The sheer volume of global data available is staggering and constantly growing. Incredibly, 90% of all data is digital and was created in the past two years1 and this trend shows little sign of abating. According to analysts IDC, the digital data universe will continue to double in size every two years; but what does this mean for automotive brands?
The speed and growth of data generation has pushed the issue of data management to the top of the business agenda and for those in the automotive industry, more so than in any other sector, a seamless omni-channel approach is absolutely critical to ensure brands can continue to deliver exceptional experience to their customers, particularly as consumers increasingly research their next car online first, before even setting foot in a showroom.
Toyota’s data-driven action plan
Between June 2014 and April 2015, Toyota – together with Amaze – rolled out its new website to 43 European markets. With the launch of the new website and new shopping tools, the strategic focus for the local markets turned to optimisation – making the local website work harder to achieve KPI targets and specific business objectives.
Through 2015, Toyota continued its focus on supporting local markets to optimise the performance of its websites by turning insights into action. The collaborative programme has data at its core and has helped to maximise website conversion, ultimately boosting the brand’s bottom line.
The programme constantly and consistently monitors factors such as SEO optimisation, landing page effectiveness and conversion points (calls to action). Even small changes to content, calls to action (CTAs) or labelling can have a significant impact upon overall website performance, and ultimately, conversion.
For any recommended actions, appropriate to specific local markets, these are presented within an action plan. The action plan details each recommended action, the KPI metric that will be impacted and a target deadline for the market to implement the change. The performance of each change implemented on the website, and its resulting impact upon KPI performance, is then continually monitored on an on-going, monthly basis.
By closely monitoring the brand’s online shopping tools and via a continued programme of enhancement, data intelligence teams can make meaningful recommendations and actionable changes. For Toyota, this has significantly increased conversion rates with customers and improved the overall customer experience of both the site and the brand.
How to use data to gain a competitive advantage
While organisations recognise that data is key – 99% of organisations think some form of data is essential for marketing success – only 20% of businesses have a company-wide data strategy in place.2 Even among those who do have a strategy, 83% admit revenue is affected by inaccurate or incomplete data and only 50% have a measurement framework in place.3
If approached correctly, however, there is no doubt brands can reap huge rewards. But often, businesses don’t know where to begin or how best to implement a strategy of this kind.
We recommend the following steps for delivering real value through data:
1. Implement a centralised data strategy
Businesses need to have a joined-up approach for capturing and analysing data i.e. departments cannot work in silos. By building a data intelligence roadmap as part of a wider intelligence strategy, organisations can benchmark performance, identify intelligence opportunities and start to deliver appropriate, actionable strategies.
2. Connect with your audience
By taking a sophisticated approach to encourage a value exchange, consumers will be more willing to share information. If they get value in return, organisations can create a consistent, continuous and complementary experience for users, without the need for brands to dictate conversations.
3. Empower your team
Data quality and governance is hugely important; it is the people who transform information into knowledge. Investment in these people is vital.
4. Demonstrate value
For a digital intelligence strategy to really add value, it ultimately needs to have a positive impact on an organisation’s bottom line. Many organisations focus on maximising the opportunities to capture smart data, and do not put enough effort into maximising the value that comes out of it.
5. Optimise, optimise, optimise
Many marketers are still planning and budgeting their digital investments using a practice of ‘launch and forget’. In today’s digital world, companies should operate on the principle of permanent beta model and adopt a customer-centric model that reacts to feedback and real-time data to support performance optimisation strategies.
Data, and the knowledge it can enable, has the potential to revolutionise business performance. However, it does require an ongoing commitment and investment that infiltrates all areas of an organisation, and is constantly reviewed. It’s a big challenge to take on, all while empowering employees to become better analysts, yet the benefits that can be reaped are well worth the outlay, if you get the steps right.
1 SINTEF ICT research 2013
2 Econsultancy Online Measurement and Strategy Report 2013\
3 Experian Global Data Quality Research 2015
