While marketers spend a staggering 32% of their time managing data quality, these efforts aren’t enough to prevent significant waste, resulting in inaccurate targeting and lost customers, according to new research.
These findings come from “Why Marketers Can’t Ignore Data Quality,” a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Marketing Evolution, to evaluate the state of organizations’ marketing/media data quality and the tactics that help marketers promote quality efficiently and effectively.
High-quality data empowers marketers to effectively understand and influence shoppers at the right moment, while also demonstrating accountability for their spend. And while 82% of organisations place a high priority on refining data quality, 26% of marketing campaigns were hurt by substandard data in the last 12 months.
Tackling data quality improvements and boosting marketers’ trust in their data is a worthwhile effort. Per study findings, wasted media spend is the highest ranked repercussion of poor data quality (37%).
A whopping 21 cents of every media dollar spent by organizations in the last year was wasted due to poor data quality, resulting in inaccurate targeting (35%) and lost customers (30%).
“Data offers today’s marketers an extraordinary advantage and is key for improving customer understanding and engagement,” said Rex Briggs, CEO of Marketing Evolution. “But data is only as valuable as the insights it produces, the actions it influences, and the results it fosters. Without the ability to ensure data integrity, marketers are relinquishing their most powerful tool — and a massive competitive advantage.”
Among the study’s additional findings:
• The vast majority of respondents (87%) ranked “high-quality data” as important or very important for marketing success
• As much as 32% of marketing teams’ time is spent managing data quality, and 26% of campaigns in the last year were hurt by poor data quality, on average.
• Firms with above average confidence across the seven quality dimensions cited benefits, including improved customer experiences and customer targeting, faster decision-making, and reduced media spending waste.
The result, Forrester’s “Why Marketers Can’t Ignore Data Quality,” can be downloaded here.