4 Ways Big Data Analytics is Improving Email Marketing

Look, the ways of big data analytics offer an excellent solution to email marketing problem

There is no disputing that technology is driving rapid change in almost every major industry across the globe. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and the IoT are just a few examples of technological advancements heavily disrupting consumer and B2B markets at an unprecedented pace.

In the marketing industry, companies now have access to more consumer information than ever before, which would lead you to think it would be a cakewalk for them to pinpoint exactly who their ideal customers are, what they're interested in, and the ideal channels to engage them through. Yet, it's often not that simple.

That's because one of the great challenges companies face when adopting new technology is figuring out what to do with the copious amounts of data thrown their way. In fact, studies have shown that data complexity ranks as one of the biggest marketing challenges today as companies struggle to find any real value from this exponential increase in data availability.

Fortunately, the emergence of big data analytics offers an excellent solution to this problem since it provides a simple framework for examining and digesting large data sets in order to derive valuable, actionable insights. 

What is big data analytics?

Big data analytics is the process of using advanced analytical techniques to study large data resources to uncover hidden trends, patterns, and correlations that could potentially lead to actionable insights. When utilized correctly, big data technology can provide clues that lead to more intelligent business operations, increase efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and helps to create and maintain a competitive advantage in the market.

With worldwide email use becoming more popular each year, marketers are now turning to big data to help them inform their email marketing strategies to improve ROI and drive more revenue through their businesses. Here's how.

Advanced personalization

If you want to maximize ROI from an email marketing campaign, then each and every email must be presented and structured correctly. That means optimizing subject lines, nailing the copywriting, and ensuring you have a professional email signature with a well-crafted CTA (call-to-action). However, personalization will help take your email marketing game to the next level. According to research from Experian, personalized emails generate a 600% higher revenue than generic emails.

Big data analytics facilitates this personalization by giving companies access to important information about the people on their sender list, such as names, locations, interests, and preferred products and services. By directly appealing to each customer's wants and needs (as well as addressing them personally), marketers will have a significant head start over the competition. Furthermore, big data tools will even allow marketers to create personalized discounts and promos tailored to each recipient based on the items they have previously browsed or shown interest in.

Predictive analysis

From time to time, the role of a marketer requires them to look into the future and anticipate upcoming trends rather than focusing on what's current. This is because forecasting future demand can provide valuable business insights that can help direct forthcoming marketing campaigns to improve their success rate. Big data and artificial intelligence can also be used to better predict consumer buying habits. For example, businesses can use these tools to predict the likelihood of a future purchase from a specific customer or whether or not they may be interested in a new product line.

Improved automation

With the power of big data, companies can develop more accurate automation strategies that trigger based on specific criteria. These triggers and responses may include sending a personalized welcome email when someone subscribes to your website, sending a cart abandonment email when a customer is contemplating a purchase, or sending a customer retention email when they haven't purchased for a set period of time. Big data allows the vast majority of the processes to be automated, improving the speed and accuracy of marketing campaigns while freeing up marketers' time so they can focus on

other tasks that may deliver a higher ROI.

Revenue attribution

Email marketing attribution refers to the practice of deciphering whether or not an email was, in fact, responsible for a conversion. However, this is a notoriously complicated task since consumers are typically exposed to a plethora of marketing and sales correspondence before they make the final purchase. With that said, revenue attribution is a fundamental aspect of marketing since it enables companies to fine-tune their strategies, dropping the parts that don't work while doubling down on the areas that yield the best results.

Thanks to big data, companies are now able to instantly measure the impact and overall effectiveness of their email marketing campaigns, and it's all done in real-time. With sales data feeding directly into the CRM, big data tools can more accurately attribute specific marketing elements that contributed to the final sale. When used in conjunction with split (A/B) testing and click-through metrics, companies are able to create highly optimized emails that deliver an exceptional ROI.

In summary

Big data has changed the marketing game for good. Now that companies have finally found a way to harness the immense volumes of data they have at their disposal, they can create much more effective email marketing campaigns thanks to increased personalization, automation, and predictive analysis. All of these factors assist in the formulation of high converting email strategies that drive more revenue to the business while improving the customer experience.