11 Data-Driven Marketing Insights to Start Your Week Off Right

Happy Monday, Big Thinkers. Hope you had an amazing weekend. Before you get too deep into the week, I thought you might appreciate these 11 data-driven marketing insights to start your week off right. Enjoy:

1. Elyse Dupre of Direct Marketing News says the battle for marketers’ mindshare intensifying and explains “how marketers can select providers that play to their strengths.” Really useful insights to start off your week.
2. Over on AdExchanger, Matt Nitzberg argues ‘prove it or lose it’ budgeting is good for marketing. Money quote:
   

   “To win in a prove-it-or-lose-it environment, marketers need to focus on high-level metrics that make sense — and are persuasive — to the executive team, the board and their marketing partners. Marketers can then mandate that individual teams work to connect their own metrics to these key metrics so that everyone is running in the same direction.”

   Great stuff all around there.

3. Ted Rubin writes on THE SOCIAL CMO Blog that social listening is finally getting some play. About time, right? I love this quote:
   

   “Brand loyalty declines due to lack of relevance… a direct result of not listening. Number one is always try to understand who your customer is and pay attention.”

   Very, very smart.

4. Portia Crowe at Business Insider has an excellent story outlining how retail and e-commerce are converging that’s well worth your time.
5. Meanwhile, Kristin Schepici of The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce asks, is mobile conversion the Holy Grail of retail? I strongly suspect so. In fact, as we posted last week, these amazing numbers show why mobile commerce is about to explode. And these 8 amazing e-commerce and mobile masterpieces just serve to underscore the trend.
6. One key driver that will increase mobile conversion is the emergence of mobile payments — in fact, we’ve argued why mobile payments will rule — which makes these 6 awesome insights about mobile payments, e-commerce and even more a must-read for you this week.
7. Speaking of conversion, Marketing Charts has data that shows A/B testing continues to get the nod for conversion rate optimization, as well as it should. If you’re not too familiar with the topic, check out our full coverage of A/B testing here.
8. Continuing with our “data-driven marketing insights” theme, Benjamin Spiegel has a great piece on ClickZ featuring eight predictions about the future of big data in marketing that’s definitely worth a look.
9. Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with data-driven marketing. eMarketer uncovers data about what digital department store services consumers find creepy that you really ought to pay attention to.
10. MarketingProfs’ Will McInnes explains how you can win with social intelligence with these vital tips for CMOs in 2016 and beyond. This quote sums it best:
    

    “…with social media platforms probing the world’s largest focus group every second of every day, the modern CMO would be foolish to think he/she can maintain success without tuning into the social world—the desires expressed there, trends, popular stories, and what the collective social Web says and feels about their brands.”

11. And, finally, don’t miss these 10 killer mobile and e-commerce resources: the top posts of April, 2016 from here on Thinks. Just more great content and insights to put data-driven marketing to work for your brand and business.

If you want learn even more about how your customers’ changing behavior shapes e-commerce and marketing, be sure and register to receive a special report I’ve produced in conjunction with hotel marketing firm Vizergy, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World.” While it’s targeted specifically at hotel and resort marketers, the lessons apply to just about any business. You can get your free copy of the report here.

You can also check out these slides and video from my recent webinar, “Digital Marketing Directions: Three Key Trends Driving Your Marketing Next Year”:

Finally, you might enjoy some of these past posts from Thinks to help you build your e-commerce strategy and your digital success:

• 6 Mobile Commerce and Strategy Insights: E-commerce Link Digest
• Content is Still the King
• The Digital Strategy Myth
• Why Mobile Payments Will Rule
• 2016’s Top Trends: Make Room For Mobile Video
• Driving Seamless Experiences in 2016 (Thinks Out Loud Episode 149)
• Mobile is So Much Bigger Than You Think (Thinks Out Loud Episode 140)
• It’s Not “Mobile First.” It’s “Customer First.”
• 8 Killer Entries About Improving E-commerce Experience: E-commerce Link Digest