The Future: Big Opportunities in Big Data
Big Opportunities in Big Data Abound. You Just Need to Know HOW to Look (4th in a Series)
I recently spoke with several high level marketing executives about the near-ubiquitous topic, BIG DATA. The executives included Paul Golden, ex-CMO of Samsung Mobile, Barry Judge (ex-CMO of Best Buy, current CMO of LivingSocial, and Brad Todd, (Principal at The Richards Group). In this fourth installment, we will share these executives’ thoughts about the way big data can further revolutionize the future of marketing. They see big opportunities in Big Data. The best is yet to come!
When we posed the question to our marketing executives about the future of big data in the marketing realm, they were excited about the possibilities and big opportunities in big data’s future.
Paul Golden would like to see big data used to truly personalize the customer experience. Paul recalled a men’s retailer whose sales people would write your information, preferences and measurements on index cards (similar to today’s “preference centers”). They would use this information to follow up with their customers whenever an item arrived in-store that might fit a customer’s needs. In this age of big data, this type of information is available for so many customers—retailers could be delivering personalization at its best. Why don’t they create big opportunities with big data they have? With SO MUCH data, many executives just aren’t quite sure what to do with all that data, much less how to turn it into value for their brand and customers. Too much leads to not enough.
Creating a truly omnichannel experience, merging all big data from physical and digital channels would be the holy grail, according to Barry Judge. If you could combine store purchase data with online transactions and click behavior, plus email, mobile and social, throw in CRM and loyalty data, you’re well on your way to creating big opportunities in big data. The key is integrating all that big data into something that allows you to speak to each of your customers as an individual, regardless of where she interacts with your brand.
Brad Todd would like to see retailers, like grocery stores, who have been capturing data for decades, turn that knowledge into a one-to-one customer experience. It would be great, for instance, if the grocer “knew” that you shop weekly for strawberries but didn’t buy any this week; they could offer a real-time discount for you to pick up some strawberries during this shopping trip as well. Another one of the big opportunities in big data.
Today tools exist to make one-to-one personalization—hyper-personalization—a reality. The tough part is corralling all that big data and applying robust analytics to arrive at hyper-personalized communications for each customer. Want to learn how to overcome the tough part?
And please feel free to leave any comments or questions below.
