Sharing the cost of data analytics with your peers

The IPA’s recent Bellwether report highlighted that UK ad spend is to increase by just 0.3% in 2018 amid a digital slowdown and growth uncertainty. 

Also, a report by Gartner highlighted the end of a three-year upward trend in the size of marketing budgets in 2017.

“UK ad spend is to increase by just 0.3% in 2018 amid a digital slowdown and growth uncertainty” 

This comes at a time when marketers are expected to understand their customers better, communicate with them more effectively through the medium of their choice and continue to innovate with relevant products and services.

All these tasks require a breadth and depth of knowledge that has historically only been achieved by the very biggest retailers.

Delivering cost-effective customer insight fast

The good news is that technology is reducing the cost, while at the same time speeding up the process of sharing, analysing and making actionable insights from datasets.

New data collaboration technology that operates on a software as a service (SaaS) model can combine the knowledge from two or more datasets in minutes, not months.

“By collaborating on data, companies can share the cost of insight by working together to build up a rounded picture of customers”

Each company’s dataset is processed in isolation, then the technology formats the data so it is comparable, runs the analysis and creates the reports required.

The cost shouldn’t be more than a few hundred pounds for retailers with less than 2 million records.

Ease of use allows for non-technical teams to complete the collaboration steps, further reducing the overall investment.

Wealth of insight

By collaborating on data, companies can share the cost of insight by working together to build up a rounded picture of customers.

Second-party data arrangements can be made by progressive companies that may share similar customers but sell very different or complementary products.

“With a squeeze on budgets, marketers in the retail sector must consider working together to communicate and innovate effectively”

Overlapping customer groups can be identified for joint marketing campaigns or cost-effective acquisition campaigns potentially endorsed by the other party.

With the squeeze on budgets, marketers in the retail sector must consider working together to communicate and innovate effectively.

So, when choosing the appropriate data collaboration technology, they should make sure it has the potential to deliver a wealth of customer insight, very quickly and at low cost.

• For more information visit InfoSum