– In 1848, Sam Brannan became California’s first millionaire by reselling shovels during the gold rush.
– Today, the largest companies in the world, including Apple, are still selling “shovels” in the form of advertising.
– Collecting high intent data from customers is crucial for relevance and success in ecommerce, and businesses should focus on mining this data to improve efficiency.Start collecting high intent data from your customers on your website to improve relevance and efficiency in your ecommerce strategy.In 1848, gold was discovered in the new territory of California. California’s first millionaire was a man named Sam Brannan. Sam didn’t become a millionaire from mining gold. Sam was making $5,000 per day ($155k in 2020 dollars) by reselling shovels. Nearly 175 years later, the largest companies in the world are still selling shovels. Although all those shovels are a bit more sophisticated, based on user data and vertically integrated, they are selling you advertising. Even Apple is moving in this direction. The only way Sam could have made more money is if he owned the factories making the raw materials for the shovels (vertical integration). That advertising example from above is only as good as the customer data that underlies it. These platforms have more data about people than you do, and you don’t have the requisite platform or skills to collect data in volumes that they do, so you become beholden to them. There is a stark contrast to how most ecommerce businesses approach sales from how those that sell advertising approach sales. One has a 90%+ profit margin, the other 30%. One is all digital, the other requires physical goods to move all over the world. The challenge is that advertisers don’t really want to be the stores, and the stores don’t know how to be the advertisers. (Amazon is currently positioning to be both) Regardless, all stores need a shovel capable of collecting data directly from their customers at the first sight of gold. Here, gold is the first point of intention to make a purchase. Here’s a good example: A quiz is someone who just came out west and is trying to decide if mining is right for them. A signup for a discount is someone who is actively looking to buy a shovel. A post-purchase survey is a recap of the experience of buying a shovel without using it. Which data set is most valuable if you’re looking to sell more shovels? Customer data collection is all about relevance; it’s why Facebook doesn’t show your ads to everyone. The best way to gain relevance is to collect high-intent data and build customer journeys around it. You can’t influence a sale after someone has purchased; there’s no well-crafted email that’s going to fix a poor customer experience. So, with privacy regulations essentially telling you that you can’t mine for gold everywhere anymore, stake your claim on your website, get out your shovel and pan and start mining intent data from your users now.It’s going to make a world of difference in your efficiency moving into 2023.#ecommerce #data #strategyhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jivanco