The Truth About Why You Need Data-Driven Marketing

Why data-driven marketing, not mass marketing, has become essential to connecting with today's digital consumer.

Data is everywhere today, and the ability to acquire consumer data sits at an all-time high. Big data is a buzzword we've all heard, and likely used, in our professional lives. Whether we realize it or not, it's become the foundation of nearly every marketing and advertising campaign we see today.

Why? Because marketers can no longer rely on eye-catching imagery and clever copy alone to make strategic, creative decisions, every decision now needs to be data-driven. Data-driven marketing opens the door to connecting with consumers on a deeper level.

The truth is, advertising and marketing need to be tailored and segmented to the individual. Mass marketing, while still around, carries far less weight and engagement than it did 20 years ago. Data-driven marketing is simply a more attractive practice for today's digital consumer.

So, Why Is Data-Driven Marketing Important?

Data-driven marketing is more than simply measuring bounce rates and cost-per clicks. Today’s customers are demanding personalized experiences despite the fact that they use multiple channels to access the internet. According to Invespcro, marketers that were using personalized techniques exceeded their revenue goals while 83% of marketers that employ data-driven campaigns enjoyed more than 5 times the ROI on marketing spend.

For instance, here are 12 areas where companies use data-driven marketing strategies to improve conversions:

Customer journey analysis (63%)
A/B testing (60%)
Website personalization (46%)
Audience segmentation (55%)
Multi-variate testing (46%)
Usability testing (55%)
Cart abandonment analysis (47%)
Copy optimization (44%)
Abandonment email (32%)
Online surveys/Customer feedback (34%)
Expert usability reviews (28%)
Competitor benchmarking (21%)

But there still remains challenges to harnessing the power of data, and creating strategic data-driven decisions.

The Challenges of Data-Driven Marketing

Although many marketers and organizations understand that data collection is important, many are struggling with how to put this data into action. 87% of marketers consider data their organization’s most under-utilized asset, and 54% of companies say their biggest challenge to data-driven marketing success is the lack of data quality and completeness.

Currently, these are the biggest reported challenges of data-driven marketing:

Insufficient technology (44.6%)
Lack of internal experience (34.8%)
Lack of first-party data (32.6%)
Difficulty proving ROI (26.1%)
Poor Data Sharing Protocols (25.0%)
Lack of Resources (21.7%)
Lack of Quality of Third Party Data (17.4%)
Competitive (15.2%)
Haven’t Achieved Success in Testing (12.0%)

However, the future is looking brighter for marketers as 77% of respondents believe that they’ve had a somewhat or significant increase in access to useful data over the past year. While 49% of respondents report being somewhat or very effective at using data-informed insights to guide future strategy.

As we progress towards more sophisticated means of data activation, what exactly does this opportunity present marketers with?

4 Things Data-Driven Marketing Can Do for Your Business

Helps you reach the right people…

The data you collect about consumers will help you build, and segment, buyer personas much more effectively. You can base your marketing around their interests, their ages, and any other tailored content that sparks their specific interests. Data is the key to unlocking your creative inspiration; for more about how data can help to fuel your campaigns take a look at, “Five Quick Tips About Data Activation for Creative Marketers.”

…at the right time…

Data also helps us to present our marketing messages to the right people, at the right time. We now know when they are most active, and willing to engage with us according to the data we collect about online behaviours. Rather than guessing about when that e-mail should go out, we are able to be strategic and make the most out of our campaigns.

…with the right offer…

Importantly, data not only helps us to reach the right people, at the right time, but with the right offer. By considering our buyer personas and what interests them most, we can make creative marketing decisions and serve up content and offers that are most relevant to them. The ability to accomplish this can have tremendous impact on our sales.

And, through the right channel.

And finally, we are able to deliver these offers to the right people, at the right time, through the right channel. Data allows us to see which channels our consumers are most active. If we are targeting ads or offers through social media, we can monitor which has the most success according to buyer segments, or if they prefer receiving marketing through e-mail, SMS, or any another communication channel.

If you’re looking for new innovative ways to activate your consumer data, be sure to see how our SPRY platform can help or connect with us to speak to a data activation expert.

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