Welcome to our 3-part series on how to tap into the power of data in business. This series will look at how data can be used to drive efficiency, growth, and better decision-making to maximise profits.
To ensure we cover the breadth of available data, we have included sections on web and marketing performance, business intelligence, reporting, and the use of data augmentation and open data models. Don’t worry, even if you’re not a data expert, there’s something here for you.
Marketing data is where insight begins
Marketing is increasingly data-driven, and understanding your customer is key to unlocking those insights.
Marketers also utilise data from website analytics platforms to support decision-making across marketing, so ensuring a comprehensive data model is in place helps.
Some common examples of marketing data include:
- Website analytics (traffic, bounce rate, conversions)
- Social media engagement (likes, shares, comments)
- Email marketing metrics (open rates, click-through rates)
- Advertising performance (impressions, clicks, cost per acquisition)
The importance of quality data
Poor data isn't just a broad financial drain; for marketing, it's a direct threat to campaign return on investment (ROI) and customer trust.
Research from Gartner estimates that poor data quality costs organisations an average of £10.6 million annually. This is a particularly painful issue in marketing, where every pound spent on advertising and content relies on accurate information. Inaccurate or incomplete data can lead to a domino effect of wasted resources.
For instance, if a UK-based e-commerce site has a high number of duplicate customer records, it may send the same marketing email twice, not only wasting ad budget but also frustrating customers and potentially causing them to unsubscribe. This is part of a larger problem: 75% of businesses in the UK are losing potential revenue due to poor quality contact data, according to an Experian Data Quality report.
The issue extends to web analytics, which is often considered the foundation of digital marketing. If web analytics data is "dirty"- for example, if a website's Google Analytics setup is incorrectly configured - it can lead to misguided decisions and wasted ad spend. A 2024 survey found that 88% of companies report that inaccurate data directly impacts their bottom line. This highlights how a small technical error, like a misconfigured tracking tag, can lead to a marketing director approving a large ad spend increase based on fabricated conversion numbers, only to see no change in actual sales.
The cumulative effect of these inaccuracies can be significant, costing UK businesses in the millions each year through incorrect decisions, lost opportunities, and wasted resources.
Optimising for conversions and budgets
Data-driven conversions wins
In the UK, the battle for conversions is fierce. The average e-commerce conversion rate in the UK hovers between 1-4%, but leading brands are pushing far beyond that by using data to their advantage. Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is not just about making a website look pretty; it's a science of continuous improvement. A/B testing, for instance, is a critical tool for this process. By testing different versions of a landing page, email subject line, or ad copy, businesses can use data to understand what truly resonates with their audience. Research shows that companies with a robust experimentation culture are far more likely to see revenue growth and a strong ROI on their marketing spend.
Spending smarter, not more
Marketing budgets in the UK are under constant scrutiny, with businesses demanding clear evidence of ROI. In 2024, UK advertising spend increased to over £42 billion, with online formats accounting for the majority of this investment. However, simply spending more isn't the goal - spending smarter is. Data is the key to identifying which channels are driving the most value. A marketing manager can use analytics to pinpoint which keywords in a paid search campaign have a high Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) and reallocate that budget to more efficient channels, such as a high-performing email list.
Imagine a bakery making 10 loaves of bread and 10 custard tarts. Each day they sell 5 loaves and sell out of tarts. Would it not be more cost-effective and better for profits to shift to baking fewer bread loaves and more custard tarts?
This kind of data-driven budget efficiency is crucial for sustainable growth. The most successful UK companies aren't just measuring traffic; they're measuring the profitability of each lead, ensuring every pound spent on marketing contributes to the bottom line.
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Breaking down silos for a 360° view
The true power of your marketing data doesn’t shine through until you break it out of its silo.
While your marketing dashboards show traffic and conversions, they don’t tell you why a lead became a customer or why a loyal customer churned. This is where holistic analysis comes in.
A 2023 report from Forrester found that a staggering 83% of UK businesses acknowledge that data silos are significant barriers to achieving sustainable growth. Without a unified view of the customer, marketing and sales teams often work at cross-purposes. Marketing might focus on generating high volumes of leads, but without sales data to confirm their quality, they may be wasting budget on leads that never convert.
By integrating marketing analytics with other business data - such as sales figures, customer service interactions, and product usage data - you can unlock a 360-degree view of the customer journey, for example, seeing not just who clicked your ad, but also who later bought from you in-store.
This approach allows UK businesses to calculate essential metrics like Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Understanding CLV allows you to identify your most valuable customers and the marketing channels that attract them. This enables you to spend your budget more effectively, shifting resources to initiatives that generate long-term, profitable relationships rather than just quick, low-value conversions. A study by Business Data Prospects highlighted that organisations with aligned sales and marketing operations experience 24% quicker revenue growth than those without alignment, demonstrating the tangible financial benefits of a unified data strategy.
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Marketing data is the foundation of modern growth, but only if it’s clean, connected, and acted on wisely. Businesses that optimise for conversions and break down silos are the ones that turn marketing into measurable profit.
Our team helps UK businesses turn messy analytics into powerful revenue engines. Stay tuned for part two of our data content series, and get in touch if you want to talk data with us in more detail.
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