You Have Your Marketing Data. Do You Know What to Do With It?

Caid Christiansen• April, 05 2015

Click-through rate. Customer name. Average session duration. Bounce rate. Conversion rate. Audience demographics. Engagement rate. Percentage reach.

All those things we just mentioned are different types of data you may run into today. In fact, these marketing basics are only the beginning. The proliferation of technology and of data collection means that marketers have a near limitless supply of data about consumer behavior at their fingertips.

What a time to be alive. This will make our marketing better—right?

Not So Fast!

Well, not quite.

None of this data means anything without the wherewithal to actually make something of it.

There’s a false narrative running both in and outside of marketing circles right now that having data automatically makes marketing better. “We have data,” they say. “That’s what marketing is all about!”

In one sense, that’s true: having data about how things have gone, who your customers are, what type of success you’re seeing, where your money is going, and more is a good start, and it puts you miles ahead of marketing of old where all you had to show for your money was an estimated number of impressions. But again, data on its own isn’t a solution.

Rules of Thumb

Where data you’ve gathered really becomes valuable—and where having a marketing expert on your side comes in—is in taking it and applying it to future work.

Really think through your data. Ask yourself some of these questions:

• What is it? For example: what is bounce rate and what does it measure?
• What does it mean? What are our goals for this data? You can’t know what to improve if you don’t know what your goals were in the first place.
• How can we use this data to better reach our goals? If you’re getting lots of email clicks but people are bouncing off your site immediately, what does that say? If the tactic you’re spending the least amount of money on is getting you the most results, what does that say? Always have your eyes on how you can get yourself closer to attaining your goals.
• What do I need to change? Do I need to change my strategy to reach my goals? Is my campaign a success?

Clearly, the process is much more complicated than asking yourself five questions and hoping for the best. The principle is what’s important here: think of your data not as an end in and of itself, but as a way to help you problem-solve to get yourself closer to attaining your goals.

It’s not easy making something of marketing data. That’s where an expert can come in—looking at your goals and tactics, measuring as appropriate, and making adjustments to maximize the bang for your buck. But no matter what you do, it’s important to keep your eye on results. It’s hard to go wrong if you’re always thinking about how you can take what you’ve learned and apply it to future work.

You might have loads of marketing data, but until you frame it correctly, it doesn’t mean much.