From Industry Data to Brand Insights

In the rapidly changing marketing climate, trends and strategies evolve often. Thankfully, brands have greater access to data now, than in previous years. In our most recent blog post, Data Driven Marketing: Differences Between Surveys and Experiments, we highlighted how crucial it is to manage data through differing methods. With a surplus of data ranging from engagement rates to product reviews, it’s vital that marketers and brands utilize and interpret the collected data correctly. Marketers should acknowledge and distinguish the difference between data points and data insights to drive their strategy.

The Beauty of Data Points

Data points consist of facts, numbers, or statistics. They serve as data that was collected through research or observation. Data points are useful, and they provide information on what happened in an experiment or observation. Although data points are informative, they do not provide enough detail that marketers may be seeking to find. A few examples of data points include:

·      40% of Ulta customers clicked the email coupon

·      Fenty Beauty’s social media engagement increased by 30% in the last month

·      Sephora’s web visits decreased by 50% after Christmas

Although data points do provide facts and specific data on changes, they do not explain why something changed, only what changed.

The Benefit of Data Insights

Data insights include takeaways and interpretations that result from analyzing data points. Data insights answer the questions marketers have when looking at data and trends. Data insights help to further explain changes that are seen from presented data. Data insights draw marketers closer to decision-making, new strategies, and impactful ideas. Based on the previous examples mentioned with data points, let’s explore data insight examples:

·      Email campaigns highlighting attention to a coupon performed better than a typical email about a sale. This may indicate how customers prefer direct attention called for email interaction.

·      Fenty Beauty’s recent social media content and formats may have been preferred by its audience due to the increase in engagement.

·      Sephora’s customers may have significantly less interest in shopping post-Christmas, due to spending during the holiday time frame.

Data points are like makeup products and data insights are the finished makeup look created when those products are used together. Data insights are crucial to brands because it allows brands the information needed to develop and enhance campaigns, stay aware of industry trends, tailor products to customer needs, and connect deeper with their target audience. Data without insight is like applying makeup without blending it – it just sits there. Utilizing data points for further insights creates true beauty for marketers.