If you aren’t incorporating Big Data into your email strategy this year, it’s high time to get started. According to ExactTarget’s 2014 State of Marketing survey, collecting, measuring and using behavior-based data is one of the top three most common priorities in the email industry. Sixty-one percent of marketers say they will increase their spend on data and analytics in 2014 alone.
But why is Big Data such a big deal for email marketers? “More data enables marketers to build better 1:1 customer experiences and cut through the communication clutter,” ExactTarget explains, “so it’s now more important than ever to have a plan and process around collecting that data.”
But therein lies the challenge: It’s not always easy to get the data you need. A 2012 study conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and SAS Institute found that only 35 percent of business leaders felt they always or frequently had access to the data they need to make decisions. Furthermore, a 2013 study from the Economist Intelligence Unit found that only 24 percent of marketing executives are actually using this data for actionable insights.
Obviously, collecting and leveraging the right data is not as simple as it sounds. To help you get a head start on your data-driven marketing, here are four tips for a big data strategy that will boost your personalization tactics and drive higher results.
