What is smart data?
Dataversity describes smart data as big data which “has been processed and is waiting to be turned into actionable information.” And actionable information is crucial for an ongoing process of learning, refinement and improvement as a marketer.
But while more than 97 percent of organizations invest in Big Data and there’s no question data is a powerful resource, how can you actually use data for maximum impact?
The best marketing organizations use the five techniques explored below, but any business can leverage them to great effect, too. It’s just a matter of investing enough time, energy, and commitment to see real results.
1. Create Tailored Marketing Campaigns for Greater Engagement
Research shows 76 percent of marketers actually neglect to employ behavioral data for targeted ads online. Taking advantage of smart data to create more relevant, effective marketing campaigns becomes especially important when you consider the average user encounters more than 1,700 banner ads every month yet sees just 50 percent of them.
Gathering data about visitors and converted customers provides marketers with key information on their preferences, shopping habits and location. This empowers teams with the knowledge to create more relevant marketing campaigns to suit specific audience segments and customer types.
Ad copy, landing pages, headlines, and incentivizing offers can all be refined to appeal to certain demographics based on smart data. Products and services may be promoted to prospective or existing buyers most likely to find value in those products and services.
This reduces the amount of time and money that might be spent on a blanket marketing campaign, while mitigating the risk of frustrating consumers with zero interest in the promoted goods.
2. More Efficient Management of Your Marketing Budget
According to The CMO Survey (which questions over 300 marketers across the US), marketing is the key revenue growth driver for more than 30 percent of businesses.
Yet, the survey also shows that marketers can struggle to predict their annual marketing spends accurately. And that means managing a marketing budget may be a challenge.
No marketing agency, company or organization has unlimited funds to spend on reaching audiences. Even the biggest brands draw the line somewhere. But analyzing smart data will reveal which marketing campaigns and channels prove most effective.
For example, in trying to reach a specific audience you may find running ads on Twitter achieves far fewer clicks than with Instagram. That means you can either choose to allocate more money to your Twitter strategy to enhance it, or abandon it altogether and tighten your focus on Instagram instead.
Smart data makes it easier to understand where marketing budgets are better placed, reducing waste while increasing efficiency.
3. Achieve Better, More Targeted Email Marketing
More than $350 million is estimated to have been spent on email advertising in 2019, but Smart Insights research shows half of companies view their own email campaigns as “very poor to average.”
Part of the problem may be a lack of data-driven strategizing. Relying on generic marketing emails is a dead technique, and anyone still utilizing this approach simply cannot expect to make a positive impact on consumers.
Several well-respected email marketing software platforms provide marketers and small to medium businesses with the tools to create a more structured, targeted campaign. ConvertKit, MailChimp and more make segmenting audiences, personalizing emails and understanding the customer journey much simpler.
Good email marketing software lets marketers and brands act on smart data, with automated campaigns cutting the amount of human input required to manage them.
4. Offer Consumers Relevant Content Based on Behavior and Interests
Netflix is a powerhouse of online commerce, and it takes a data-driven approach to delivering a personalized experience for each user. The company has discussed its methodology to displaying only the most relevant movies or shows in depth, particularly in this fascinating Medium post.
Marketers and businesses can learn a lot from Netflix’s commitment to relevance and personalization. Utilizing user data to identify, understand, and target different customers builds a more engaging experience. Time is precious and consumers don’t want to waste it scouring websites for the products and services they need.
Only 22 percent of shoppers questioned for a Segment survey feel satisfied with the amount of personalization they receive from brands, while Salesforce found more than 50 percent are prepared to share their personal data for a more relevant experience.
Use smart data to tailor services, products, and content to visitors based on their location, shopping habits, and interests. The more relevant and engaging a site is, the more likely a visitor is to convert.
5. Delivering a Stronger User Experience to Drive Conversions
User experience (UX) is vital to get right: websites and mobile apps must be user-friendly for every visitor. Roughly 90 percent of users stop using apps due to poor performance, and 88 percent of online shoppers won’t return to a website if they have a bad user experience.
Smart data provides marketers with insights into visitors’ behavior on websites, showing the time spent on individual features, elements attracting the highest number of clicks, bounce rates, and lots more.
Teams can understand why landing pages, offer pages and other key components of marketing campaigns may fail to achieve the results expected. As a result, it’s easier to determine which areas or features are most engaging, and which need to be improved.
Getting UX right can help to keep visitors on a site longer and, as a result, create more opportunities to secure conversions.
Marketers and brands can leverage smart data across multiple platforms (email marketing software, social media, etc.) to achieve better results. Aiming for the most relevant and exciting experience for every prospect is critical, and smart data makes this not just possible, but more straightforward than you may imagine.
Adopting a data-driven strategy to marketing can help to grow audience engagement, drive traffic, boost conversions, and raise brand awareness. And the more you keep on learning, the more rewards may be in store.
If you’d like more ideas on how data can serve the marketing equation, you might also enjoy our related article 5 Ways to Use Smart Data Insights to Improve Customer Experience.
