Over 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years. With more data than ever available to marketers, data analysis has become a key part of marketing strategy – with businesses spending over £130 billion a year on it.
Big data has become an essential resource in improving customer experience, increasing revenues and optimising the impact of marketing campaigns.
But with big data talked about so much, it can get a little confusing for marketers to understand where it will have the greatest impacts. Big data is great – but only when used in the right way.
If you are wondering where to start with understanding how to ensure your data has the greatest impact, why not look to the companies who are doing it best. In this article, we will share three examples of large businesses that are using big data to improve their marketing.
Amazon is the top e-commerce retailer in the world. They have their data to thank for that. One of the key ways that Amazon uses big data in its marketing, to improve sales and customer experience, is with dynamic pricing.
Dynamic pricing is a tactic you will be familiar with if you have ever bought an airline ticket. When you check prices for a ticket, they go up over time because if you keep checking, this indicates to the airline that you are motivated to purchase the flight and may be willing to pay more.
This is a tactic that Amazon applies to its website. They change their prices over 2 million times a day based on data such as shopping patterns, competitor pricing, and how common the product is.
Netflix is possibly the largest online streamer of TV and movies and it owes its success to big data.
Netflix uses their big data to provide an unparalleled personal experience that has led to a 93% user retention rate. Compared with their competitors, this number is staggering. For example, Hulus retention rate is only 67%.
Netflix collects data such as time spent watching a movie, episode or series, if they binge-watched it or they took a long time to finish it. Where users paused shows and if they resumed after pausing.
All of this data and more is used to create personalised experiences for their users. Recommendations for shows, and even a future goal of AI-generated personal trailers are what keep Netflix at the top of the streaming game.
Uber had been at the top of the rideshare/taxi app space for a while when it jumped into food delivery.
Uber wanted to be known as a delivery service that always brings food while it is still warm. They then used big data to help them try to be as accurate as possible with their delivery time estimates. They also collected the data of how much time it usually takes to prepare a certain meal, so they could pinpoint the exact time when the delivery person should come and pick it up.
This data also means that their drivers can now collect more than one meal in a journey (as they don’t have to wait for the food to be prepared) and Uber is encouraging them to carry more than one meal per trip with a bonus for each meal they collect.
Big data has become an essential part of marketing. Audience insights and the valuable information that big data provides, allow you to further improve your service and give your customers what they want. Increased personalisation from big data is leading to increased retention for many businesses. If you are overwhelmed by the amount of data you have, you can look to inspirations from the above giants for ways that you can analyse it and apply insights in the most effective way.
See inspirations here:
Need to give your marketing efforts a helping hand? If you’re struggling to find an easy tool to help you understand what your data is telling you to help fuel your marketing campaigns, then contact us here to find out how Streams can help.
