How mega brands use marketing analytics to drive CX

Marketing analytics is a hot topic at the moment, with 38% of CMOs currently using it to inform key marketing decisions, while 100% of US marketers claim customer analytics will play a critical role in the years ahead.

It’s an area that has the potential to transform sales and customer engagement, especially given Google’s plans to sunset third-party cookies in 2024.

Implementing data analytics can help companies measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts more accurately, determine what they can do differently to improve the customer journey, and even strengthen internal buy-in around marketing activity by providing quantitative data.

In our last two posts, we explored why you need marketing analytics and the benefits of marketing analytics automation. Today, we look at three marketing analytics examples in action.

1. Spotify – Wrapping up listener data to drive customer engagement

Now in its eighth year, Spotify Wrapped has become a much-anticipated milestone in the customer calendar. The initiative involves aggregating and analyzing listener data to present it back to customers as a visualized ‘wrap up’ of their year in music. Listeners can review their most listened-to songs, the artists they’ve discovered, and their top genres. These insights are then available to download and are pre-formatted to be shared on different social media platforms, leveraging the user’s own network to create a sense of FOMO.

In 2020, Spotify Wrapped increased mobile app downloads by 21% in the first week of December, and the campaign continues to offer a best-in-class example of how to leverage automated data analytics to generate content, encourage product usage and facilitate multi-channel campaigns. Spotify shows us that marketing analytics is not only key to understanding in-house marketing effectiveness, but also to delivering unrivaled value to customers, by providing them with new insight into their own behaviors.

READ MORE: Using Data to Disrupt the Music Industry

2. Netflix – A personalized experience, from platform to inbox

It’s no secret that Netflix utilizes data analytics to personalize the platform experience, leveraging multiple data points to craft a tailored user journey that increases product usage – from user demographics to specific behaviors, such as platform searches, content pauses/rewinds, and content abandonment rates. It’s a method that has proven to be highly effective, with 80% of content streamed on Netflix attributed to its recommendation system.

But Netflix’s use of marketing analytics doesn’t end on the platform – the experience is then reinforced through targeted email marketing activity. Netflix segments audiences into multiple user groups, pushing precise and impactful messaging that the brand knows will resonate with its target customer. This strategy is used to introduce Netflix to new users, encourage higher engagement from existing users, and even entice users who have unsubscribed to return to Netflix, by reminding them of shows they loved and introducing them to new programs.

3. Nike – Rewarding the most dedicated customers

Since 2020, Nike has been investing heavily in its digital assets, namely its mobile apps, which include the Nike shopping app, the Nike SNKRS app for sneaker collectors, and the Nike Training Club app for at-home workouts and fitness tips. Mobile apps offer a prime opportunity for marketing analytics, enabling brands to harvest customer data and then use that information to generate personalized in-app experiences or offers, and tailored notifications that align with customer preferences.

The SNKRS app, in particular, has received a lot of attention due to its customer scoring system, dubbed the ‘dedication score’ by Nike CEO, which helps to determine which customers are successful (and which are not) in securing much-anticipated new releases; the implication being that Nike’s most engaged and loyal customers will be rewarded with the most limited-edition trainers.

Similarly to Spotify Wrapped, Nike is using customer data to reward customers, encouraging peaks in activity ahead of new releases and creating a buzz amongst users. As such, Nike attributed the 18% annual revenue growth in its digital business to consumer demand across its mobile apps.

What could marketing analytics do for your business?

As these three examples of marketing analytics have shown, the power and potential lies in data aggregation and interpretation. Only when data has been effectively harvested, aggregated, and transformed into actionable insights, can it be used to improve customer engagement and boost ROI across owned platforms and marketing channels.