3.2: Introduction

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The strength of the decisions you make depends on the quality and completeness of the information that informs these decisions. This chapter will examine the role of data in delivering meaningful insights into connected, evolving consumers. Data can be used to change and adapt marketing strategies to better meet changing consumer needs. A dynamic view of data is necessary to create an extremely detailed, regularly updated picture of your consumers. This means that you need to be collecting data all the time, at every stage of the marketing process, to ensure that your view of the customer does not become obsolete.

Definition: The evolving consumer

‘The evolving consumer’ refers to the fact that people are constantly changing. People change on an individual level and are influenced by technology, the macroeconomic climate, financial stability, and a host of other factors that are always in flux.

A current, accurate view of the customer is essential for marketers because consumers expect to be addressed as individuals. You want to deliver targeted communication that reaches the right audience, at the right time, when they are displaying the right intent, to lead them to purchase your product. Data helps make this happen by providing an individual view of each consumer and helping with segmentation and targeting. Data will also show how well your campaigns are performing, enabling you to improve them and make them more effective. In short, data is used to make logical decisions based on real information to create a customer-driven, data-led business. It must be considered not only at the beginning of your engagement with marketing and digital, but throughout.