Epsilon, the world's leading outcome-based marketing company, has teamed up with CX Network, an online community dedicated to helping businesses become more intelligent, to launch a customer Identity Management survey titled "Key Drivers for Identity Management in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa."
 
The global survey draws insights from almost 200 Customer Experience (CX) and marketing experts based in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa on their key drivers for customer Identity Management to support brands with improving their Identity Management practices. 
 
With the imminent shift away from cookie technologies, customer identity data optimisation will be greater than ever before. Brands must look at managing their data collection strategies, investment strategies, and deploying improvement in their identity management practices to reach, engage, and retain customers moving forward. 
 
“The decay of cookie technology is now forcing many brands to alter their strategies to meet changing customer expectations. Moving forward, CX practitioners and marketers should conduct frequent assessments of their data management and customer engagement strategies to deliver loyalty-winning customer experiences and boost customer lifetime values,” said Patrick Sim, Senior VP of APAC and MEA at Epsilon. 
 
Although cookie-based customer interaction is being questioned, the survey indicated that most organisations are still unprepared to handle their own identity data infrastructure flaws. Over 60% of those polled have incomplete client profiles, which hinder customer interaction methods, and 24% have data that is fragmented and compartmentalised by channel or business function, making it difficult to quickly adapt to changes in consumer behaviour.
 
Over 40 per cent of those surveyed are in the early stages of rolling out first party data capture strategies, indicating a shift in identity data management. However, a majority do not currently enrich their first party data with third-party data and are unable to manage marketing programs without depending on third-party platforms. This highlights that despite companies potentially having a more complete view of the customer, a crucial challenge to overcome lies in managing and optimising growth through Identity Management. 
 
“Campaigns run on third-party platforms rarely provide customer intelligence to companies, and this lack of intelligence in the system leads to a vicious cycle of continued dependency on these platforms. The solution is to invest in owned platforms and software for customer engagement, allowing for relevant, timely and compelling communication. Businesses need to prioritise gaining an understanding of their data footprint and enhancing their data strategies, which must include capturing and leveraging first-party data to drive optimal customer experiences,” said Sim. 
 
Considering the cookie deprecation, 61 per cent of respondents plan to alter their engagement strategies. In selecting a solution provider and identity resolution partner to assist in managing customer identity data more effectively, accuracy (77%) and compliance (68%) emerged as the most desired traits, beating cost (2%). The focus then is on an identity resolution partner that can strike the balance between respecting customer privacy regulations while also delivering intuitive, personalised, data-informed customer experiences that enhance the customer journey. 
 
Brands must begin increasing their spending and focusing on consumer identification data management in the future, as it will be critical to navigate a post-cookie landscape and retaining strong loyalty. Brands should think about investing in platforms that can help them build direct relationships with customers through tailored engagement tactics, giving them an edge over their competition by increasing customer lifetime value through improved experiences.