The past few years we’ve heard the same refrain that data is the new oil. Any organization worth its salt has an infrastructure to get value out of its marketing data. But new research reveals that at the moment, some analysts have no choice but to pump crude oil into their engines.
Our latest report, based on a survey of 964 marketers and marketing data analysts, reveals some interesting differences between the challenges faced by each. For the most part, these stem from analysts wanting more visibility and marketers wanting more usability from their data. However, there is one glaring difference of opinion that shows a deep-rooted disconnect between the two roles.
Read on to find out more, or download the full research report here.
Growing disconnect between marketers and analysts
While some 41% of analysts state that low trust in marketing reporting due to data inconsistencies or errors is a significant challenge, just 30% of marketers see this as a problem. Marketers report data inaccuracy as their least significant issue, while analysts rank it as their fourth most challenging concern.
Perceptions of data inaccuracy represent the single biggest difference in opinion between the two roles. Marketers and analysts are more than twice as likely to disagree about this than any other challenge they face. At the level of the C-suite, the trust divide is even greater — 51% of CTOs and CDOs lack trust in the data compared to only 34% of CMOs.
This disconnect should raise alarm bells.
Inaccurate data muddies the waters for marketing decisions
Ultimately, analysts have trust concerns around the accuracy of their data, but these aren’t being relayed to marketers. This means that strategic decisions around budget allocation, for example, could potentially be made based on inaccurate data, and even for smaller businesses, this could easily translate into significant amounts of misallocated or wasted funds.
If you can’t trust your data, how can you measure your performance? If you can’t measure your performance, how can you adjust your strategy? And, if you can’t adjust your strategy? Well, you're just dead in the water, aren’t you?
Harriet Durnford Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at Adverity
“As marketers, it is imperative we trust the data that we are working with.” Says Harriet Durnford Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at Adverity.
“Analysts who are closer to the data have lower trust in it than the marketers who are using that data to make important decisions, which is very worrying. If you can’t trust your data, how can you measure your performance? If you can’t measure your performance, how can you adjust your strategy? And, if you can’t adjust your strategy? Well, you're just dead in the water, aren’t you?”
What’s causing inaccurate marketing data?
Marketers want a simplified view of data, but it’s likely they don’t fully understand the complex manual integrations that analysts are frantically pulling together behind the scenes.
Not only does manual data wrangling take too much time and effort, the mistakes that creep in mean that people don’t trust the data — so it’s ultimately pointless anyway.
Martin Brunthaler, Chief Technology Officer at Adverity
“The most common cause of inaccuracies in your data is the dependency on manual data wrangling and so it is no surprise that this is also one of the biggest challenges faced by marketing professionals.” Says Martin Brunthaler, Chief Technology Officer at Adverity.
“Not only does it take too much time and effort, the mistakes that creep in mean that people don’t trust the data — so it’s ultimately pointless anyway.”
Check out the full report for insights from 964 marketers and data analysts.
