• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, April 17, 2023

Lack of reliance on data-driven decisions is the biggest challenge for 29% of the U.S. marketers participating in a study by the Winterberry Group Research, versus lack of centralized data and analytics function across the organization for the 31% of marketers in Europe. 

Winterberry Group research -- From Data to Insight: The Outlook for Marketing Analytics -- was released last week is based on 2023 survey findings of 200 U.S. and European marketers, along with interviews conducted with industry experts. The study aims to provide greater insight into the current state of the analytics market. It examines and defines the present and future state of marketing analytics, industry challenges and factors for success.

The research group forecasts spend for marketing analytics and data infrastructure to grow from $22 billion in 2022 to $32 billion in 2026 in the U.S., UK, and countries across the European Union.

Data and analytics are key to success of marketers. The research attributes the growth to technological advancements and process improvements that have enabled businesses to achieve more with less reliance on people. That data empowers business analysts and engineers to leverage available technology, while reducing reliance on individuals with advanced degrees and offshore talent.

It turns out that just 10% of companies leverage marketing analytics to gain insight and automate optimization. Only 15% of organizations are early in their transformation process, with some demonstrating little to no interest in truly being analytically driven.

Some 75% of organizations have made progress in evolving their application of marketing analytics, but have a substantial way to go before garnering the power of marketing analytics. European marketers have been forced to adopt innovative analytics capabilities faster than their U.S. counterparts due to the EU’s more restrictive data privacy and identity environment.

Marketers in the North America and the EU prioritized creative and content, commerce and measurement and attribution. Customer Journey Management is being used as a need for more sophisticated solutions.

The research also identified five primary marketing areas where analytics helps marketers achieve their goals.

• Audience and Customer Intelligence: Segmenting, understanding and targeting customers.
• Customer Journey and Experience: Designing customer journeys and experiences to define how brands engage with consumers.
• Commerce: Promoting and selling products and services, both in-store as well as online.
• Creative and Content: Creating, developing, versioning and optimizing assets.
• Media Measurement and Attribution: Tracking, analyzing and evaluating the impact of various media activities.

Nearly 80% of marketers see performance and efficiency significantly improve when marketing analytics is implemented, according to the findings.

Modeling capabilities continue to expand, moving from single acquisition models to holistic modeling systems that optimize segments across next-best experiences to grow customer lifetime value (CLV). It also helps to better understand the likelihood of churn and enhance decision making to increase customer engagement and retention. Marketing analytics are allowing brands to use unstructured data to segment customers, including conducting sentiment analysis of social media content.