Advertisers Say Audience Data Accuracy is Important. How Important?

August 6, 2018

This article is included in these additional categories:

Business of Marketing | Customer-Centric | Data-driven | Marketing Budgets

Six in 10 marketers are concerned with the quality of data available from data providers and sellers, reports Lotame in a recent study [download page]. But that concern doesn’t seem to always be translating into action: only two-thirds consider the quality of audience data when purchasing it, according to the report.

The survey of 300 US brand marketers who purchase and/or use audience data found that they’re slightly more likely to consider cost (73%) than quality (66%) when evaluating data segments for purchase.

Still, accuracy is the most important factor when purchasing demographic data, according to respondents, above brand/provider, price, and scale.

And demographic data is the most commonly purchased type of audience data, above geographic, interest, 3rd-party and behavioral data, per the study. (Separate research confirms that demographic data is commonly-used by advertisers.)

The survey reveals that greater confidence in the accuracy of demographic data would lead to greater use of it for 9 in 10 respondents. Yet for now only 1 in 5 are very confident in the accuracy of the demographic data they purchase, with most (68%) “somewhat” confident.

Additionally, only about 1 in 7 say that their audience data buys have been very successful, with lack of success most commonly attributed to imprecise targeting.

Interestingly, despite these results, respondents don’t seem to want to pony up too much for higher quality data. Only 1 in 4 would be willing to spend at least 10% more than their current rates for higher data quality. Instead, most (65%) would be willing to spend at least 5%, suggesting that 5-10% extra is the premium for higher quality data.

Considering the seemingly high levels of concern apparent with inaccurate data (which can have a range of negative outcomes for organizations), the 5-10% premium that most would spend suggests that cost is indeed a real concern for these brands.

Other Report Findings:

In other highlights from the report:

  • 1 in 4 marketers aren’t sure how to measure the success of their audience data purchases;
  • A slight majority don’t measure demographic data quality;
  • Age and gender are the data types that marketers usually or always target the most when running campaigns using demographic data, with education and children in the household further down the list; and
  • Transparency on data source is the top action that marketers would like to see implemented to improve data quality.

The full report is available for download here.

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