Big Data – Or The Right Data?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, big data is one of those things that has probably come to your attention. It’s a somewhat vague term, but one that encompasses one of the key features of this new age of information: the sheer volume and amount of data that we have about people from the internet, and how marketers can leverage it.

Consider Uber and the huge amount of information it has, not just about its drivers, but also its customers. However, it doesn’t take all of that data: it uses one small facet of it to great commercial success, to connect drivers with passengers and dispatch them.

If you remember life before Uber, you’ll remember that this could be an extensive process requiring phone calls, talking and more. Now, you can have a car with the press of a button. No calling cabs, no hailing anyone down.

So where does this leave you as a marketer? If you have been tracking and analyzing visitors, you already have a lot of compelling information – but are you using it correctly? For example, you may notice that a particular part of your funnel is not converting well – much worse than everything else.

By analyzing the data, you can find patterns in behavior that show you what might be causing the bottleneck and “spoiling” the conversions. Finding that information is as simple as asking yourself what key piece of information – even if it sounds silly – would give you the answer?

More often than not, the answer is in the data – you just need to ask the right question to unlock the right answer. Big data is about the bigger picture, but use the data right, and you’ll see efficient results a lot quicker; just ask Uber!