• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 13, 2021

Email marketing ranks No. 2 among uses for data-driven marketing, surpassed only be personalization, according to Data Driven Marketing: A Research Guide for Marketers, a study by Ascend2. And it may be that the term ‘personalization’ covers email as well as ad delivery. 

The most popular uses for data-driven marketing are:

• Personalization — 42%
• Email marketing — 38%
• Content marketing strategy — 36%
• Product/services development — 36%
• Paid advertising — 30% 
• Campaign planning — 30%
• Customer journey mapping — 22% 
• Attribution — 11%

First, a definition: Data-driven marketing is the science of making decisions backed by data.  

But it’s not easy. The greatest challenges are:

• Collecting quality data — 50%
• Identifying/utilizing appropriate solutions — 33% 
• Interpreting and applying data — 31%
• Allocating adequate resources — 30% 
• Utilizing real-time data — 25% 
• Normalizing data — 18% 
• Creating infrastructure — 17%
• Obtaining organizational buy-in — 16% 
• Centralizing data/removing silos—10%

Moreover, the discipline itself has been affected by several factors in the past year: 

• Changing consumer behaviors — 48% 
• Technology innovation — 36%
• Changing quality of data — 34%
• Changing data and privacy regulations — 27%
• Dedicated budget modifications — 25%
• Historical data relevancy — 25% 
• Changing number of touchpoints — 20%
• AI (artificial intelligence availability)—17%

Despite all that, 62% of marketers say they’re somewhat successful at data-driven marketing, and 29% claim they’re very good. Only 9% are unsuccessful. 

What’s more, 79% are satisfied with their team’s ability to make effective decisions based on customer data, and 25% very much so. 

And 65% say their data-driven marketing budgets are increasing moderately, while 17% expect significant jumps. But 17% are reducing their spend, with 3% reducing spend significantly. 

What do they plan to spend it on? Their top improvement priorities for the year ahead include: 

• Improving personalization — 45% 
• Improving data quality — 45%
• Utilizing more available data — 38%
• Mapping customer journey — 27% 
• Identifying touchpoints — 22%
• Improving segmentation — 23%
• Improving attribution — 21% 
• Consolidating technology stack — 13%
• Removing data siloes — 13% 

How often do brands make use of this asset when making decisions? Of those polled, 24% always do so, and 39% most of the time. Another 28% say some of the time, 8% very little and 3% never. 

Ascend2 and its Research Partners surveyed 485 marketers between from September 20-28, 2021. Of those, 25% were B2B, 52% were B2C, and 23% were B2B and B2C equally. In addition, 48% described themselves as owners/partners/C-level, 25% vice president/director/manager and 27% non-management professionals.