This is how you, a marketing executive, likely looks at your organization: departmentalized silos of categories, products, business units, and operating divisions.

Now this is how your customer looks at your company: as one brand, that he or she either loves, hates or just feels ambivalent about.

The discrepancy is a problem for most companies - few of which really know their customers, says John Lovett, senior partner with Web Analytics Demystified in ExactTarget's newly-released Letters to the C-Suite Series: 10 Ideas to Turn Data into Results.

To get to know your customers, you have to start remembering the interactions you have with them and building off of these activities, he advises. Companies also have to be more aggressive about collecting - and compiling in one database - the relevant attributes about the customer’s interaction with the brand, says Bill Zujewski, vice president of product marketing with ATG, in the same report.

Some examples he offers, include:

• Interest in certain online categories.

• Search keywords. Here, the customer is telling you exactly what they’re looking for.

• Products with certain attributes. Is the customer looking for close-out products? High-end products?

• Referring URL. This provides insight on how they landed on your site and how to personalize the experience.

• Past order history. The history of purchases made in other channels provides a long-term view of purchases made.

• Membership or loyalty data.

• CRM and Service Information Systems data. This includes customer support applications reflecting the customer's service history.

• Data from other sales channels including in-store and point-of-sale systems.