Smart moves for data-driven marketing.

A marketer’s guide to coordinating data and gaining

a 360-degree view of every customer.
Table of contents.

Introduction to data-driven marketing. 3

Step 1: Integrate data sources to create one customer profile across all channels. 6
Step 2: Create targeted experiences based on a holistic view of each customer. 7
Step 3: Have one-to-one conversations throughout the customer journey. 9
Case study: ASOS uses data to build a stronger, smarter customer view. 10
Conclusion. 12

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 2

Introduction to data-driven marketing:
It’s not just about data. It’s about action.

Gaining a 360-degree view of customers is one of the most To attract, impress and retain digitally savvy customers,
important marketing goals in our digital world. And the ability marketers need to be able to act on key customer data
to see each customer as an individual is crucial to every and insights across all channels and devices—and reach
business’s success. But it’s not a simple task. customers wherever they are with relevant, custom
experiences. It all starts with a look at the data customers
In a world where customers are using more channels than
provide in every action, and what they tell us about their
ever, and often switching between devices within a single
preferences in every interaction.
transaction, more customer data is being generated than ever
before. This makes finding the right data quite an effort. But
it’s worth the work, because data is truly the key to unlocking
customer knowledge—and finding the most effective way
to communicate with your customers.
80%

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 3

Three steps for smarter data-driven marketing. Having many disparate data sources makes it difficult to gain These steps give marketers the ability to follow customers
a single view of every customer. Integrated data is the key through their entire journey by ensuring that data plays a key
to unlocking the depth of insight needed to truly reach and role in every effort to engage them. One of the most effective
STEP 1
connect with customers across all devices and channels. So ways to reach that goal is to use an integrated technology
Integrate data sources to what marketers really need is a clear process to follow—one platform—for instance, a digital marketing hub—which
create one customer that uses data and analytics to drive the customer experience. allows all customer data to live together in one place.
profile across all channels. The following steps show what you need to do in order to
When you follow these steps, your data truly comes to
engage customers with individualized content:
life—and allows you to give customers content that matches
1 Integrate data sources to create one customer profile their personalities, habits and behaviors. In other words, these
STEP 2
across all channels steps give marketers a clear pathway to gain the understanding
Create targeted experiences they need to create relevant brand stories for customers.
2 Create targeted experiences based on a holistic view
based on a holistic view
of each customer
of each customer.
3 Engage in one conversation with each customer as they
explore your brand through different channels, devices and

STEP 3 experiences

Have one-to-one
conversations throughout
the customer journey.

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 4

Turning data into a compelling story. 1 Integrating data from all online and offline channels is the only
way to get a complete picture of the ways customers interact
All stories are about journeys. And all journeys can be turned
with your company—and why they are or are not deepening that
into a story. Data-driven marketers need to tell a complete
relationship. When customers engage with your brand, they leave
story—with a complete arc—in order to reach every individual
behind massive amounts of data that teach you about who they
customer with a relevant, memorable brand experience. But
are and what they want from your company. And all this data
marketers also need a clear story themselves: one that tells them
allows you to create stories that lead to deeper brand loyalty by
where to start and how to proceed, leading to a satisfying
helping you:
conclusion.
• Gain real-time insights into behavior

• Find hidden patterns and consistent behaviors

• Optimize ad spend

45%
of data that is on the planet
• Create relevant experiences by leveraging insights

today has been collected in

the last two years.2

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 5

STEP 1

Integrate data sources to create one

customer profile across all channels.

Data-driven marketing deepens customer relationships by As you collect key insights about customer expectations and Using data to tell a story: ACT 1
allowing marketers to more adeptly communicate with their needs, you can begin to build a more complete picture of each
“Act 1” is all about character development. Internally, it’s about
audiences and tailor experiences to match individual customer customer. And as insights are added to each customer’s profile,
building a strong cast of characters by putting the right people
needs. Because even though customers may not always you can more effectively guide that person through their
in the right roles. Integrating your teams and your data helps
understand how they receive personalized digital content, they customer journey. This unique customer profile can be used
you gain the insights and observations that are essential to the
definitely expect it. across all channels, deepening customer loyalty and delivering
well-crafted brand story you give your customers.
on expectations.
But marketers need to do more than collect data. Truly
It’s also about character development in your customers. As
personalized content is only possible when marketers act on
you integrate your data sources and gain analytical insights
their data.
from your internal teams, you’ll find that a more holistic view
Amid the overwhelming amounts of data available today, it is of your customers is emerging. This allows you go to the next
possible to find the customer clues that matter. The “right” clue step: creating targeted experiences.
is one that is not only insightful, but also actionable—meaning
you can use it to gain a 360-degree view of your customer.

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 6

STEP 2

Create targeted experiences based

on a holistic view of each customer.

When your business focuses on the individual customer, rather

than a demographic group, data gets up close and personal.
• What can touchpoints across the customer • Where is my customer located? What
Focusing on the individual customer can help optimize your
journey tell me about individual preferences? geographic data is available?
data when you ask questions like these:
-- Did my customer find our business through • How often does my customer use social media?
an affiliate link on social media on their
• What time of day is my customer most active
mobile device?
or likely to shop?
-- Did they look up our brand on Google
• Has my customer downloaded my app? Do
via their tablet?
they use it?
-- Did they walk into our downtown store?
• What interests and hobbies does my customer
• How do my customers behave differently have that relate to our brand?
on their mobile device versus desktop?

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 7

As you design targeted experiences, consider new ways you Using data to tell a story: ACT 2
can bring your data to life by putting it to the test. This doesn’t
“Act 2” is all about asking in-depth analytical questions. What
just include general testing methods for finished products— Target the individual, not the demographic.
trends or patterns are appearing in the data that allow you to
such as A/B testing different subject lines or landing pages.
optimize ad spend and find continued success? All marketers know that audience segmentation is key
It also includes trying different versions of landing pages for
to reaching the right people with the right message.
different audience groups, creating specific designs for each It’s also about leveraging these trends and patterns and taking
But for a modern data-driven marketing strategy, it’s
demographic or providing offers based on customer personas. a deeper dive into audience segments for more effective
important to prioritize the individual—and gain that
In general, it’s not just about testing content—it’s about testing targeting. Use defined audience traits to create a customer story,
holistic perspective—to deepen your understanding
the whole customer experience, in as many ways as possible. filled with customized experiences, that optimizes ad spend
of customer needs, wants and expectations.
and repeats successful marketing tactics.
When applying data to your content and programs, use
different methods to measure just how effective your efforts
really are. Try tactics such as:

• A/B testing to discover key performance metrics across

content strategies

• Multivariate testing to explore how changing and

combining page elements could impact conversion

• Automated personalization to track visitor behavior

• Rules-based targeting or algorithms to create

location-specific offers or set other testable criteria

• Segmentation to organize and leverage visitor data

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 8

STEP 3

Have one-to-one conversations

throughout the customer journey.

Engage in a consistent conversation with digital world, all roads lead to the customer journey. A unique,
each customer as they explore your brand individual perspective of each customer only helps make that
through different channels, devices and journey, and that story, better. Follow the clues customers leave
experiences. everywhere.
Using data to tell a story: ACT 3
One of the ways a holistic customer view can help your brand Visited store in person.
“Act 3” is all about engaging your customers in an ongoing,
deepen loyalty is through consistency. Depth of customer
optimized conversation across all channels and devices. After Purchased a sale item after hearing about
knowledge on the individual level allows your brand to have
integrating your data and creating more targeted experiences, promotion from store clerk.
one-to-one conversations with every customer. These
it’s time to optimize. Gather every bit of data customers leave
conversations help customers feel that you know and Gave email at checkout.
behind as they interact with your brand, and use that data to
understand them, increasing their trust and loyalty.
define their experience by telling a personalized story. Began following company on Twitter.
So how can you make sure you’re giving them a consistent 3
Filled shopping cart with three items.
experience? Think of every touchpoint as an extension of the
conversation, and as an opportunity to improve your profile
of that customer—to tell them the right story. After all, in the

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 9

C A S E S TU DY

ASOS uses data to build a stronger,

smarter customer view.
3

ASOS, an online fashion and beauty retailer, followed steps With the right tools, they were able to “slice and dice” their
like those discussed to increase the effectiveness of their existing data to more effectively target smaller audience groups.
data-driven marketing—and to build a holistic customer view. Basically, ASOS took their larger audiences and sliced them into Who is ASOS?
By taking a closer look at the strategies they used to get started, specific subsets based on customer traits, behaviors, shopping
• Online fashion and beauty retailer
you can see a data-driven success story come to life. habits and purchase history. To see how they did it,
keep reading. • 100 million visits per month
In order to reach their business goal—to become the #1 fash-
ion destination for 20-somethings—ASOS decided • 350,000 authenticated user visits per day
to develop a data-driven marketing strategy that would create
• 9 million active customers
a more specific, individualized view of every customer. To do
this, they first focused on in-depth segmentation, which they
Data-driven marketing goal
say led to better insights and better marketing.
To become #1 online fashion destination
for 20-somethings

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 10

How ASOS used in-depth segmentation and specific customer personas to develop
a holistic customer view:
4

1 Example 1: Churned Customers 2 Example 2: High Value Customers 3 Example 3: Linking cookies from
unknown to known
“Churned customers” is the term ASOS uses to describe “High Value Customers” are the customers ASOS sees
customers who have shopped previously, but haven’t as most valuable to their company—based on ASOS wanted to find a way to learn more about
made a purchase for 12 months. As a reactivation shopping frequency and average amount spent. ASOS users before they identified themselves. Using a digital
strategy, ASOS took their large, segmented audience decided to further segment this group to see if there marketing hub, the ASOS team began to integrate
labeled “Churned Customers” and decided to further were traits or shopping behaviors they could more a very specific kind of data: cookies. They took a second
segment the group using more specific traits. They effectively target. As they examined the data in this look at the cookies from unknown users—and began
discovered two subsets: audience, ASOS uncovered two sub-groups: matching them to the cookies of their known users. By
doing this, ASOS was able to see all the past interactions
1 Churned Customers who still browse online 1 High Value Customers who browse frequently and
of single customers as they interacted with the brand.
don’t make a purchase on every visit, and
2 Churned Customers who no longer visit the Now, rather than starting customer profiles with the first
website 2 High Value Customers who only visit on the day purchase, they can track customer behavior from the
of purchase earliest stages of interest.

By breaking larger audience segments into smaller

personas, based on more specific customer traits and
shopping behaviors, ASOS gained a more informed view
of individual customers. This approach allowed ASOS to
tailor experiences to smaller audiences with more insight.

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 11

C ONC LU S ION

Start telling a story with your data today.

When you think of your data as a story, you unlock new

opportunities. And the most important opportunity is to build
Where to start:5
a unique and totally customized view of each individual
customer who interacts with your brand. With these profiles It’s time to take action. As you begin your process toward unlocking a holistic view of every customer, it’s important
at hand, you can more effectively target every customer with to build a strong foundation for future success. First, you need to identify the gaps in your knowledge of the customer.
relevant brand experiences. To do this, bring together all data sources, identify which channels or data-points are missing and think about what
data still isn’t integrated.
With a data-driven, holistic view of every customer, your
company will be equipped with the insights and customer As you identify these gaps, think about your organization, internal processes and the tools you need to make this
knowledge you need to find success in an evolving digital happen. Once you’ve identified gaps, begin to fill them in by acting on and optimizing the available customer data.
landscape. Start targeting experiences with specific audiences and personas in mind.

As your data set grows, and as your customer profiles become more advanced, you’ll be able to make every
experience more targeted and more meaningful. With every iteration, and through testing and optimization, your
knowledge of each and every customer will continue to grow—and lead you to greater success in creating relevant
experiences. Ultimately, you can develop a master audience profile that integrates data across all your sources and
creates a consistent, actionable customer view. All you need is the right data.

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 12

A digital marketing hub can help you reach your goals, by providing:
6

1 Master audience 2 Workflows and 3 Intelligent 4 Unified measurement

profiles: collaboration: orchestration: and optimization:
combining first- and creating uniform driving multichannel making optimization
third-party data for processes that break marketing programs easier than ever
a consistent view down silos internally with ease
of customers

Smart moves for data-driven marketing. 13

To learn more about how you can act on the right data to transform 1. Developed from Adobe Summit 3. Developed from Adobe Summit 5. Developed from Adobe Summit
your marketing, visit 2015 session S310: The Analyst’s 2015 session S311: Get in tune with 2015 session S110: Mastering the
http://www.adobe.com/marketing-cloud/data-driven-marketing.html . Manifesto: Moving from web analytics and customer attributes: Art and Science of Email Marketing
analytics to customer analytics the who behind the behavior. at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Adobe Marketing Cloud empowers companies to use big data to
effectively reach and engage customers and prospects with highly 2. Developed from Adobe Summit 4. Developed from Adobe Summit 6. Developed from Gartner
personalized marketing content across devices and digital touchpoints. 2015 Session S407: Gartner: The 2015 session S311: Get in tune with (http://www.gartner.com/
Eight tightly integrated Solutions offer marketers a complete set of rise of the digital marketing hub analytics and customer attributes: technology/reprints.do?id=1-
marketing technologies that focus on analytics, web and app experience the who behind the behavior. 26DB1T9&ct=141222&st=sb)
management, testing and targeting, advertising, audience management,
video, social engagement and campaign orchestration. The tie-in with
Adobe Creative Cloud makes it easy to quickly activate creative assets
across all marketing channels. Thousands of brands worldwide including
two thirds of Fortune 50 companies rely on Adobe Marketing Cloud with
over 30.4 trillion transactions a year.

Copyright © 2015 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.