Six ways big data can improve customer experience.

Adobe Communications Team

10-14-2025

Illustration depicting a person interacting with an AI agent, overlaid with data charts and customer insights.

As a business leader in the digital world, you prioritize customer experience (CX). You know you need data to understand and improve how customers interact with your brand. However, you may not be fully aware of how big data fits into the conversation — specifically, how it differs from traditional data and why it’s so closely tied to CX.

The amount of data that businesses have access to is growing every year, but few companies are using these large datasets as effectively as they should. Read on for a better understanding of what big data is and how you can use it to elevate customer experience.

This post will cover:

What is big data, and how is it different from traditional data?

Big data refers to datasets so large and complex that they are difficult to manage all at once. That might sound subjective, but it’s more technical than it seems. To be considered “big data,” it typically must exhibit all three Vs:

Think of the difference between traditional data and big data as the difference between water flowing from a sink faucet versus water gushing from a fire hose — or even several at once. Normal data is easier to control, monitor, and process, either manually or using simple tools. However, traditional data techniques and software are often unable to process large amounts of data. Standard data analytics simply can’t keep up.

How can big data improve customer experience?

With this flood of digital information, you might think that big data is solely about crunching numbers and is disconnected from real people. However, when you know how to handle it, big data opens the door to connecting with many customers at an individual level. And those interactions with real people is what customer experience is all about.

You can use big data to improve customer experience in these six ways:

Three icons depicting personalization, frictionless customer journeys, and customer behavior.

1. Elevate customer personalization.

2. Minimize friction across the customer journey.

3. Understand customer behavior and motivations.

Three icons depicting customer targeting, future trends, and customer loyalty.

4. Target the right customers.

6. Build customer loyalty.

The relationship between AI and big data.

Big data delivers vast information and deep insights, but AI is the force that truly amplifies its impact on how customers experience your business. AI can process massive amounts of data quickly and accurately, far beyond human capacity. This empowers businesses not just to understand what customers are doing, but to predict what they’ll do next — and act on it before it happens.

AI uses big data to deliver:

In essence, AI transforms big data from a powerful analytical tool into a dynamic, adaptive system that drives brilliant and seamless customer experiences.

Get started with big data and customer experience.

With big data, you can gather information and recognize patterns that would otherwise be impossible to understand — then respond in real time to create consistent, memorable experiences that will keep customers coming back for more. People appreciate it when you cater to their needs and make them feel valued. Big data helps you save them time and deliver a service that benefits both sides.

The first step in using big data to enhance your customer experience is having a platform that enables real-time customer interactions. Adobe Experience Platform does that and more.

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