Businesses failing to use data for better marketing decisions

In spite of data availability, businesses are failing to make an informed decision, says a market research survey.
The survey, with a sample size of over 2,700 marketing professionals across the Asia Pacific region, including 533 from the country, has found that the volume and variety of data are obscuring valuable insights, thus making it harder for businesses to use them to their advantage.
Indian businesses are investing more in data-driven digital platforms and tracking systems to help them understand the challenging online landscape.
Much of this data come into the marketing department, with one in three marketers (37 per cent) now managing real-time data as part of their role, says a TNS Marketing Monitor survey.

However, the survey has found that 70 per cent of marketers in the country admit that they find it difficult to integrate data from different sources.
With so much data available, marketers know they should be able to make decisions in real-time, but many are struggling to integrate traditional and digital measurements.

"Many businesses are overwhelmed by the volume of data. The online environment in the country is developing at breakneck speed. As more and more people start connecting to the Internet through mobile and other digital platforms, the amount of data is set to explode.
"The key is to understand how to use it effectively now, before the volume becomes unmanageable," TNS India's S Visvanathan said.

The survey notes that because of the difficulties with real-time data, many marketers are falling back on traditional measurements.
Sales uplift metrics are still used as the number one way of evaluating result of marketing campaigns.
"Despite their importance, these metrics are retrospective and do not empower businesses to track the ongoing reception of campaigns, react to live issues and make the changes that could nudge their marketing activity in a more favourable direction," it said.
It also revealed that current market research methods are not helping marketers make quick and informed decisions.
As per the survey, 69 per cent of the domestic respondents view analysis as not actionable enough while 73 per cent feel the analysis is too slow to be of use.

Singapore is leading the way, with 55 per cent of marketers using social media monitoring when making marketing decisions, with Malaysia closely behind at 50 per cent and Australia and Indonesia at 43 per cent.
In India, 42 per cent of the marketers use social media monitoring, while China is lagging behind, with only 30 per cent monitoring this data, despite having some of the most advanced social media platforms in the world.