Big Data Generating Big Results For Marketers, But Not All Have Adopted It

When it comes to increasing ROI, marketers that are big on Big Data are seeing huge benefits. Of marketers that use Big Data in at least 50% of their marketing efforts, 76% of them are increasing ROI, compared to just 39% of marketers that use Big Data in less than half of their efforts.

In fact, companies that use Big Data more often benefit across the board, not just in increasing ROI.

Of companies that use Big Data more often, 81% of them say they are increasing sales and 85% say they are increasing insights into consumer behavior. Only 47% of companies that use Big Data in less than half of their efforts say they are increasing sales, and just over half (52%) of such companies say they are increasing insights into consumer behavior.

Additionally, customer satisfaction is significantly higher when Big Data plays a role. The companies that use Big Data more often have seen a 73% increase in customer satisfaction, compared to a 41% increase for those that use Big Data less often.

The data comes from a joint report from Rocket Fuel and Forbes Insights, which was released this morning. The companies surveyed 211 senior U.S. marketing execs. The report claims that the majority of respondents came from large companies and advertising agencies. According to the release, more than half of the agencies and three-quarters of the other companies that partook in the survey had revenues of at least $2 billion.

However, despite the seemingly clear benefits of Big Data, just one-in-10 respondents from non-agencies said they manage more than half of their marketing/advertising efforts with Big Data. Agencies are more likely to use Big Data, but still just one-in-three use it in more than half of their initiatives.

One reason the number of adopters might be lower than expected is because execs still don't have a firm grasp on what Big Data means and how it can be used. Per the report, just over half of senior execs (from both agencies and other companies) say they have a good understanding of Big Data and its benefits, which leaves nearly half of execs feeling like they don't.

The report concludes by saying, "Even those who use Big Data most strongly still aren't fully aware of its benefits." It adds that the "more sophisticated uses of Big Data — real-time adjustments of promotions and offerings…are still not fully realized by even the heaviest of Big Data users."

4 comments about "Big Data Generating Big Results For Marketers, But Not All Have Adopted It".
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  1. Keith Huntoon from LiftEngine, October 24, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.

    How is Big Data defined in the survey? Can targeting criteria for ad buying be considered 'using Big Data'? Is it the use of anonymous click-stream data to analyze campaign success? Is it tying email, offline and licensed data together?

    Without a clear definition of the term Big Data, it's hard for me to see the value in the survey. If you know, the definition, please respond. Thanks.

  2. Scott Brinker from ion interactive, inc., October 25, 2013 at 7:48 a.m.

    I would second Keith's comment. The report does not indicate how "big data" was defined to participants -- for that matter, there's no section describing the methodology of this survey at all. However, based on the answers and anecdotes, one gets the impression that any application of any data at all is sufficient for participants to justify that they're using "big data" everywhere. Since the anecdotes are arguably also promotional opportunities for those participants, they're highly incentivized to talk to the trend.

  3. Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, October 25, 2013 at 5:10 p.m.

    Let me state what this research found another way... "Those companies whose revenue is increasing can afford to dump big bucks into big data." This article includes a massive research --- there's not enough evidence here to jump to the conclusion that Big Data is CAUSING these results...

  4. Tyler Loechner from MediaPost, October 25, 2013 at 7:39 p.m.

    Hey everybody, thanks for the comments. I reached out and got this definition from Forbes on how they defined Big Data in the survey ---------- "Big Data was defined in the survey as ever-growing amounts of customer data that can be gathered from multiple channels, points of contact and across multiple types of behaviors, analyzed, and used by marketers to inform their initiatives."

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