Data analysis is nothing new for marketing specialists. To develop efficient marketing campaigns, they need to examine different data sources, bring them all together and craft robust reports to enable data-driven decisions.
However, consolidating all possible information manually is becoming almost impossible these days amidst the rapid growth of data volumes driven by multiple customer touchpoints and tools collecting it. Moreover, marketers should not only ensure crucial data is present in reports but also make it easy to digest.
Business intelligence software helps streamline these time-consuming activities. It facilitates the analysis of raw data, be it structured or unstructured, scattered across disparate sources and automates visual report generation to help marketing specialists promptly define how well their marketing tactics are working.
As you’ll observe further in the article, BI in marketing is a robust instrument worth considering. Let’s dive into its benefits and real-world examples of how renowned companies employ business intelligence in marketing.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Tracking
Metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) allow marketers to benchmark the success of their campaigns. These KPIs traditionally include the following metrics:
- Click-through rates (CTR)
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Cost per acquisition (CPA)
- Return on marketing investment (ROMI)
Yet, it can be challenging for companies, especially those with many subdivisions and departments, to monitor so many indicators. Each team can rely on their own analytics tools and reports, which leads to data silos, redundancies and inconsistencies.
BI software assists in measuring these critical metrics. Thanks to automated data management capabilities, BI tools accelerate this process and make it error-free.
For example, a retail company REI uses Tableau to process 90 terabytes of data and keep an eye on such membership metrics as customer and member counts, customer lifetime value and churn and retention rates. By tracking them, the company managed to improve member lifecycle programs and boost repeat sales and customer loyalty.
Modern BI tools also help identify KPIs that need to be monitored, directing attention to areas for improvement and optimization. Such tools display insights in visually appealing, user-friendly dashboards and feature alert systems to promptly notify business users when specific metrics change or drop below predetermined thresholds. As such, you can determine the most effective marketing tactics, devise budget allocation strategies, and identify process optimization opportunities.
Audience Identification, Segmentation and Targeting
Acquiring and retaining customers is essential for sustained business growth, but you first need to understand your target audience. What do these people represent, look for or dislike? Answering these questions helps plan your marketing strategy and target the right audience with suitable products.
Customer information can be scattered across various sources, including social media, emails, website/app activity, feedback forms and POS systems. Business intelligence software helps unite all of it and create a 360-degree customer view (also known as a “golden record.”)
By consolidating and analyzing consumers’ demographic data, purchase habits, preferences and spending capacity, marketing specialists can:
- Segment audiences to craft the most resonating offer for each group
- Figure out what customers bring the highest value to the company to devise tailored retention and loyalty programs
- Personalize communication and content across multiple touchpoints
- Conduct market basket analysis to reveal what items are frequently bought together and develop upselling/cross-selling strategies
For example, Sephora, a French personal care and beauty products retailer, collects each customer’s purchase history and preferences using business intelligence tools. Then, it uses this information to create tailored recommendations and make informed decisions about which products to stock.
Organic Data Measurement for Website Optimization
If you leverage online channels for promotion, you need to study organic data. This information shows your potential for sustainable growth in search engine results without the influence of paid ads.
While paid search and ads provide a quicker path to visibility, people generally consider organic results more relevant and trustworthy, which is crucial for long-term progress. Traditionally, marketing specialists analyze:
- Traffic sources (where people come from, be it search, email newsletters, social media or referrals)
- Search engine data (from keywords to website performance in search engine results)
- Website engagement metrics (how much content people consume upon a visit, whether they bounce, and where they leave the website)
- Content interaction (the most popular pages, time spent on them and clicks made on these pages)
- Conversion data (how many people perform the desired action, such as clicking on a link, scheduling a call, downloading a document or purchasing a service)
- Social media interaction (likes, shares, comments, general sentiment, demographic information)
- Organic lead generation data (how many website visitors become leads)
- On-page interactions (from clicking on calls to action to interacting with embedded elements like video games or survey forms)
- User feedback and sentiment (reviews, ratings, comments, mentions on other resources, etc.)
Organic data is easy to track with BI tools for marketing like Power BI, Tableau, Qlik Cloud Analytics, Looker and others. They outperform well-known data analytics platforms like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, Semrush, etc., as they can integrate many sources in one place and feature advanced analytics capabilities.
From website activity to social media and email software, this information contributes to the development of comprehensive reports. With these insights, marketing specialists can optimize the purchase journey from awareness and consideration to purchase and loyalty.
A case in point is Tableau’s EMEA marketing team. According to the company, it uses its own product for everyday marketing analytics, including tracking campaign performance, web analytics, lead activity, social media influence and ROI.
Final Word
The success of marketing analytics hinges on the quality and quantity of data getting into the system, as well as the ability to create comprehensible reports. Statistics from Salesforce also prove that point. 73% of respondents agree that data facilitates decision-making by lowering ambiguity and improving accuracy. Yet, eliciting meaningful insights calls for replacing manual operations with automated workflows.
That’s why more and more companies employ BI for marketing. It allows companies to manage and analyze data from multiple internal or external sources, which is useful for executing campaigns across channels.
BI software can assist in improving key indicators, streamlining procedures and growing your company. Without a doubt, it helps enhance customer relationships, team collaboration, and course of action planning, even if you’re a large multinational business.
Therefore, marketing BI implementation can become a strategic move toward your business growth and operational efficiency.
