Study: Best-in-Class Marketers are Leading the Way When It Comes to Leveraging Data

Data is critical to delivering a personalized customer experience, but new research suggests that not all marketers are ahead of the curve in terms of harnessing the power of analytics.

IBM recently conducted a global study titled, “Build Your Trust Advantage: Leadership in the era of data and AI everywhere,” and statistics showed that 79% of torchbearers – leaders in utilizing data and analytics – say that their company is collecting the types of information necessary to make decisions. This is compared to just 38% of aspirationals – individuals who are still in the process of harnessing and leveraging data and analytics.

About 75% of torchbearers also say that they conduct extensive data cleansing to improve the quality of their information, and 65% carry out extensive data purging. Just 43% of aspirationals do extensive data cleansing, and 28% do extensive data purging.

The Struggle to Leverage Marketing Data

Despite the challenges that come with harnessing and utilizing data, previous research indicates that most marketers want to do so to personalize the customer experience.

Ascend2 published its “Data-Driven Personalization Survey,” and statistics suggested that the majority of marketers (64%) want to improve the customer experience through a data-driven personalization strategy. Approximately 44% want to boost visitor engagement, while 43% want to improve upon conversion rates.

However, this does not come with its challenges, as 56% of respondents say they have only been “somewhat successful” thus far. Improving the customer experience (44%), boosting visitor engagement (42%) and improving the quality of data used (41%) have all been obstacles for marketers.