How Can Marketers Benefit From Real-Time Data Analytics?

Think about all the factors that affect your sales in ecommerce. From your website optimization and copywriting, to your marketing strategies and brand voice, each touchpoint with your online customers is actually a decision process in itself. But no need to worry. There’s actually a simple solution to be able to always make the right decisions: Real-time data analytics.

In Layman’s terms, this is when you get information on your customers at the exact moment they are performing actions on your ecommerce website. That’s right – you get tangible data insights straightaway, with no delay period. Considering the agile nature of ecommerce and how fast the average ecommerce customer moves, having access to instant insights is a definite must!

It’s safe to say when it comes to ecommerce today, real-time data analysis is the difference between a struggling website and a successful ecommerce business.

Rising Importance of Analytics in Ecommerce

When a company persists with a slow data analytics system, they do so at the cost of the bigger picture. To create a real-time analysis, slow systems discard huge amounts of data, resulting in an inaccurate report. All hope for innovation will be lost with such an inefficient method. Any business that doesn’t use real-time data will surely get left behind due to their inability to keep up with everything that’s happening on their website. With real-time data, the immediate access to customer insights enables your business to optimize your marketing strategies, tailoring them to your customers’ immediate needs and interests.

Kissmetrics research indicates that new visitors spend an average of just 2 minutes 31 seconds on ecommerce sites. By comparison, returning visitors’ average session duration clocks in at over 5 minutes. That’s more than a 100% increase in time.

This highlights the need to use data analysis, encouraging businesses to focus on retaining customers and enticing them to make return visits by catering to their behaviors and interests during their first visit. Once you know your customer, there is a lot to be gained.

The Marketing Benefits of Real-Time Data Analytics

This is no flash in the pan. Projections for the growth of real-time analytics show some huge numbers, with the revenue of analytics software companies expected to come close to $187 billion by 2019. All major businesses are willing to invest now, and it’s easy to see why.

1. Enhance website performance

Real-time data analysis will let you know if your site is lagging. Speed matters, so keeping your site finely-tuned is important. In fact, 79% of customers said that a poorly performing website could turn them off buying or returning to that site ever again. Real-time data analytics give you the chance to optimize your online store while the customers are still on the website. Because let’s face it, more often than not when they’re gone they’re gone. So you need to cater to their needs while they’re still present.

2. Eliminate underperforming aspects

Your business will be able to identify issues easily, meaning you can get ahead of them before they turn into bigger problems. But more importantly, you will be able to act on underperforming campaigns or categories right away. This gives you the upper-hand, as you will be able to distribute your resources accordingly. Let’s say you’ve been spending a lot on an underperforming channel. With real-time data analytics, you will be able to detect the problem immediately and optimize your budget by sparing more of your budget to better functioning channels.

3. Keep track of current trends

By staying on top of the current news and trending topic in your industry, you can provide relatable content and offer the most relevant products. Analyzing how your customers interact with different trends will give you the advantage of being able to provide perfectly timed content.

5. Optimize conversions

With the advantages above, this benefit comes as little surprise. A fast site, streamlined for high-performing campaigns with specialized products personalized for the interests and needs of your customer will definitely perform well. This enables a strong marketing team to use data analysis to drive higher conversions. Clever strategic use of real-time data analysis will have a massive impact on your bottom line.

How to Use Real-Time Data in Marketing

Real-time data analytics continue to grow. Through all the noise, it will be the companies that are smart enough to listen to their customers that will succeed. With proper data analysis, your business can move toward personalized ecommerce, leading directly to higher conversions and increased sales. Furthermore, you can learn what doesn’t work, adjust to fast-paced market conditions and get the edge on your competition.