Whether you like it or not, a lot of companies probably have a lot of information about you (thank you, Facebook). How else would you magically get car insurance emails when yours is almost due, or find that cute little toaster you’ve been eyeing up following you around your social feed? It’s not a coincidence, and it’s not magic. It’s data, and there’s an awful lot of it.
Welcome to Big Data
Data is everything now. A mind-numbing amount is collected every second, from clicks and searches to purchases, location pings and how long you hovered over that toaster. This enormous volume is, named accordingly and creatively, Big Data.
Marketers obviously want to extract maximum insight from it to make their campaigns successful and get a better ROI. The temptation is to hoover up everything available and figure it out later. But sometimes less is more. Instead of wasting time collecting and then sifting through every scrap of available data, a more targeted approach should be the focus. Decide what questions you actually need answered, work out which data answers them, and let the rest go. A smaller dataset you understand will always beat a giant one you don’t.
Put It to Work
Feed this targeted and sorted data into your MarTech stack and you can start reaping the benefits. Segments become sharper, campaigns become more relevant, and reporting starts telling you things you didn’t already know. Customers want customised engagement and attention, which is why data-driven marketing has now moved to the top of a lot of stacks. The brands getting it right aren’t necessarily the ones with the most data. They’re the ones whose data is clean, connected and actually being used.
The Other Side of the Coin
However, using this data for personalisation is only one side of the coin. Companies also need to be transparent with their audience to build trust. People are increasingly aware of what they’re handing over, and regulations like GDPR have turned that awareness into rights. Tell people what you collect and why, make it easy to opt out, and treat their data like something borrowed rather than owned. Personalisation done with trust feels like good service. Personalisation done without it feels like being watched, and nobody buys a toaster from someone who’s watching them.
Quality Over Quantity
Remember, the amount of data you have isn’t what’s important. It’s what you do with the data that matters. A tight, accurate, well-governed dataset will outperform a sprawling data swamp every single time, in campaign results, in speed, and in the trust of the people behind the numbers.
So it’s always more advantageous to have Better Quality Data as opposed to Big Data. Big is easy. Better takes work. Guess which one your competitors are skipping.
By: Matthew Lin
