WHY A DATA AND

ANALYTICS STRATEGY
TODAY GIVES MARKETERS AN
ADVANTAGE TOMORROW
EXECUTIVE: Intelligent and mobile technologies have dramatically
altered the customer journey, all but erasing the line between
digital and offline consumer behavior. Whether tapping on their
COMMISSIONED BY smartphone, speaking to a home device or interacting with their
car’s connectivity systems, consumers continuously engage with a
wide array of digital systems when they want to learn something,
do something or buy something. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high-
g.co/360insights
end purchase like a large-screen TV or a more mundane sundry like
deodorant—it’s becoming second nature for consumers to steal
moments throughout the day to answer any question that comes
to mind, using an ever-increasing variety of devices.

EXECUTIVE | SCHOLAR EXCHANGE 1

 The more personalized and relevant the results, the more

Messages and Metrics That

meaningful these engagements become. Therein lies the
new marketing opportunity for brands: building a data
strategy to collect and analyze the trails of data
consumers create, uncover insights, and take action to
Match the Customer Journey
boost the value of these engagements. SCHOLAR: Increasing
The expanding array of channels and demands for accountability have
devices makes it more challenging—but created a sense of urgency
also more important than ever—for for marketers to determine the
marketers to gain a complete
understanding of their audience and
most effective metrics for both
generate actionable insights. Brands that driving growth and demonstrating
build a foundation of data and analytics Shuba Srinivasan, marketing’s value. But mobility
and use advanced technology to deliver Adele and Norman
Barron Professor of has complicated those efforts.
Matt Lawson, Director,
engaging experiences throughout the
Management, Boston We live in an always-on world.
Performance Ads customer journey will have the advantage University Questrom
Marketing, Google going forward. School of Business That’s an enormous challenge for
marketing organizations, but one
Optimizing the Data Opportunity
Marketers of all stripes are well aware of the vast with a huge upside if they can turn data into insight.
opportunity. Indeed, nearly 90 percent of senior
business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing executives //////////////////////////////////////////////////
surveyed for a June 2017 study conducted by
Econsultancy in partnership with Google said that Consumers can search and shop
understanding user journeys across channels and devices
is critical to marketing success. 1 However, the gap is
24/7/365, generating enormous
widening between “mainstream” marketers and those amounts of customer data that
who have reoriented their marketing and advertising
approaches to reflect the need for more refined,
can empower marketers to better
integrated data strategies, according to the study. serve their customers.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////// On the one hand, multichannel access to searching and

shopping results in conversion friction—a straightforward,
Leaders are 50 percent more likely sequential customer journey no longer exists. On the other
to have a clear understanding of hand, consumers can search and shop 24/7/365, generating
customer journeys across channels enormous amounts of customer data that can empower

and devices. marketers to better serve their customers. According

to a study1 published in the Marketing Science journal,
multichannel shoppers are more profitable than single-
The study found that leaders (defined as those whose
marketing results significantly exceeded their business channel customers. This fortifies the case for marketers to
goals in 2016) are 50 percent more likely to have a clear master their messages and metrics for the omnichannel
understanding of customer journeys across channels and world. Smart brands are trying to figure out how to target the
devices. They are also twice as likely to routinely take
action based on analytical insights. Rather than focusing
right customer with the right message at the right time.
on clicks and conversions, these organizations are An enormous untapped opportunity exists in mobile ad
working to create a more complete understanding of
platforms. Mary Meeker’s most recent Internet Trends
customers across devices and channels—and capturing
the long-term value of those relationships. report2 notes that U.S. consumers spend 28 percent of
their time on mobile devices, but that mobile accounts for
1. Econsultancy/Google. “Customer Experience Is Written in Data,” May 2017. We surveyed 677 just 21 percent of advertising dollars. That leaves a $16
marketing and measurement executives at companies with over $250 million in revenues, primarily in
North America. Total respondents included 199 “leading marketers,” who reported that marketing signifi-
billion opportunity sitting on the table.
cantly exceeded top business goals in 2016, and 478 “mainstream marketers.” https://goo.gl/uxd9mx

EXECUTIVE | SCHOLAR EXCHANGE 2

Tying together the many aspects of the customer journey
requires breaking down the organizational silos that have More importantly, however, consumers are embracing mobile
developed in marketing and advertising over the years. as a complement to, not a replacement for, other channels.
No longer can marketers operate as a collection of
We’ve found that a multichannel marketing approach
disparate teams focused on search media, TV buying,
performance marketing, brand and store buying. These compounds the financial impact of the marketing spend. When
groups need to become integrated, collaborative teams brands simultaneously invest across channels, they see a
that are aligned behind common goals. They must work
significant increase in results—one plus one equals much more
together to create a holistic view of customer behavior
and brand performance that can be shared by all. In fact, than two. This points to the need for better coordination among
86 percent of all respondents in the Econsultancy study the often independent entities that handle paid search, online
said eliminating silos is critical to expanding the use of display and TV/print/radio advertising.
data and analytics in decision-making.

Integrating the Technology Stack /////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Leading marketers are also updating their technology
systems to support increased organizational alignment When brands simultaneously invest
and revenue growth, according to the study. In addition,
they are 52 percent more likely than the mainstream to
across channels, they see a significant
have fully integrated the marketing and advertising increase in results—one plus one
technology stack.
equals much more than two.
A unified marketing and advertising technology stack
enables companies to not only identify valuable customer
Metrics That Matter
segments but also deliver customized experiences to
them. Marketers with fully integrated solutions are 45 The best way to engage with customers depends on where
percent more likely to use audience-level data to they are in their decision-making process. We recently studied
personalize the customer experience, according to the the financial impact of online display ads and paid search,
study, and 60 percent more likely to optimize experiences
analyzing the results of more than 1,600 companies over a
in real time, using analytics. The Econsultancy research
also shows they are able to accurately attribute business five-year period. Online display ads, which are typically shown
value to their marketing and advertising efforts to to consumers in the awareness phase of the customer journey,
evaluate how channels work together and better allocate
are initiated by the brand and cast a wider net.
their investments.
Paid search, meanwhile, is typically delivered to consumers
///////////////////////////////////////////////////// in the consideration and purchase phases, is initiated by the

Marketers with fully integrated consumer and addresses a narrower audience. Based on
our research, we’ve found that online display and paid search
solutions are 45 percent more likely to advertising each exhibit significantly positive effects on business
use audience-level data to personalize performance and firm value. We also found that online display
the customer experience. advertising has distinct long-term value, while the differential
benefit of paid search accrues in the short term.
Getting there takes time, commitment and continual
refinement. For example, Google has “store visits” The marketing metrics that matter vary throughout the
technology that can inform brands when a consumer customer journey, too. In the early stages, important metrics
clicks an ad and then enters a store. Retailers can
might include the length of time a customer spends in the store
extrapolate what this data means for their business
performance by, for example, running “hold-out tests”: or how often they visit the website. At the purchase stage,
investing heavily in media in some markets while going it would make more sense to measure revenue per user,
dark in others, to gauge the incremental impact on results conversion rates and acquisition costs. Post-purchase, metrics
such as revenue growth or average order volumes. Based
such as retention, lifetime customer value and loyalty serve as
on that, they can arrive at a proxy business value for store
visits and test it over time as assumptions change. proxies for future financial impact.

EXECUTIVE | SCHOLAR EXCHANGE 3

A Digital Foundation for the Future
The following key elements can help organizations foster a
fully integrated, data-driven marketing function.

• Executive buy-in. Unequivocal support from the top

Gearing Up for a New Approach
levels of the business are vital for a customer-centric, Determining how to best engage with customers and measure
data-driven transformation to succeed.
the effectiveness of those efforts is something each marketing
• Data-savvy marketers. The marketing function needs organization must determine for itself through experimentation.
people with not only data skills but also an This requires new skills, mindsets and processes, including:
understanding of the potential to optimize real-time
customer interactions based on data insights. Ideal
marketing professionals are proficient in the /////////////////////////////////////////////////////
application of analytics, naturally curious and
inclined toward ongoing optimization.
Figuring out the right approaches and
metrics demands a willingness to
• Cross-functional collaboration. Teams that work
together will establish new metrics and build new experiment and conduct A/B testing
benchmarks that will deliver the insight into how
media impacts business goals and drives real-time
to determine what works.
decision-making.
• Analytics expertise. Today’s marketing organizations
• A learning culture. Marketing transformation takes
time and experimentation. Organizations need to require professionals with the quantitative expertise to
commit to ongoing testing to deliver better analyze data and account for causality, along with the
experiences that drive business growth. business and domain knowledge to put all the
• Technology investment. It’s crucial to consolidate pieces together.
data to not only visualize the customer as he or she
• Willingness to learn. Figuring out the right
moves across channels but also connect those
insights back to enterprise data, analyze and segment approaches and metrics demands a willingness to
it, and apply those insights to meaningful and experiment and conduct A/B testing to determine what
profitable actions. Modern technology is increasingly works. A commitment must also come from the very top
either a growth accelerator or a business inhibitor.
for data-driven marketing decision-making.
For organizations that make the investment in a holistic data and
• Customer empathy. Although quantitative skills are
analytics approach, the role of marketing in the business will
expand. Rather than functioning solely as an acquisition vehicle, critical, so is understanding of the customer. Without
marketing will become an engine of growth, driving effective a clear idea of a customer’s goals and motivations
upselling, cross-selling and customer retention. When marketing throughout the customer journey, all the numbers
leaders develop a data and analytics strategy to better understand
are meaningless.
customer journeys, invest in a unified technology platform and
collaborate on achieving shared business goals, they can offer Mobile and omnichannel customer behaviors are here to
tremendous value in the form of actionable insights that will benefit
stay—and it’s vital for marketing organizations to adapt their own
not only customers but also the business. n
behaviors to maximize success. n

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1. https://www.informs.org/About-INFORMS/News-Room/Press-Releases/Companies-
increase-profits-by-creating-multichannel-shoppers

Built for the enterprise, the Google Analytics 360 Suite is a powerful marketing analytics 2. http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
solution. It helps you get a handle on all your marketing data and find insights you can
use to improve customer experiences. g.co/360insights

EXECUTIVE | SCHOLAR EXCHANGE 4