Is your marketing data 'agile' enough?

• Marketers want quick insight into their data

There is still a difference between unlocking data and actually getting insight and using the data. One of the biggest challenges for data use, it turns out, is getting insight into the data: without insight, it's hard to shift gears.

An example. There is a new product launch and we want to start targeting those interested in our brand from the past year via email or mail. Then as a marketer would want to have a count of the number of records in the database to see if group with large enough and thus calculate the marketing ROI for developing a (separate) expression.

• You want to be able to manipulate and combine data

Flexible deployment of data means that you can also combine and manipulate data from different sources as desired. For example, you should be able to easily (cross) select across multiple sources to develop the mythical "360 degree customer view. Data in a given format should also be convertible to the desired format (ETL), or adaptively usable.

• You need data that is sufficiently recent for the purpose

This also has to do with the collection and disclosure of the data, some data is most effective in real-time or near-time. Think of adjusting a website to profile and behavior (real-time) and sending a shopping cart abandonment mail (near-time). But other data must also be sufficiently recent for segmentation and selection, for example.

A preference made yesterday is more accurate now than it will be a year from now. And if a consumer is interested in baby clothes for their own baby now, that will soon be children's clothes. So in doing so, data must be captured that says something about the data (meta-data), such as where it was collected and when it was last updated.

4. What systems can you use for agile data?

Today there is a lot of focus on the functionalities that fall within the field of marketing automation. There are now 11 times as many B2B organizations deploying marketing automation compared to 2011. And that adoption doesn't seem to be stopping yet show marketing automation statistics. According to Econcultancy, 11 percent of marketers now use a marketing automation tool to send their emails, rather than just an email service provider.

The software and tools that a company deploys in combination for marketing, our marketing technology stack, is key to being able to use data effectively and flexibly. Some systems are just cough less flexible than others in handling data, or don't have the data model to handle it well. More on that in a future blog.

5. What does your customer gain from 'agile data'?

The benefit of effectively using data in marketing communications is not only found on the side of additional sales. Handling data effectively can prevent negative customer perception, dissatisfaction and alienation, for example by not sending people who have just bought a product a discount offer on the same product.

Brand loyalty and valuation are influenced by the experiences customers have with a brand. That includes positive, negative and neutral experiences. You can positively influence the customer engagement, the involvement with the brand, through a smart use of data.

Agile for your customer: personalized offers and good service

A large proportion of marketers will initially deploy data so that more results are achieved in terms of sales, profits and conversions. Understandable. The 2013 study Two Sides of Consumer Trust speaks volumes. 63 percent of consumers say they would spend more if a company put their data to good use to make relevant offers and provide the right service. 59 percent would therefore buy from a brand more often. Reason enough, right?

This article was published on Frankwatching on October 22, 2014.