Data has taken over as the new currency, and it’s fueling innovation in virtually every industry. As people become more connected through technology and social media, more data points are available for collection, making the data from marketing analytics even more valuable. In fact, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every 24 hours.
That’s 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data, to be precise!
Over 90% of data that exists has been generated only in the past two years. Each data point can represent a single user’s action, and a unique narrative will begin to emerge with larger sets of information. Analysts can use data from the 5 billion online users to understand individuals’ particular needs, behaviors and interests.
However, data can also be incredibly daunting. Knowing how to measure the right things, sorting through the mounds of data to identify the necessary key performance indicators for your business, and then relating it to pro-active marketing decisions are among the many challenges of big data. Pro-active companies can use the available data to become more strategic and practical across all facets of a business.
Don’t let using data analytics overwhelm you
Google Analytics, once installed on your website, does track a decent amount of variables by default. However, with the assistance of Google Tag Manager to measure how your customers interact with your website through form tracking, heat maps, and page paths, three types of data may be better extrapolated from your website by digital marketing analysts: descriptive analytics, prescriptive analytics, and predictive analytics.
Using these three analytics areas has become an integral part of any successful marketing campaign’s strategic development and assessment in the marketing and advertising industry. These analytics develop even further when enabled through other automated marketing tools to track users across platforms, like CRMs, AdWords, Facebook, internal systems, and in-store customer information along with hundreds of additional sources – giving them a better idea of how users are converting. Combining this information with data analysis tools or machine learning can help you discover even more new connections and opportunities.
Turning descriptive marketing analytics into new client successes
Despite the immense amount of data at marketers’ fingertips, studies show that over 60% of companies believe they rely too heavily on intuition in marketing rather than on concrete data analysis. Many companies struggle with sorting through data to find relevant information that genuinely informs their decision-making.
Case study: Using data analytics to create meaningful content
We also use data to understand customer interests better and drive engagement. Armed with knowledge about topics that performed best and which topics led to the most website conversions (online appointment requests, phone calls, etc.), Group3 could be strategic with our original content (blog articles, infographics, social posts) created for our clients. We know where to invest time in developing high-quality content and how to deliver it with calls-to-action that get the most response.
Take, for example, the ongoing email marketing campaign we deliver to help one of our healthcare clients stay in front of their patients. We recently wrote an in-depth blog article about a topic that had been popular with patients in the past. The new article link was delivered to 30,000 patient contacts via email and earned a 30.6% open rate and 48.9% click-through rate. It became the highest performing e-newsletter for this client ever. These rates compare favorably to industry average email metrics for the healthcare industry that yield an open rate of about 18% and click-through rate of only 7%.
Prescriptive Analytics: Find the right solutions for your business
When prescriptive marketing analytics are in the right hands, content campaigns are designed to more effectively connect with target audiences and better suited to reach business goals. These analytics are derived from the descriptive analytics discussed early. They allow for adjustments and improvements in our clients’ websites, customer service efforts, marketing efforts, and many other essential aspects of digital marketing in 2021.
Case study: Using marketing data to make informed digital media buys
An excellent place to start is Google Analytics, which offers a helpful approach to segmenting website data. With Google Analytics, you can group your traffic by interests, actions completed, or other demographic information. Once you dive into your traffic segments, finding trends among users becomes much more manageable.
A client came to Group3 wanting to improve the efficiency of its digital media buy. By creating segment groups in the clients’ Analytics platform using Google’s interests, we were able to isolate the interest groups that were more likely to convert (call for pricing, make a purchase, etc.). We then used Google AdWords to target these interest groups specifically, bringing more qualified traffic to the client’s website and improving conversion rates – while reducing the client’s overall media budget.
To learn more about how Group3 can use data-driven strategies to fuel your marketing, contact our Raleigh marketing agency.
