As the cold weather starts to roll in for many of us, it’s easy to get curious about what the near future has in store, temperature-wise. The Farmer’s Almanac claims that it can predict the weather with 80% accuracy months in advance, based on a top-secret mathematical formula that takes into account tidal and sunspot activity. In reality, their predictions fall pretty short of perfect most of the time. Modern meteorologists fare a little better, looking at atmospheric conditions in the present and the past to make their predictions. It’s all about the tools that you use.
So what tools can you use in business to help you figure out the temperature of your market? Predictive analytics are the hot new trend helping marketers to identify risks and opportunities by looking at existing data, but how well do they really work? Enough to justify your investment? This infographic was created through a partnership between CustomerThink and Forrester, and is based on surveys and conversations with the CMOs of over 100 B2B companies over the course of 3 months. They talked about their experiences with using (or not using!) this marketing approach, and the sort of impact it made on their businesses. Let’s take a look at what they had to say.
Only 2% of those polled denied having any interest in predictive analytics. 61% had already adopted the technology or were already expanding their investment in it, while 37% were interested in doing so. It’s pretty easy to see why this interest is justified – 83% of users see a significant impact on their business, with twice the annual revenue growth, market share, and likelihood to exceed marketing value contribution goals than non-users! Use of predictive analytics, not surprisingly, predicts a more modern approach to marketing by the companies that use it. They are most likely than non-users to have a standardized marketing platform (79% v. 34%), to implement analytics solutions in under 2 weeks (36% v. 21%), and to track their conversation rates (55% v. 36%).
Predictive analytics can be used to address tough challenges faced by B2B businesses. Those polled named limited visibility into addressable markets as the #1 hurdle they face, and 86% agreed that predictive analytics helped them to see where their companies could fit in these new markets. Predictive analytics helps marketers understand not only markets, but also customers. 97% said that it helped them see how and why their best customers buy, 89% said it helped them identify new leads, and 92% said it helped them adjust their marketing mix to best reach new buyers.
With all of this new information about predictive analytics in front of you, I wager that you’re starting to seriously think about adding this tool to your marketing strategy. That’s my prediction, anyway. Have you already been looking into or using this technology? Let me know in the comments.
