like event management or payment processing.
What’s the payoff for a unified member experience?
An integrated member experience changes the way your organisation functions and grows. Eliminating data silos allows you to deliver personalised experiences to gain your members’ trust.
Your teams can also serve members better when they have the necessary information to do so. Higher member retention, more active members, and long-term organisational success are all natural by-products of this integrated approach.
Propello offers a range of tools to help drive new member acquisition, increase brand loyalty, boost member retention and improve the experience for your members.
Contact us to learn more.
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