Between the post-Covid-19 pandemic period, inflation and the war in Ukraine, the year 2022 has been marked by major economic difficulties that are having a direct impact on companies. And for good reason: faced with a decline in the purchasing power of the French, they need to find solutions to ensure their survival and growth. This is where data marketing comes into its own. By improving customer knowledge, data enables organizations to optimize their relationships and customer paths. But have all companies grasped the importance of data? How has data marketing evolved in 2022? Discover 6 key facts about data marketing that will remain at the heart of organizations' concerns in the coming years.
Focusing on customer loyalty
In today's complex economic climate, acquiring new customers can be a tricky business. But that doesn't mean they have to give up on their growth objectives. Indeed, it is entirely possible to generate sales by retaining existing customers. In fact, increasing the loyalty rate by just 5% could boost revenues by 25-95%. How can this be achieved? Through cross sell or up sell strategies.
So, while it may seem easier to sell premium or complementary products to customers who are already convinced, the key is to achieve an excellent level of customer satisfaction. And that, of course, requires a truly personalized customer experience. To achieve this, companies need to know exactly what their customers' needs and issues are. They must then exploit first-hand data to identify new business opportunities and detect weak signals. The use of data marketing in 2022 therefore appears to be a necessity for maintaining a competitive edge. This trend is set to accelerate in 2023.
The increase in the data marketing budget in 2022
While customer loyalty is strengthened, companies still aim to acquire new customers. Here again, data is an essential acquisition lever. And companies are well aware of this. In fact, 8.9% of the 2022 marketing budget has been allocated to data analytics. This reflects organizations' growing awareness of the importance of data. They are ready to invest more in the analysis of qualified data to improve their knowledge of their targets and personalize their offer.
According to the CMO Survey, this trend is set to continue. In fact, the surveyors are already anticipating a 63% increase in data marketing expenditure over the next three years. This should rise to 14.5% by 2025.
Prioritizing 1st party data collection
While data is essential for companies to improve their targeting, its collection also presents several issues in terms of confidentiality. That's why RGPD-type regulations are getting tougher. Moreover, in 2022, Google Chrome was scheduled to do away with its third-party cookies (an evolution finally postponed to 2024) in order to replace them with new, more privacy-friendly targeting methods.
Against this backdrop, it is imperative that companies review their data collection strategy. In particular, through "1st party" data. This is information collected directly from consumers with their consent. For example, the creation of a customer account, a newsletter, the subscription to a free trial offer, satisfaction surveys, conversations with customers (whether by telephone, through a chatbot...). In this case, the company owns the interface on which the data is collected. This is not necessarily the case with social networks.
Thanks to 1st party data, companies are not so much affected by regulatory changes concerning access to data. They have every interest in using this type of information to improve their performance. And it's clear that this is already the case, since by 2022, 68% of companies have already implemented a data marketing strategy to collect first-party data.
The development of artificial intelligence in B2B data marketing in 2022
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly important part of the way companies work. Not least in data marketing. In fact, 68% of marketing teams have already defined an AI strategy for 2022.
Artificial intelligence is then used in various fields such as :
- automated customer interactions
- a personalized customer experience
- improved definition of customer identity
- relevant offers in real time
Artificial intelligence, based entirely on data, is therefore an excellent lever for optimizing customer relations.
Beyond data marketing, artificial intelligence is also used to improve the overall use of data. Japan, for example, has been testing the use of robots to maintain its data centers.
Improving data usage in 2022
Having fully understood the importance of data in decision-making, companies have improved their use of B2B data marketing in 2022. Here are a few figures to illustrate the point:
- 48.9% of marketing teams use analytics for important decisions. This may seem logical today, but it hasn't always been the case. In fact, by 2020, only 37.7% of them were capitalizing on data (source: The CMO Survey Sept 2022).
- 72% of companies already know how to measure and adjust their campaigns in real time (source: Salesforce Marketing Focus).
- 62% use API-type data quality tools (source: IDAIA group survey)
B2B data marketing still faces challenges in 2023
Although 2022 has seen an increase in the use of data marketing within organizations, there are still challenges ahead. Here are just a few examples:
- Lack of trust: 44% of marketers say they have moderate trust in data, analysis and information systems. In many cases, it is this lack of trust that limits the value of data.
- Insufficient tools: 73% of marketing experts believe that a lack of adequate tools and technologies prevents them from fully exploiting marketing data.
- Lack of process: 60% of marketing teams regret the absence of a clear, organization-wide data policy. This makes the use of data in decision-making more complex.
