The rapid expansion of digital products over recent years has brought about significant changes in every industry. One field that has undergone a notable transformation is marketing, which has had to modernize and digitize its strategies in order to become more data-driven.
As marketers strive to personalize customer experience, data has become a crucial tool. However, data privacy has gained significance to both governments and businesses, leading companies like Apple to discontinue third-party tracking. To comply with privacy regulations, companies can leverage first-party data that captures customers’ actions to better comprehend their overall experience. Previously deemed useful only to product and engineering teams, top companies now incorporate product data into their marketing strategies. This shift in approach is critical, and here are the reasons why.
The discontinuation of utilizing data from third-party sources
For a considerable time, marketers have relied on third-party data to aid them in various aspects, such as creating campaigns, retargeting, and determining marketing strategies. However, in recent times, privacy concerns surrounding third-party data have become a critical issue to consider.
Governments and businesses are increasingly prioritizing consumer privacy, leading to crackdowns on groups that track user data across the internet. One example of this is the discovery in several European countries that Google Analytics was not in compliance with EU GDPR rules, which poses a significant challenge for marketers operating in the EU.
Google Analytics 4 was introduced by Google to adapt to changes in user behavior. However, it may not completely resolve existing privacy concerns, including issues related to Google Signals.
Although Google Signals is currently allowed under GDPR as long as certain rules are followed, if privacy regulations continue to evolve, Google Analytics may lose some of its most valuable features in the EU. This is because Google Analytics relies on Google Signals to identify anonymous visitors and gather more information about them, and changes to the rules governing Google Signals could impact the platform’s functionality.
Due to the growing concern over privacy, people are more hesitant to provide their personal information to large corporations, and this is reflected in the increased focus on privacy issues. However, B2B customers still expect a personalised experience from brands, similar to what they receive from B2C brands. With third-party analytics being phased out, marketers need to find new ways to deliver this personalised experience.
This phrase suggests that a company’s product should be the primary focus of their operations and strategies, rather than other aspects such as marketing, sales, or customer service. It implies that prioritizing the quality and value of the product itself is the key to business success.
In the B2B world, it is well known that a significant portion of the buying process happens independently of the brand’s involvement. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this trend. It’s not advisable to rely solely on prospects to initiate contact with sales. Instead, customers tend to prefer researching or testing products online and only engaging with sales when they are ready to make a purchase.
By leveraging product data, marketers have the opportunity to gather valuable insights about their customers’ behavior and preferences throughout the customer lifecycle. By understanding what specific features or content users are engaging with, teams can identify key growth metrics such as increases in subscriptions, retention, or revenue, which can then be used to launch more personalized and effective marketing campaigns and new product features. This approach allows marketers to be more proactive in their strategy and deliver a better customer experience that meets the unique needs of each user.
Leading marketers recognize the importance of shifting from the traditional sales-driven approach to a modern product-driven approach. Some marketers still rely on superficial metrics, such as website visits, downloads, and user counts. These metrics lack context, fail to clarify objectives, and don’t provide actionable insights or opportunities for learning. As a result, it’s difficult to understand the underlying reasons for user behavior. With first-party product analytics, businesses can track and analyze how customers engage with their products, and then segment them into cohorts to personalize the customer experience.
Ways to achieve personalization without increasing marketing spend.
In the current market, marketing professionals are expected to demonstrate a positive return on investment for their campaigns. With the upcoming year, they cannot afford to waste resources on failed initiatives. To drive growth with limited resources, marketing teams must rely on data-driven strategies. To reduce costs, marketers can eliminate redundant tools and prioritize solutions that enhance data quality and analysis. Consolidating data gathering and analysis functions into a single platform can save money and provide a more efficient solution.
Using multiple platforms for data management can introduce potential issues and inconsistencies in the data. Each platform may have its own data structures and formats, leading to data mismatches and errors. Moreover, transferring data between platforms may result in loss or duplication of information, leading to inaccurate or incomplete datasets. These issues can undermine the accuracy and effectiveness of personalization efforts, ultimately affecting the business’s bottom line. It’s important to ensure that data management solutions are integrated and work seamlessly together to avoid these potential problems.
To create a culture of good data hygiene, start with the tools you use. This will ensure that all decisions are based on accurate, real-time data and that personalization efforts are more effective.
In recent years, it has become increasingly important for marketers to drive business growth, especially in unstable economic conditions. In order to defend their investments and make effective decisions, all business leaders, not just marketing leaders, need to use data. By utilizing behavioural data insights and implementing strong data governance practices, it is possible to improve personalization without overspending on marketing or violating privacy laws. Ultimately, the companies that succeed in their markets will be those that can quickly adapt to changing business conditions and achieve efficient growth based on their products.