Another day, another survey shows marketers are spending more and more time working on data; no great surprise there you may think, but here is the difference – most claim data is actually distracting them from what they perceive as their core duties and feel overwhelmed rather than empowered by it all.
Although the study was commissioned by Callcredit Information Group, which just so happens to offer plenty of services which could ease marketers’ pain, it does reveal there is a huge disconnect between what marketers want to do and what is now expected of them.
And with only a third believing they have the necessary skills to analyse data, nearly half of those surveyed plan to invest in further training over the next two years.
Marketers are also using what the report describes as “an extraordinary amount of data” . While transactional data remains the most popular (38%), other sources, including unstructured data (31%) are growing, despite the fact that they are harder to work with. In addition, only 36% of marketers are currently satisfied with the quality of their data, highlighting the need to focus on quality over quantity.
Meanwhile 82% of respondents predicted that digital intelligence will be the new battlefield for marketers, however, a lack of confidence prevails, with 72% feeling more anxious in their role than they did a year ago because of the expectations and pressures around how they should be using big data.
Finally, nearly a third (29%) of marketers believe they are not spending enough time on analysing their data. Currently marketers are spending, on average, five hours and 36 minutes a week working with customer data. The research shows that a few (13%) marketers believe they are spending too much time on data, while a third (29%) agree that the amount of data they have to analyse means they cannot spend the time they need to on it.
Callcredit Information Group managing director of marketing solutions Steve McNicholas said: “Despite the fact that marketers are overwhelmingly accepting data as an integral part of marketing, our research shows that many feel that more can be done. The advantage data gives businesses is not driven by how much they can collect, but rather how effectively it can drive insight, and greater revenues. The challenge for marketers is to manage the sheer amount of information available, and to translate that data into meaningful insight for their business.
“The next step for marketers is to implement a number of processes, tools, and ways of working, that can improve the quality, not just the quantity of their data, and bring clarity to complexity. More businesses need to find their ‘sweet spot’ of data that helps define customer segments and acquire new, more profitable ones.”
Related stories
Only 2% of firms trust the customer data they hold
Filthy data hampers efforts to slash customer churn
Forget creative, contact data has the biggest impact
Data-driven activity? What’s not to like, say chiefs
Data strategies storm into global marketing teams
60% of our customer data is rubbish, firms admit
Channel rise sparks dirtier data
Bosses must be data savvy or die
Marketers ‘still failing to tap data’
Can you really have too much data?
‘Dirty data’ holding back growth
