While there are lots of merits of adopting data marketing, is it easy to implement? Here are six key success factors for online markets and SMEs.
1. Make the most out of your existing data
With no systematic database in place, some merchants didn’t realize that there are a lot of valuable data created during regular interaction with customers. In fact the first step of data marketing is to understand data source and work with what you have.
POS is the most common source of sales data, collecting product details, purchase time and date, payment method, coupon and discounts. If the payment is made by electronic means, it collects the customers’ names and identity. Social media such as Facebook collects likes, click rates, conversion and who and where is another source of data.
The aforementioned data may look simple, but it may have contained lots of hidden insights. For example, if the POS reviewed that there were many returned customers, that you should consider setting up a loyally program to retain your customers. Besides, you may act on the customers’ engagement time and post likes to develop even more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.
After understanding different sources of data, you may explore collecting even more data from other sources, enriching your data for future analysis.
2. Set a clear business goals and collect relevant data
One of the common mistake of the merchants is that they only focus on the data they got, forgetting the business goals, which should come first.
假設商家經營一家潮流服飾網店。儘管進貨成本是經營的首要考慮，但成本與是否應該使用「智能櫃」提貨服務，兩者的考量並無直接關係。反之，商家應細心比較，「智能櫃」提貨與傳統物流服務的分別，例如：它們的平均派送時間是多少？哪個提貨點較多、服務較方便、收費更化算?
只要訂立了明確的業務目標，往後的一切就會豁然開朗。商家只要收集到數據後，騰出時間進行分析就行。
3. Monitor and analysis on a ongoing basis
Data is just a bunch of numbers without proper analysis in a timely manner. It is only meaningful after systematic calculation and conversion, and turned into reports that are relevant to the business.
The best way to deploy data marketing is to spend some time to monitor it every day.
Different data has to be presented differently and appropriately so that the merchants can easily see the main point of the analysis. Just like tag cloud, you may see the most common words that people use.
4. Consolidate data from all sources to get a big picture
There are many levels of data analysis. To get the big picture, it is necessary that all information are gathered and analysis together.
If you want to find out which type of customers are the most profitable, you may want to look at those who spend the most. However, that may not be the whole picture. You may have to consider the costs of providing services, the product life cycle, etc.
5. Top to bottom data marketing concept
Personal judgement and strategic preference play an important role in daily operation. In order to deploy data marketing well, it is recommended that the whole organisation be trained on data marketing, from usage to benefits to reporting. Then develop a common a set of jargons for easy communication.
Last, encourage all team members to share new discovery of data analysis, particularly the high potential products or target market segment by offering rewards.
6. Data marketing drives business decisions
Make business decisions based on data analysis is the final challenge.
Data marketing has been one of the key success factors for Amazon, the eCommerce giant. The company has been monitoring over 500 KPIs at all times and make decisions based on adequate data support. For example, they even monitor the correlation between webpage loading time and no. of visitors.
