The Journey from Data to Information to Insight...

The Journey from Data To Information To Insight…

The value of an idea lies in the using of it. – Thomas Alva Edison

This quote holds tremendous significance to a marketer. In today’s competitive world, marketers are running a relentless race to constantly customize their value propositions to suit the consumer needs. Technology is playing a vital role in enticing the consumers. The e-commerce industry is the outcome of the technological advancements taking place in the marketing world. In a survey conducted by PwC, it was observed that more than 80% of the US respondents conducted online research before buying a product. [1] Technology also aids in changing a person’s attitude towards a product or a service. With the presence of live chats, email, SMS and WhatsApp, marketers are trying to lure the consumers. This was a Point of Difference few years ago, but gradually transforming into a Point of Parity. In order to quantify the effectiveness of these innovative technological makeovers, marketers should carefully gauge the consumer’s level of satisfaction by collecting consumer data. The main idea is to convert data into information and then into an insight.

In order to gather consumer data, marketers use numerous techniques. Survey includes a fair amount of information about the consumer in terms of personal details, preferences and suggestions but the authenticity is questionable because proxy might occur. Information is also captured when a consumer places an order or participates in a competition conducted by a firm. This helps to create a comprehensive consumer database. Market research also can be conducted to get information, but it is an expensive approach. All the above techniques are active ways of collecting information. Firms also collect information passively without the user being aware of it. Social data collection strategy uses social media APIs [2] and cookies to seamlessly capture the relevant information. In due course of time, this provides a strong foundation in predicting the behavior of target consumers.

There are various future implications of the information collected. By giving personal information such as name and contact details, the communication becomes personalized and the consumer can be catered to, on one-on-one basis, creating more customer satisfaction. By sharing profile related information such as age, gender, profession, income and hobbies, marketer gets a clearer picture of the target consumer. For example, Mr. X is a music enthusiast. When he visited his Facebook page, he noticed that one of his friend had liked a Pink Floyd concert page. He then visited the concert page without giving much thought. Later, when he was watching a video on YouTube he gets a pop-up about the same concert offering him a 10% discount on the tickets. He gets fascinated with this offer and purchases the tickets. This instance depicts that profile related information helps in effective proactive marketing by giving circumstantial offers. Profession and income related information guides the marketer to offer a particular price range of products. Capturing transaction history indicates user preferences and inclination towards various products and the frequency of purchase. By gathering all this information, a marketer is basically trying to link the past activities of a consumer to his future. Moreover, it also gives the perception of a ‘luxurious and fine-tuned’ service. Every customer appreciates that the waiter remembers his last order of appetizers. Thus this mask of luxury alleviates the stigma associated with data collection to a large extent.