Whether you already use marketing analytics services or you’re looking to hire some for the first time, the best thing you can do to understand the data better is to ask the right questions. Data means very little if it can’t be interpreted properly. To that end, here are some of the big questions you should be asking about your “big data.”
What Do Our Customers Want?
This may be the most obvious question, but it’s also the most difficult to answer. Marketing analytics services are using all kinds of data, from demographic reporting to location intelligence to geospatial data, to figure out consumer habits. That said, your idea of the “perfect customer” may not actually align with what the analytics say. So pay attention to what’s really out there.
Does the Data Support the Finances?
Whether you’re in retail, B2B, manufacturing, or any other kind of goods or services industry, it’s always difficult to tell whether your offerings are being delivered at a price that’s both reasonable and profitable. Your marketing data may be able to provide insight into spending habits that could in turn influence pricing strategies to make sure that everyone gets the most bang for their buck.
How Are You Protecting Consumer Privacy?
Yes, having a lot of information about consumer habits is great. But with the wealth of technology these days, including GPS receivers on practically every smartphone in the country that can determine the current time within 100 billionths of a second, there’s a fine line between fair game data and a privacy breach. Make sure that your team is abiding by ethical and legal regulations in your data collection.
How Can We Improve in the Future?
Sometimes, there are things that your marketing analytics services can see coming from a mile away through the trends in data, rumbling under the surface, that might otherwise have left you blindsided. Be sure to talk about present and future tense. Where is the data going? How can we follow it — or better yet, stay ahead of the curve?
Your marketing data is only as good as the analytics behind it. Ask the right questions, and you’ll get more and better answers to help your company succeed.