There is no shortage of advertisements, sponsored posts, or targeted emails that most consumers get bombarded with every day. Digital brand engagements are a common way for businesses to get their products or services in front of their target audience as quickly and efficiently as possible.
But with so many avenues individuals now have to make a purchase, it can be difficult for businesses to know exactly where they should focus their branding efforts. In these cases leveraging behavioral data can be incredibly valuable.
By gaining a deeper understanding of your customer’s patterns or preferences, it can guide you to making more impactful decisions on how you approach them and improve their overall brand experiences.
Table of contents
- What is behavioral data and where is it located?
- Why does behavioral data matter in business settings?
- Different ways you can start leveraging behavioral data
In summary
Behavioral data focuses on how customers interact with a brand: what they do, why they do it, and how those actions reflect their preferences. By analyzing engagement across channels such as websites, emails, reviews, and customer service interactions, businesses can uncover insights that improve authenticity and enhance customer experiences. Leveraging this data enables more personalized messaging, better timing of outreach, and smarter recommendations based on past behavior. It also helps identify friction points in the customer journey so organizations can proactively optimize navigation, forms, and overall usability. Ultimately, applying behavioral insights strengthens customer relationships by making interactions more relevant, seamless, and genuinely supportive.
What is behavioral data and where is it located?
Behavioral data is the same as typical demographics data you can gather doing market research. As opposed to simply understanding who a customer is, their age, or background, behavioral data focuses more on what they do when engaging with the brand, and most importantly, why.
Every engagement a customer has, whether it’s on your website, writing a product or service review online, or interacting with customer service teams on social media, all paints a clear picture of their behaviors.
For example, if you were to track each session that a customer creates on your website, following their path from first landing on your site to when they end the browsing sessions can reveal a lot of helpful information. You might get a good sense of which elements on your site interest them the most, or how one page’s topics helps to naturally push readers to another part of the site.
All of this information can be extracted to help you create smoother, more intuitive engagements later down the road.
Why does behavioral data matter in business settings?
Most consumers have become highly aware of typical marketing or pay-per-click (PPC) tactics. They know when brands are being genuine in their value pitches and when they’re simply trying to boost their revenue.
If a customer feels like they’re simply being “sold” by a brand, they’re likely to look for those products or services somewhere else. This is why being authentic is so important in business settings. Customers need to believe that all claims or advice is genuine and comes from a source that wants to improve their customers' lives.
When you regularly collect and analyze your behavioral data, it can help you to find this balance while working at improving your customer journey in a way that’s helpful, not pushy.
Different ways you can start leveraging behavioral data
Creating more personalized brand messaging
When you’re creating a new marketing campaign, you want to always avoid simply taking a shot in the dark. You want to make sure you’re maximizing the impact of any promotional messages your release and allow them to resonate in the right ways to your audience. Behavioral data can help you achieve this goal.
For example, if you were a restaurant owner, it would be important to focus your public relations and advertising efforts on areas customers are likely to respond to. You might notice that according to your data, you start to see noon rush for customers looking for lunch.
Because of this, it wouldn’t make sense to send out emails with dinner specials the morning off or late in the evening before. Timing is everything when you’re creating personalized brand messaging, and behavioral data is great for helping you to send the right emails or advertisements at the right time.
Timing your interactions optimally
Creating great marketing messages is one thing, but knowing the right moment to deliver it is critical. Remember, It’s not just what you say, but when and how you say it that really matters.
A classic example of this is sending a special offer or discount code right after a customer abandons their online shopping cart. Recognizing those moments of hesitation is your opportunity if you know when they come. Sending out a discount offer short after can be just the nudge they need to complete the purchase, and just as importantly, it keeps them from immediately heading over to a competitor's site to compare prices.
By focusing on the timing of your marketing efforts, you dramatically increase the chances that all your hard work will pay off with real results.
Making use of past brand experiences
The history your customers have with your brand is another perfect place to look for a clearer understanding of what they’re likely to do next. For example, when you see what someone does after reading a specific blog post or downloading a guide, you can intelligently suggest other content they’re likely to find just as valuable.
Of course, there’s a balance you want to achieve here. The last thing you want is to come across as intrusive or overly aggressive in your marketing tactics. The goal isn’t to corner them into making a purchase, but instead, become a helpful resource. You're simply offering more information that can guide them through a problem they're trying to solve or help them decide which of your offerings is the right fit for them.
Improving customer engagements
If you're looking to build a genuine connection with your audience, behavioral data is your most valuable asset during the process. It can be a really helpful tool for listening to what your customers are telling you through their actions. When you construct this information together, it can create a roadmap for how your company can meet their needs effectively.
A great practical application is to watch people navigate your website. If you start to notice that a lot of visitors are relying on the search bar just to find a basic link or feature, that’s a pretty big clue. It can signal that your navigation might be confusing or that your calls-to-action need to stand out a bit more.
Building more cohesive customer journeys
Often, the most effective way to help your customers is to solve a problem before they even know it exists. Your behavioral data can help you to uncover these types of situations, such as when recognizing subtle areas of frustration a customer may be experiencing, and taking steps to intervene before these areas are allowed to impact the overall customer journey.
For example, if you notice a high number of people abandoning a sign-up form right on the final page, this could be a good sign that something in the design is either malfunctioning or something is too confusing for the reader. By proactively identifying and fixing these kinds of problems, you create a much more seamless process for everyone involved, all while ensuring you can still collect more helpful information you can use as your organization grows.
Start leveraging your customers’ behavioral data to improve your relationships
The key to building stronger, more committed customer relationships is leveraging the insightful behavioral data you’ve already collected. By putting the strategies discussed into practice, you’ll understand your customers better and be able to create more seamless brand touchpoints that improve cohesion throughout their journey.
