"Without data you are just another person with an opinion. We will use mine’

The Ellipsis Loyalty Consultants recently attended a webinar at ANZ Bank. A question was asked... ‘what does it take to successfully introduce a data-led culture into a large organisation like ANZ?’. The refreshing answer included, ‘you need to be good at story-telling’. And if sometimes the story is a little ahead of the data, that is OK (it was implied). Engagement with the story is critical.

This did get us thinking about our range of customers, most of them on just such a journey to introduce increased levels of customer and/or data centricity to their operations. Several have the same system platforms installed but are at vastly different levels of sophistication in their use of data to drive effective marketing and service.

Perhaps story-telling skills are missing for some of them? The difference has to be cultural, developmental, and linked to their ability to tell stories from the data that are engaging for the marketing team and management.

We often use this simplistic but useful grid to have customers self-evaluate their status as data led organisations2. Even allowing for the natural tendency of Marketers to be modest… we rarely find a customer who considers themselves an Artisan. There are some Craftsmen we agree, and many aspiring Artisans have already implemented the technology needed, but the organisational thinking and culture has not caught up.

So, we did what we do when something interesting catches our eye; a literature search to see if the journey to becoming a ‘Data Artisan’ has been formally studied before. We found two thought-provoking references.

The first caused a wry smile of recognised truth…

The second is more quantitative, a study published in the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing in 20193. 

5 Steps To Marketing Big Data Analytics

This study found a 5-step journey that organisations take as they implement ‘Marketing Big Data Analytics’. The stages ring true to our experience and may help you work out what is next in your own journey, what to expect next. The 5 stages are:

1. Sprouting

When firms lack C-suite data analytics expertise, interest in analytics usually comes from junior management, especially recent recruits.’4

There is a tale in Ellipsis of the company that entered the "Sprouting" phase due to an influx of bright new graduates, who conducted a ‘proof of concept’, to demonstrate to the Board that a data-driven approach to marketing could be profitable. The marketing team segmented their customers, and built propensity models for the most distinct segments, matched to ‘next best offers’ (NBOs). Good campaign design allowed them to measure lift against control and run the campaign as a test. This was meticulously presented to the Board, who listening politely but seemed to 'glaze over' as the principles were explained. Until the results were unveiled: the conversion rates on the POC were outstanding, many times better than standard campaign results. To which a Director excitedly announced; "this result is so good, let's make this offer to all our customers!"