Everyone knows that one of the keys to success in marketing is having the data you need to make the right decisions. With this in mind, marketers (both online and offline) need to gather data together in a useful way. Sometimes this can be done internally using things like Google Analytics or other platforms. Other times it is necessary to buy the data you need from third parties. According to a new survey from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, marketers are buying far more analytics information than they actually need.
They conducted a survey earlier this year, and found that the budgets for analytics grew from 6.4% of total marketing budgets to nearly 12% in the past three years. For larger companies ($10 billion and up) that number jumps to almost 14%.
Despite this heavy investment, however, the data is not really used all that often. The survey found that just 29% of projects actually used the tools or marketing analytics data that companies had available. Unfortunately, that number is dropping from a high of 37% in 2012.
Different industries use data differently, of course. Consumer facing projects, for example, do fairly well at 46.9%. B2B projects, on the other hand, only had 24.9% of projects using the available data.
There are many reasons why companies (big and small) don’t use the analytics data that they are buying. In many cases, the data is purchased by one area and intended for use in another. The area that needs the data may not know how to properly access it, or the data purchased might not be what is needed.
Another commonly reported issue is that one department will purchase and use data, but not make it available to people in other areas. This data can typically be used throughout the company, if everyone knew it was there.
This isn’t just an issue for big companies, however. Even individual marketers struggle with this problem. Most independent marketers collect (free or paid) data for their projects, but often ignore it when looking to make changes. This can lead to poor decisions that can have a negative impact on the results.
The moral of the story is, if you have analytics data available, make sure you are using it to make the best possible decisions about your marketing strategies.
