In this episode, Andy Murray is joined by Despina Kokkaraki, CMO at strategy Tonic. Despina has spent decades in the customer experience and customer data space. In their conversation Andy and Despina explore characteristics of a successful customer data strategy, the upskilling deficiency in retail today, ethics surrounding personalization and data privacy, the future of data privacy in the United States and how retailers can prepare for a cookieless world, and much more.

Despina also fields a few questions from senior marketing students at the University of Arkansas.

Topics & Questions 

01:32 Guest Introduction

04:03 What experiences built competencies to be successful in this space?

06:51 Why is there such a movement towards first party data?

10:06 How can retailers obtain actionable and valuable first party data?

13:49 What role does upskilling play in this evolving space?

15:58 What makes up a successful customer data strategy?

18:09 Understanding personalization and boundaries that need to be addressed

21:17 What is a RFM model?

24:30 The power of segmenting customer data

25:47 What US retailers can learn from European retailer’s approach to customer data strategy 

29:52 Questions from Walton College Marketing students

30:23 How can companies measure emotional reactions in a privacy appropriate manner?

32:28 How can marketers better understand ethical boundaries related to data privacy?

34:46 How students and young professionals can build competencies in the customer data space

36:17 The importance of having a specific strategy for the data you are collecting

38:10 What gives you hope for the future of customer data?

Show Links

Connect with Despina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/despinakokkaraki/

Connect with Andy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlmurray/

Follow CCLI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/customer-centric-leadership-initiative-sam-m-walton-college-of-business/

Check Out Strategy Tonic: https://www.strategytonic.com/