Customer Insights and Motivations: What Data is Essential to Understand Your Audience?

Imagine being able to read your customers’ minds—knowing what they think when interacting with your brand, anticipating their needs, and understanding why they would choose you over the competition.

 This level of connection might sound like science fiction, but in modern retail, understanding your customers is the closest we have to it.

However, for many businesses in Latin America, achieving this level of customer insight and understanding their motivations still feels out of reach.

Scattered data, disconnected platforms, and outdated systems limit the ability to comprehend and improve the customer experience.

The result?

• Marketing teams struggle to segment audiences effectively.
• Sales teams rely on assumptions.
• Operations teams are unaware of customer experiences.
• Potential revenue is lost due to imprecise campaigns.

On the other hand, if your company had the right data, you could build meaningful relationships that strengthen customer loyalty and boost sales.

At Leal, we’ve compiled a list of 19 essential data points you need to collect to design personalized campaigns that truly connect with your customers and ensure every decision drives sales.

The Challenges of Understanding Customers in LATAM Businesses

Knowing your customers deeply allows you to adapt and personalize your offerings to meet their specific needs, which is critical to standing out from the competition.

A McKinsey study revealed that businesses mastering personalization can generate up to 40% more revenue. When customers feel a brand understands their needs, they are more likely to remain loyal.

Despite these clear benefits, many businesses in Latin America face significant challenges in capturing, centralizing, and effectively using customer data.

Common challenges in LATAM include:

• Fragmented data caused by non-integrated systems.
• Disjointed tools that make unified analysis complicated.
• High costs of implementing advanced platforms.

These challenges might seem daunting, but they can be overcome with the right tools.

At Leal 360, we’ve designed a comprehensive platform that enables segmentation and customer data analysis using artificial intelligence, centralizing insights in one place. Our mission is to transform scattered data into valuable insights for decision-making.

19 Data Points You Can’t Ignore to Understand Your Customers

To truly understand your customers, you need to capture their data.

The good news? Your customers are already providing this data—you just need to collect it efficiently and analyze it strategically to unlock its value.

The bad news? If you don’t know what to look for, these valuable details can get lost in the noise.

Here are the 19 data points you must collect to better understand your customers:

Demographic and Basic Contact Information

1. Demographic Data (Age, Location, Gender, etc.)
   Demographic data provides a foundation for audience segmentation, helping tailor messages and campaigns for different groups.
   What to collect: Age, geographic location, gender, and other basic details.
   How to collect: Registration forms on your website, initial surveys, or CRM integrations storing demographic data.
2. Contact Information
   Direct access to customers enables personalized, multi-channel communication and allows you to connect with them at key moments through their preferred channels.
   What to collect: Email, phone number, address, preferred contact method.
   How to collect: Registration or purchase forms, or loyalty program sign-ups. CRM tools like Salesforce or HubSpot can centralize this information.

Purchase Behavior and Lifecycle

3. Purchase Preferences and Product History
   Knowing your customers’ favorite products allows you to offer relevant recommendations and promotions, increasing the chances of conversion.
   What to collect: History of purchased products, frequency of purchases, product combinations.
   How to collect: POS transaction data, e-commerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce), and CRM analysis of buying patterns.
4. Purchase Frequency and Customer Lifecycle
   Frequency of purchases and customer lifecycle stage indicate their level of engagement, allowing for tailored retention and loyalty strategies.
   What to collect: Purchase dates, average time between purchases, lifecycle stage (new, frequent, VIP, at risk).
   How to collect: CRM or POS transaction histories. Use segmentation tools in CRM to classify customers by lifecycle stage.
5. Average Purchase Value and Lifetime Value (LTV)
   These metrics help identify your most valuable customers and design specific incentives to maximize their long-term value, optimizing ROI.
   What to collect: Average transaction value, total customer lifetime value with your brand.
   How to collect: CRMs and sales systems that record each purchase’s value and calculate accumulated LTV. Shopify and other e-commerce tools often include such calculations.

Conversion Triggers and Pricing Sensitivity

6. Conversion Triggers
   Identifying customers most likely to purchase helps create campaigns that drive conversion by focusing on those closer to making a purchase.
   What to collect: Anticipated buying patterns, events that lead to purchase (discounts, restocks).
   How to collect: Predictive analytics and machine learning models in advanced CRMs like Leal 360 or Salesforce Einstein, analyzing historical behaviors.
7. Pricing Sensitivity
   Understanding how customers react to price changes allows you to design effective discounts and promotions, maximizing revenue without compromising profitability.
   What to collect: Responses to price variations and promotions; demand elasticity.
   How to collect: A/B testing on pricing campaigns using tools like Google Optimize, Optimizely, or CRM-based campaign analysis.

Customer Interaction and Communication Preferences

8. Preferred Communication Channels (Email, WhatsApp, etc.)
   Connecting with customers through their preferred channels increases open and response rates. Make your messages more effective.
   What to collect: Customers’ preferred channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp).
   How to collect: Initial preference surveys and monitoring open and response rates on each channel using automation tools like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or WhatsApp Business.
9. Delivery or Pickup Preferences
   Providing delivery or pickup options aligned with customer preferences significantly increases satisfaction and purchase frequency.
   What to collect: Preferred delivery method, pickup locations, preferred delivery times.
   How to collect: Forms during the e-commerce checkout process, post-purchase satisfaction surveys, and delivery data analysis in CRMs or order management systems.
10. Custom Tags and Internal Team Notes
    Annotations allow for deeper personalization of customer relationships, offering an experience that reflects their specific needs and preferences.
    What to collect: Specific categories assigned to each customer, internal comments about preferences or past experiences.
    How to collect: CRMs that allow adding tags and notes, like Salesforce or HubSpot, to segment customers by specific interests.

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

11. Customer Status and Satisfaction Levels (Promoter, Detractor, NPS, CSAT)
    Knowing the satisfaction level allows strategies to retain loyal customers and quickly address dissatisfied ones.
    What to collect: NPS and CSAT scores, status tags (promoter, detractor, at risk).
    How to collect: Satisfaction surveys sent after each purchase or key interaction using tools like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Qualtrics.
12. Customer Service History and Post-Purchase Behavior
    Reviewing past interactions helps identify and resolve barriers faced by customers, turning problems into loyalty opportunities.
    What to collect: Past customer service interactions, post-purchase activity (reviews, recommendations).
    How to collect: Customer service tools like Zendesk or Freshdesk to track tickets and reviews. Monitoring on social media and review platforms.
13. Response to Promotions
    Understanding which promotions attract customer attention allows the design of high-conversion campaigns that truly resonate with the audience.
    What to collect: Responses to various promotions (discounts, flash sales, personalized offers).
    How to collect: Analysis of campaigns using email marketing platforms (Mailchimp, Klaviyo) and CRM systems to track promotion-specific responses.

Psychographic Data and Personal Preferences

14. Interests and Hobbies
    Personal interests help craft creative campaigns and emotionally connect with customers, strengthening loyalty and brand association.
    What to collect: Customers’ interests, hobbies, and values.
    How to collect: Surveys and social media analysis (with consent) or detailed registration forms including questions about interests.
15. Key Interaction Moments (Holidays, Purchase Anniversaries, etc.)
    Leveraging significant moments in the customer’s life, like purchase anniversaries or holidays, creates meaningful connections and enhances loyalty with re-engagement and special occasion campaigns.
    What to collect: Date of first purchase, high-interaction days, customer-specific events (birthdays, purchase anniversaries).
    How to collect: CRMs or e-commerce systems recording first purchase dates and marketing automation tools like Mailchimp or Klaviyo to schedule campaigns on key dates.

Adaptability to New Products or Changes

16. Receptiveness to New Products or Changes
    Analyzing customer receptiveness to new products or changes allows for adjustments in launch strategies and better anticipation of market success.
    What to collect: Reactions to new product launches, feedback on changes in offerings.
    How to collect: Post-launch surveys, analysis of new product purchases, and social media feedback. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can also track clicks on new product pages.
17. Social Media Conversion Patterns and Influence Channels
    Knowing which social media platforms customers interact with or which influencers they follow helps position your brand in the right spaces, optimizing digital strategy to increase conversions.
    What to collect: Preferred social media platforms, most consumed content types, influencers or authority figures followed.
    How to collect: Social media analysis tools like Sprout Social or Hootsuite, surveys, and monitoring mentions and engagement on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
18. Anticipating Future Customer Needs
    Anticipating customers' future needs or desires allows proactive, personalized recommendations, capturing their interest before they consider other options. This strengthens loyalty and increases sales.
    What to collect: Recently viewed products or categories, browsing history, wishlist items, or abandoned cart products.
    How to collect: Google Analytics 4 to track on-site behavior, wishlist analysis, abandoned cart tracking in e-commerce platforms, and predictive models in advanced CRMs analyzing past purchase patterns.

Digital Interaction and Website Behavior

19. Browsing Behavior and Website Usage
    Understanding how users interact with your website helps optimize their experience and guide them toward conversion, ensuring they find what they need effortlessly.
    What to collect: Pages visited, time spent on the site, exit points, clicks on key elements.
    How to collect: Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for analyzing website interactions. Heatmap tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg also help track navigation patterns.

Practical Application of This Data

Collecting this data is only the first step. Next, you must use it to design strategies that drive results. Here’s how:

• Smart Segmentation: Group customers with similar characteristics for more relevant campaigns.
• Omnichannel Personalization: Adapt content and communication channels to customer preferences.
• Enhanced Customer Service: Use feedback to identify and resolve issues, converting detractors into promoters.
• Optimized Loyalty Programs: Tailor rewards and incentives to customers’ value and frequency.
• Predictive AI: Anticipate customer needs and provide proactive solutions.

How Leal 360 Simplifies Customer Insights and Personalization

At Leal 360, we understand the importance of reliable data and turning every interaction into an opportunity to connect with your customers. Our platform integrates four key modules covering the entire customer lifecycle:

1. CDP – My Customers: Centralizes and segments customer data, creating dynamic, auto-updating audiences.
2. Campaigns: Creates and optimizes omnichannel campaigns through Email, SMS, and WhatsApp, enhanced with AI.
3. Voice of the Customer: Captures customer feedback through NPS and CSAT surveys, turning detractors into promoters and improving loyalty.
4. Benefits: Designs loyalty programs tailored to customer preferences, increasing average purchase value and visit frequency.

Ready to Elevate Your Customer Knowledge?

Schedule a demo with us today and discover how Leal 360 can help you collect, analyze, and act on your customer data to maximize revenue and strengthen relationships. 🚀