The promise of marketing analytics has long been surrounded by a haze of suspicion and poor execution. Too good to be true, too dismissive of the marketer’s intuition, analytics seem to some to be an expensive solution to a problem marketers do not think they have. Even for those marketers that understand the value of this technology, analytics often fail to meet their expectations. But why? We took a look in this infographic and discuss solutions below.
Lack of Resources to Execute
For many organizations, a commitment to marketing analytics comes at an enormous human resource cost with 81% of marketing organizations listing it as their primary analytics challenge. Manual data collection and forced integration of disparate data sources are not only a pain in the ass; they take an extraordinary amount of time, patience and expertise. And if the person who handles marketing data is on vacation for a week, let’s Hope you didn’t want to review the efficacy of any of your campaigns.
Manual processes are hard to avoid in marketing analytics as you try to combine transactional, CRM data, and web and engagement data. It is possible, though, to automate this process with the correct combination of database tools and smart analytics.
Projects Executed Without Analytics
Enormous volumes of marketing projects, some 71%, are executed without analytics on either side. By that I mean, the project is neither informed by previous successes or failures when conceived and launched, nor is it tracked for efficacy, attribution and ROI after the fact. And we wonder why CMO’s don’t understand the value of marketing analytics?
For an analytics program to be successful, it needs to be holistic. The program should learn from itself. This learning, powered by the right campaign metadata, can lead to substantial, compounding increases in conversion as you are able to focus in on precisely what resonates with your buyers.
Failure to Track Across Channels
Organizations who actively maintain an analytics program still struggle to track success across channels. More than 40% of these organizations do not track customers across channels. The silos your marketing department is burdened with do not burden today’s consumer – and in fact, the consumer loves having all the choice! She does not care that your email marketing team, website team, and catalog team have literally never been in the same room as each other. She expects a seamless experience anywhere she interacts with your brand. And you ought to expect a seamless record of that experience across channels from your analytics program.
Holistic integration is again critical to solving this channel. The best marketing analytics programs, supported by best-in-class database management, is able to provide a complete picture of the customer’s experience and attribute conversion appropriately.
Failure to Mine Data for Full Potential
85% of marketers admit that they are not mining their current marketing data for its full value. Marketers are smart. We know that the potential for this information is astronomical but without the right analytics, it is all just statistics.
To truly grasp the full potential of marketing data, we must turn these statistics into operational analytics. Numbers must become predictive, percentages must become attributions, and analytics must become central to driving change in our organizations.
We put together an infographic that looks at the problems facing marketing analytics. Check it out!
