At one point, not so long ago, marketers were constantly looking for new sources of data that they could use to improve their strategies. Products like Google Analytics and others offered some good information, but it really barely scratched the surface compared to what we have today. The problem now, however, is that there is so much data that most marketers don’t know what to do with it all.
A recent survey was conducted for research and analytics company, Ensighten showed that of the over 600 companies, agencies and others that were asked, 62% said they often feel overwhelmed by the amount of data they have. 85% also said that they are unable to utilize the data fully. What is maybe most concerning is that only 3% reported that they had a strong capability to use cross-channel or cross-device data for mobile app personalization or real-time website serving.
It seems like we can’t go more than a few weeks without reading of a new data source being provided by one company or another, and that is great. The problem, however, is that it is impossible to bring all that data from all the different sources into a more usable format.
Over the past 5-10 years or so, the data gathering industry was born and grew at incredible rates. Now is the time, however, for the data interpretation and implementation to play catch up. Any company that can provide a platform that will allow data to be automatically imported from multiple sources, and then combined into an actionable format will likely find themselves very successful.
Until this happens, however, marketers need to find a balance in what data they are bringing to themselves. It does no good to sign up for dozens of analytics programs or exclusive data sources when you can’t use them. Find a few that are most valuable to your business, and focus on taking the data you have and using it to improve the overall customer experience.
