Only about 1 in 2 global marketers systematically or routinely use data when making decisions, per research from Teradata. What are the others missing out on? Teradata’s survey (download here) presented respondents with a list of potential benefits from using data in decision-making, asking them to rate their agreement. The top benefit from the list is the ability to achieve optimal customer response, cited by 53% of respondents.
The researchers tie that benefit to the use of personalized marketing. While there’s some debate over how much consumers embrace personalized marketing messages, 59% of the marketers surveyed by Teradata believe that personalized marketing is a high priority for the future. That feeling is highest among retail and e-commerce marketers (71%), with telecom/utilities (66%) and financial services/insurance (61%) respondents also keen on the prospects of personalization.
Meanwhile, the survey found a significant proportion of respondents indicating other benefits to data-driven decision-making. Those include:
- Prove/measure success of multi-channel marketing campaigns (40%);
- Fully integrate initiative and create synergies across all channels (35%);
- Deliver next-best option to customers based on real-time and historic data (30%); and
- Create sustainable competitive advantage (30%).
Interestingly, only 19% cited “avoid over-communicating” as a benefit. That may be due to respondents seeing that as part of achieving optimal customer response. Alternatively, they may not see how data can inform questions of communication frequency. Still, with overload often cited as the chief reason for email unsubscribes, this is an issue that marketers should pay careful attention to.
Separately in the study, Teradata asked a similar question about the benefits of using data in decision-making, providing a list of answers much broader in scope. According to those results, 58% believe the use of data can help them make more accurate decisions, 49% believe it helps them achieve better business results, 44% see it resulting in more efficient use of resources and reduced cost, and 43% agree that it helps identify new opportunities and new competitive advantages.
About the Data: The data is based on a global survey of more than 2,200 marketers. All respondents work in the marketing function (or are executives with responsibility for marketing) in companies with annual revenues greater than $100 million. The survey data was collected March through May of 2013.