The role of the marketing team is changing. Customers are increasingly calling for more channels, and the mountain of marketing data is growing. However, many marketers are still struggling to turn this data into valuable insights.
There’s a mountain of evidence now that shows how using data insights to optimize ad spend increases profitability. However, some marketing teams have found their data strategy stalling or stagnating. So, in case you missed it, we’ve put together a quiz to help marketers understand where they need to focus efforts to improve their data maturity.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at some of the results we have so far and explore some of the key challenges respondents are facing.
Want to take the quiz yourself? Head here.
Do you trust your data?
Before we get into all the bells and whistles of data maturity, there’s one very important question to ask: do you trust your data?
Only 8% of respondents say they fully trust their marketing data.
Only 8% of respondents say they fully trust their marketing data, while the majority are concerned about inconsistencies, timeliness, and accuracy. This is a huge red flag when evaluating data maturity. If you’re trying to build a data strategy on shaky foundations, there could be major repercussions.
If marketers don’t trust their data, they’re not going to use it to make decisions. So, without good data quality, any work you do to analyze marketing data and pull insights will be meaningless. On the flip side, if your marketing team is making decisions based on poor-quality data without knowing it, this could be doing more harm than good.
How advanced are the data tools marketers are using?
One of the key areas marketing teams can focus on to boost data maturity is their data tools. Today’s marketers don't need millions of dollars, or a complex, enterprise-like tech stack to optimize budgets and improve performance. Martech has leveled the playing field.
Mid-size and even small businesses can now compete with the massive companies that have teams of BI analysts poring through their data every day. Even sophisticated analysis like predictive analytics and AI which were once the playgrounds of the enterprise titans are now viable options for SMEs.
15% of respondents who took the survey say they’re utilizing predictive analytics or AI-powered tools.
So, let’s start with the good news. Respondents show a range of maturity regarding their data tools, however, the majority are using advanced tools like analytics tools, automated dashboards, and AI or predictive analytics.
15% of respondents who took the survey say they’re utilizing predictive analytics or AI-powered tools. This is really promising, and as we start to gain a better understanding of how technology like Gen AI can revolutionize more elements of marketing, this number will grow. While many have been blinkered in using Gen AI purely for content generation, we’re finally starting to see how this powerful tool can support marketing data strategies too.
A third of respondents say their most advanced data tool is a spreadsheet.
Despite the explosion of sophisticated tools available to today’s marketers, a third of respondents say their most advanced data tool is a spreadsheet, making it the most common answer. Spreadsheet-based reports are an error-prone and time-consuming practice, and marketers who rely on them are giving their competitors a head-start.
38% of respondents say their data is stored across multiple platforms.
A single source of truth is an essential foundation for a data-driven marketing strategy. Without being able to accurately compare campaigns and channel performance, marketers are left logging into multiple platforms to cobble together guesses about what decisions will drive revenue. It’s time-consuming and ineffective. However, 38% of respondents say their data is stored in silos, across multiple platforms.
These stats indicate that a good chunk of marketing teams still have some serious groundwork to do before they can make effective use of data tools. Without a strong data foundation marketing teams easily become overwhelmed by their data, struggling to aggregate disparate data sources.
Are marketing teams investing in data skills?
Technology is not a silver bullet. Data tools alone won’t ensure a successful data strategy. Expertise is needed to understand and operate data automation tools, which presents a challenge for organizations lacking data analysts or IT staff.
1 in 4 marketers say the data literacy of their marketing team is low, and it’s not improving.
Concerningly, one in four marketers say the data literacy of their marketing team is low, and it’s not improving. The data skills gap in marketing teams is a major hurdle for marketing teams to address, by not helping their people to develop appropriate skills for marketing data analytics, CMOs are hampering their chances of embedding data-driven culture into the business.
Training is a vital part of building out the skills needed to make data-driven decisions, however 3 in 5 respondents say their marketing team is provided with either no training (35%) or basic training (27%) around data and analytics.
3 in 5 respondents say their marketing team is provided with basic training or no training around data and analytics.
Marketers need to invest in training or hiring data-fluent marketers in order to improve their data maturity, and get the upper hand over the competition.
"You might have the greatest tech stack in the world feeding you business-changing forecasts on your ad spending and delivering real-time performance data, but if this isn’t translating to actions, then it’s useless."
How often are marketers reviewing their data?
Establishing an automated data workflow is crucial, but it's equally important to ensure that the data reaches the right people and drives informed decision-making. This is where data democratization comes into play.
Data democratization is the practice of enabling all employees, including those with lower data literacy levels, to access and gather accurate data about the business from a single source of truth, without external assistance. It ensures that workflows contribute to broader business objectives. To learn more about implementing data democratization, check out our step-by-step guide.
31% say they only have access to campaign performance data in monthly report presentations.
When it comes to data timeliness, 39% of respondents say they have dashboards for marketing data that are updated daily, or in real-time. However, shockingly nearly a third of respondents (31%) say they only have access to campaign performance data in monthly report presentations. Timeliness is one of the key elements of data quality. In the fast-paced world of marketing, teams can’t afford to wait a month to access marketing data. To effectively optimize campaigns you need fresh data.
By creating a timely single source of truth over marketing data, marketers can spot channels that are performing well and give them a boost so that ads have more impact. This kind of setup also makes it easier to catch outliers like a sudden spike in CPC for certain adwords, reducing risk and avoiding wasted ad spend by reacting to these anomalies early on.
66% say their team meets to discuss performance data once a month or less.
On top of this lack of data timeliness, data reviews are seemingly a low priority for the majority of respondents, with 66% saying their team meets to discuss performance data once a month or less, including 26% who only review data quarterly, and 11% who skip data reviews altogether.
Conclusion: poor skills and the wrong tools have led to a lack of a data-driven culture
The absence of data reviews implies a concerning lack of data-driven culture and low data maturity. However, in the context of the distrust of data, how time-consuming the reporting process is, and the likelihood of errors, it’s easy to understand why data reviews have fallen by the wayside. This also goes some way to explaining why 22% of respondents say they find marketing data boring, while 6% hate it with every fiber of their being.
Before marketing teams can make data-driven decisions, they need strong data foundations — and the majority of respondents aren’t there yet. That’s likely why 28% of respondents say the responsibility for managing marketing data lies with an intern.
For many marketers, reporting is an arduous and time-consuming task - and it’s not worth the effort because data quality is too low due to a lack of solid data foundations.
However, with the right tools it doesn’t have to be. By streamlining a single source of truth, marketers can cut out the busy work of data analytics and get straight to the insights that will help them maximize the value of their marketing efforts while freeing up more time for more fulfilling creative pursuits.
