Big data has revolutionised the way marketers understand and engage with their customers. Digital technology has made it easier to gather vast amounts of data from various sources such as social media, e-commerce platforms, and mobile apps.
This data is invaluable for targeting customers with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. By analysing online searches, reading patterns, and communication habits, companies can tailor advertisements and content to meet their audience’s specific needs and preferences. According to a study by McKinsey, companies that leverage big data effectively are 23 times more likely to acquire customers and 19 times more likely to be profitable.
The Challenge of Humanising Data
Despite big data’s power and potential, a significant challenge remains: humanising it. Big data provides a wealth of information about customers’ actions, but it often fails to explain why they do them.
Human behaviour is complex and influenced by many factors, including emotions, social contexts, and cultural backgrounds. Statistical information and algorithms, while useful, can sometimes feel impersonal and detached from the human experience.
Feeling close to a brand is akin to building a relationship. It requires an understanding of the emotions and motivations driving customer behaviour. Without this understanding, brands risk becoming disconnected from their customers, making it challenging to foster loyalty and trust.
The Role of Primary Research
This is where primary research comes into play. Primary research involves collecting new data directly from people through methods such as surveys, interviews, and observations. It goes beyond the quantitative metrics provided by big data, offering rich, qualitative insights into consumer behaviour.
Primary research helps fill in the gaps left by big data, uncovering the reasons behind customer actions and bringing consumers to life in a way that statistics alone cannot. It allows brands to delve deeper into the emotional and contextual factors influencing behaviour, providing a more comprehensive understanding of their audience.
For instance, by conducting longitudinal studies, brands can observe how consumer behaviours evolve over time and identify the underlying motivations. Online communities and passive tracking also effectively capture real-time data, offering a more immediate and accurate picture of consumer behaviour.
Incorporating primary research into your data strategy humanises your data and enables you to make more informed decisions. By understanding the “why” behind the “what,” brands can tailor their strategies to better meet their customers’ needs and expectations, ultimately fostering stronger, more meaningful relationships.
Understanding Big Data and Its Limitations
Definition and Importance of Big Data
Big data refers to the vast volumes of structured and unstructured information generated by digital interactions, transactions, and activities. This data comes from numerous sources, including social media posts, online purchases, mobile app usage, and IoT devices. The defining characteristics of big data are often summarised by the three V’s: Volume, Velocity, and Variety. This data is generated in large quantities, at high speed, and comes in many different forms.
Big data is important because of its potential to provide valuable insights that drive decision-making. Companies can identify patterns, predict trends, and optimise their marketing strategies by analysing these extensive datasets. For instance, Netflix uses big data analytics to recommend personalised content to its users, enhancing their viewing experience and increasing user engagement.
Similarly, Amazon leverages big data to streamline its supply chain, forecast demand, and tailor product recommendations, ultimately driving sales and customer satisfaction.
How Big Data is Collected and Used
Collecting big data involves various techniques and technologies designed to gather, store, and process information. Data can be collected through web scraping, social media monitoring, transaction logs, sensor data from IoT devices, and more. Once collected, this data is stored in data warehouses or cloud storage systems where it can be accessed and analysed.
Advanced analytics techniques, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics, extract meaningful insights from big data. These insights can then be used for a variety of purposes, such as:
- Customer Segmentation: Identifying distinct groups within a customer base to tailor marketing efforts.
- Personalisation: Customising user experiences and recommendations based on individual preferences and behaviours.
- Predictive Maintenance: Anticipating equipment failures and scheduling maintenance to avoid downtime.
- Market Analysis: Understanding market trends, consumer preferences, and competitive dynamics.
For example, Target famously used big data to predict customers’ pregnancy stages based on purchasing patterns, allowing them to send personalised offers and increase sales. Such applications of big data underscore its power in transforming how businesses operate and engage with their customers.
Limitations of Big Data in Understanding Consumer Behavior
Despite its many advantages, big data has notable limitations, particularly in understanding the nuances of consumer behaviour. One of the primary challenges is that big data primarily captures what consumers do, not why they do it. While it can reveal trends and correlations, it often fails to provide the context and motivations behind these behaviours.
- Lack of Emotional Insight: Big data is inherently quantitative, meaning it captures measurable actions but not the emotions driving those actions. Human behaviour is significantly influenced by feelings, social contexts, and cultural norms, which are difficult to quantify and analyse through big data alone.
- Contextual Gaps: Big data might show that a consumer frequently purchases a particular product, but it doesn’t explain the circumstances or reasons behind those purchases. For instance, a spike in online grocery shopping could be due to a pandemic, convenience, or a personal preference for home-cooked meals. Without context, the data remains incomplete.
- Over-Reliance on Historical Data: Big data analytics often depend on historical data to predict future behaviours. However, past behaviour is not always a reliable predictor of future actions, especially in a rapidly changing market. Relying solely on historical data can lead to outdated or irrelevant insights.
- Data Quality Issues: The accuracy of big data analytics is contingent on the quality of the data collected. Incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate data can lead to incorrect conclusions and misguided strategies. Additionally, big data can suffer from noise, where irrelevant or extraneous data points obscure meaningful patterns.
- Privacy Concerns: Collecting and analysing large amounts of personal data raises significant privacy and ethical concerns. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how their data is used and are demanding more transparency and control over their information. Mismanaging these concerns can lead to a loss of trust and damage a brand’s reputation.
So, while big data is a powerful tool for gaining insights into consumer behaviour, it has inherent limitations that must be addressed. To truly understand and connect with customers, it is essential to complement big data with primary research methods that provide more profound, more nuanced insights into the human aspects of consumer behaviour.
The History of Big Data
This timeline provides a snapshot of key developments and milestones in the history of big data, illustrating how data analysis has evolved from early statistical methods to today’s sophisticated big data analytics.
Early Development and Use of Data Analysis
| Time Period | Event | Description |
| 1663 | John Graunt’s Analysis of the Bubonic Plague | John Graunt used statistical methods to analyse mortality data from the bubonic plague in London, marking one of the earliest recorded uses of data analysis. |
| 1880s | Introduction of Mechanical Tabulators | Herman Hollerith developed mechanical tabulators to process data for the U.S. Census, significantly speeding up data processing and analysis. |
| 1960s | Emergence of Electronic Data Processing | The advent of computers revolutionised data processing, enabling faster and more efficient analysis of larger datasets. |
Milestones in the Evolution of Big Data
| Time Period | Event | Description |
| 1980s | Development of Relational Databases | Edgar F. Codd introduced the concept of relational databases, allowing for more structured and efficient data storage and retrieval. |
| 1990s | Birth of the World Wide Web | The creation of the internet vastly increased the amount of data generated and available for analysis. |
| 2000 | Introduction of the Term “Big Data” | The term “big data” began to be widely used to describe datasets that were too large and complex to be processed using traditional data processing techniques. |
| 2001 | Doug Laney’s 3Vs Model | Analyst Doug Laney introduced the 3Vs (Volume, Velocity, Variety) to define the characteristics of big data. |
| 2004 | Launch of Hadoop | The development of Hadoop by Doug Cutting and Mike Cafarella provided an open-source framework for processing large datasets across distributed computing environments. |
| 2006 | Introduction of Amazon Web Services (AWS) | AWS provided scalable cloud computing resources, making it easier for companies to store and analyse vast amounts of data. |
| 2010 | Emergence of NoSQL Databases | NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Cassandra allowed for the storage and retrieval of unstructured data, further expanding the capabilities of big data analytics. |
The Rise of Big Data in the Digital Age
| Time Period | Event | Description |
| 2012 | Big Data Goes Mainstream | Companies across various industries began to widely adopt big data analytics to gain competitive advantages. |
| 2014 | Introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) | IoT devices started generating massive amounts of data, providing new opportunities and challenges for big data analytics. |
| 2015 | Development of Machine Learning and AI | The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies and big data analytics as companies sought to navigate the crisis and adapt to new consumer behaviours. |
| 2018 | General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Implementation | GDPR was implemented in the EU, highlighting the importance of data privacy and protection in the era of big data. |
| 2020 | Acceleration Due to COVID-19 | The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies and big data analytics as companies sought to navigate the crisis and adapt to new consumer behaviors. |
| 2023 | Advances in Edge Computing | Edge computing technologies began to complement big data analytics by processing data closer to its source, reducing latency and bandwidth usage. |
The Importance of Humanising Data
Why Humanising Data Matters
While big data provides extensive quantitative insights into consumer behaviour, it often lacks the qualitative depth to understand the underlying motivations, emotions, and contexts driving these behaviours. Humanising data bridges this gap, offering a more holistic view of customers beyond numbers and statistics.
Humanised data transforms abstract figures into relatable narratives. It helps brands see their customers not just as data points but as real people with diverse needs, preferences, and experiences. This deeper understanding fosters empathy, enabling businesses to create more personalised and meaningful interactions. As a result, brands can develop products, services, and marketing strategies that genuinely resonate with their audience, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The Impact on Customer Relationships and Brand Loyalty
Humanising data has a profound impact on customer relationships and brand loyalty. When brands take the time to understand their customers on a human level, they can tailor their communications and offerings to better meet individual needs. This personalised approach builds trust and fosters a sense of connection, making customers feel valued and understood.
According to a study by PwC, 73% of consumers consider customer experience an important factor in their purchasing decisions, and 43% would pay more for greater convenience. By humanising data, brands can enhance the customer experience, leading to higher satisfaction and loyalty. Customers are more likely to stay loyal to brands that genuinely understand their preferences and pain points.
Humanised data can reveal unique insights into customer journeys, helping brands identify opportunities for improvement and innovation. It allows companies to anticipate customer needs and address issues proactively, further strengthening the relationship between the brand and its customers.
One notable example is Unilever’s Dove “Real Beauty” campaign. Through primary research, Unilever discovered that only 2% of women worldwide considered themselves beautiful. This insight, which could not have been uncovered through big data alone, led to the creation of a groundbreaking campaign that resonated deeply with consumers.
Integrating Primary Research with Big Data
What is Primary Research?
Primary research involves collecting original data directly from sources rather than relying on existing data. This hands-on approach allows researchers to gather specific information tailored to their needs, providing fresh insights that secondary data might not offer. Primary research can take various forms, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observational studies. It is essential for understanding the nuances of consumer behaviour, motivations, and attitudes, which are often missed by big data alone.
Types of Primary Research (Qualitative and Quantitative)
Primary research can be broadly categorised into two types: qualitative and quantitative.
Qualitative Research: Qualitative research focuses on exploring phenomena in depth, seeking to understand the underlying reasons and motivations behind behaviours. This type of research often involves smaller, more focused samples and is typically conducted through methods such as:
- Interviews: One-on-one conversations that provide detailed insights into individual perspectives and experiences.
- Focus Groups: Group discussions that explore collective attitudes and perceptions on a particular topic.
- Ethnographic Studies: Observations of people in their natural environments to understand their behaviours and interactions.
- Diary Studies: Participants record their activities, thoughts, and feelings over a period of time, providing rich, contextual data.
Quantitative Research: Quantitative research aims to quantify behaviours, opinions, and other variables, producing statistical data that can be analysed to identify patterns and trends. This type of research typically involves larger sample sizes and uses methods such as:
- Surveys: Structured questionnaires that collect data from a large number of respondents.
- Experiments: Controlled studies that manipulate variables to determine cause-and-effect relationships.
- Observational Studies: Systematic observations of subjects in specific settings to gather numerical data.
- Longitudinal Studies: Research conducted over an extended period to observe changes and developments in the subject of study.
6 Benefits of Combining Primary Research with Big Data
Integrating primary research with big data offers several advantages, providing a more comprehensive understanding of consumer behaviour and enabling better decision-making.
1. Filling in the Gaps: Big data excels at revealing what consumers are doing, but it often falls short of explaining why they do it. Primary research bridges this gap by uncovering the motivations, emotions, and contexts behind consumer actions. By combining both types of data, brands can gain a complete picture of their audience, allowing for more informed and effective strategies.
2. Enhancing Personalisation: Personalisation is a key driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty. By integrating insights from primary research with big data, companies can create highly personalised experiences that resonate with individual consumers. For example, while big data might show a spike in purchases during certain times, primary research can reveal the emotional triggers behind these purchases, enabling brands to tailor their marketing messages more effectively.
3. Improving Segmentation: Effective market segmentation is crucial for targeting the right audience with the right message. Big data provides valuable demographic and behavioural information, but primary research adds depth by exploring psychographic factors such as attitudes, values, and lifestyles. This enriched segmentation allows for more precise targeting and better alignment of products and services with consumer needs.
4. Validating Hypotheses: Big data often leads to developing hypotheses about consumer behaviour. Primary research can validate or challenge these hypotheses, ensuring that decisions are based on accurate and comprehensive information. For instance, if big data indicates a decline in product usage, primary research can help identify whether this is due to changing consumer preferences, increased competition, or other factors.
5. Driving Innovation: Combining primary research with big data fosters innovation by revealing unmet needs and opportunities for new products or services. Qualitative insights can inspire creative solutions, while quantitative data can validate the potential market demand. This integrated approach helps companies stay ahead of trends and continuously evolve to meet consumer expectations.
6. Building Stronger Customer Relationships: Understanding customers on a deeper level strengthens the relationship between brands and consumers. By humanising data through primary research, companies can engage with their audience more authentically, addressing their needs and concerns meaningfully. This builds trust, enhances brand loyalty, and encourages long-term customer retention.
Integrating primary research with big data transforms raw information into actionable insights. It enables brands to understand what consumers do and why they do it, leading to more effective marketing strategies, personalised experiences, and stronger customer relationships.
Longitudinal Methodologies for Deep Insights
Definition and Importance of Longitudinal Studies
Longitudinal studies are research methods that involve repeated observations of the same variables over extended periods. Unlike cross-sectional studies, which provide a snapshot at a single point in time, longitudinal studies track changes and developments, offering a dynamic view of behaviours and trends. This approach is crucial for understanding how and why behaviours evolve, providing deep insights into patterns and causality that might be missed in shorter-term studies.
Longitudinal studies are important because they can capture the temporal dimension of behaviour. They help researchers identify not just correlations but potential causative factors, revealing how external events, personal experiences, and changes in circumstances influence consumer actions over time. This rich, contextual information is invaluable for developing strategies that respond to customers’ real and evolving needs.
Passive Tracking: How It Works and Its Benefits
Passive tracking involves the unobtrusive collection of consumer data as they go about their daily activities. By installing tracking software on devices such as smartphones, researchers can gather continuous data on behaviours like app usage, online browsing, and location movements without active participation from the subjects.
How It Works:
- Data Collection: Participants consent to have tracking software installed on their devices. This software collects data in the background, recording activities such as website visits, app usage duration, and geolocation.
- Data Analysis: The collected data is then analysed to identify patterns and trends. Advanced analytics tools can segment the data by time, location, or user demographics, providing detailed insights into consumer behaviour.
- Follow-Up Interviews: To add qualitative depth, researchers can conduct follow-up interviews with participants to explore the motivations behind their tracked behaviours. This combination of quantitative and qualitative data enriches the insights gained from passive tracking.
Benefits:
- Real-Time Data: Passive tracking provides real-time data, capturing behaviours as they occur rather than relying on recall, which can be biased or inaccurate.
- Contextual Insights: Data collection’s continuous nature helps build a comprehensive picture of consumer behaviour, including the context in which actions occur.
- Low Burden: Since it does not require active participation, passive tracking minimises the burden on participants, leading to higher compliance and more accurate data.
Online Communities: Engaging Consumers in Real-Time
Online communities are digital platforms where participants can engage in discussions, share experiences, and complete tasks related to a research study. These communities are dynamic and interactive, providing real-time insights into consumer behaviours, attitudes, and preferences.
How It Works:
- Community Setup: Researchers create a dedicated online platform where participants can join and interact. This platform is typically designed to be user-friendly and engaging, with various features like discussion boards, polls, and multimedia sharing options.
- Engagement Activities: Participants are given tasks such as posting about their daily routines, sharing photos and videos, or discussing specific topics. These activities are designed to elicit rich, qualitative data.
- Moderation and Analysis: Researchers moderate the community to ensure active participation and meaningful discussions. The data generated is then analysed to identify key themes and insights.
Benefits:
- Depth of Insight: Online communities facilitate in-depth discussions and allow participants to express their thoughts and feelings in their own words, providing rich qualitative data.
- Real-Time Interaction: The immediacy of online communities enables researchers to capture insights as events unfold, leading to more accurate and timely data.
- Participant Engagement: The interactive nature of online communities keeps participants engaged, leading to higher quality and more comprehensive data.
Quantitative Research: Filling in the Gaps
Role of Quantitative Research in Complementing Big Data
Quantitative research complements big data by providing the statistical backbone needed to validate hypotheses and uncover broader market trends.
While big data excels in identifying patterns through large datasets, it often lacks the granularity to understand the underlying reasons behind these patterns. Quantitative research fills this gap by offering structured, numerical insights that can be generalised to a larger population.
By integrating quantitative research with big data, brands can achieve a more holistic understanding of consumer behaviour. This combination verifies big data findings, ensuring that decisions are based on robust and comprehensive information. For instance, if big data reveals a decline in product usage, a quantitative survey can help pinpoint whether this is due to changing consumer preferences, increased competition, or other factors.
Quantitative research also enhances segmentation by providing detailed demographic, psychographic, and behavioural data. This enriched segmentation enables more precise targeting, ensuring marketing strategies resonate with the intended audience. Moreover, quantitative methods can uncover market opportunities and potential areas for innovation by identifying unmet needs and preferences.
Bringing Customers to Life with Qualitative Research
Techniques for Humanising Data through Qualitative Research
Qualitative research delves into the depths of consumer behaviour, exploring the emotions, motivations, and contexts behind actions. Unlike quantitative data, which provides breadth, qualitative data offers depth, bringing the human element to life. Techniques such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic studies allow researchers to gather rich, detailed insights that illuminate the complexities of consumer behaviour.
Using Interviews and Focus Groups Effectively
Interviews:
- In-Depth Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews to explore individual perspectives and experiences. This method allows for a deep dive into personal motivations and feelings.
- Structured vs. Unstructured: Choose between structured interviews with set questions or unstructured interviews that allow for more open-ended responses, depending on your research goals.
- Probing Questions: Use probing questions to uncover deeper insights, asking participants to elaborate on their answers and provide examples.
Focus Groups:
- Group Dynamics: Leverage the group setting to stimulate discussion and generate diverse perspectives. The interaction among participants can reveal insights that might not emerge in individual interviews.
- Moderator Role: A skilled moderator is crucial for guiding the discussion, ensuring all participants contribute, and keeping the conversation on track.
- Themes and Patterns: Analyse the discussions to identify common themes and patterns that reflect broader consumer attitudes and behaviours.
Creating Detailed Personas and Customer Journeys
Personas:
- Definition: Create detailed personas representing different segments of your customer base. Each persona should include demographic information, behaviours, needs, motivations, and pain points.
- Real-Life Data: Use data from qualitative research to inform your personas, ensuring they are based on real insights rather than assumptions.
- Empathy Maps: Develop empathy maps to visualise what each persona thinks, feels, says, and does, providing a holistic view of their experience.
Customer Journeys:
- Mapping the Journey: Chart the customer journey, mapping out the key touchpoints and experiences from initial awareness to post-purchase.
- Pain Points and Opportunities: Identify pain points and opportunities at each stage of the journey, using qualitative insights to understand the emotional context behind customer actions.
- Improvement Strategies: Use the journey map to develop strategies for improving the customer experience, addressing specific pain points, and enhancing positive interactions.
Visualising Data to Create Emotional Connections
Visualising qualitative data helps translate insights into compelling narratives that resonate with stakeholders. Techniques include:
- Infographics: Use infographics to present qualitative findings in a visually engaging format, highlighting key themes and patterns.
- Storyboards: Create storyboards that depict customer journeys, illustrating the emotions and experiences at each touchpoint.
- Quotes and Anecdotes: Incorporate direct quotes and anecdotes from qualitative research to add authenticity and depth to the data, making it more relatable and impactful.
Final Thoughts
The Future of Data Humanisation in Marketing
As we move further into the digital age, the need to humanise data becomes increasingly critical. The future of data humanisation in marketing lies in the seamless integration of big data analytics with rich, qualitative insights, creating a holistic understanding of consumers beyond surface-level metrics.
In the coming years, we expect to see a greater emphasis on consumer behaviour’s emotional and psychological aspects. Marketers must dig deeper, exploring the complex interplay of factors driving decision-making. Advanced AI and machine learning algorithms, combined with immersive qualitative techniques, will enable brands to capture and analyse the subtleties of human emotions and motivations more accurately than ever before.
Add to this, the rise of ethical consumerism and increased demand for transparency will push brands to prioritise genuine, empathetic engagement with their customers. Consumers are no longer satisfied with generic, one-size-fits-all marketing approaches. They crave personalised experiences that resonate with their values and aspirations. Brands that successfully humanise their data will stand out by fostering authentic connections, building trust, and demonstrating a profound understanding of their customers’ needs and desires.
Investing in primary research is not just a strategic advantage; it’s a necessity for brands aiming to thrive in today’s competitive marketplace. The insights gained from primary research are invaluable, offering a window into the hearts and minds of consumers that big data alone cannot provide. Yet, many organisations still underinvest in this crucial area, often due to perceived costs or a lack of understanding of its importance.
Brands must recognise that the cost of not investing in primary research far outweighs the investment itself. Without a deep, nuanced understanding of their audience, companies risk making misguided decisions, missing market opportunities, and failing to address customer pain points effectively. In contrast, those who embrace primary research can anticipate trends, innovate based on real consumer needs, and create marketing strategies that truly resonate.
The future of marketing lies in the art and science of data humanisation. Brands that invest in primary research will be better equipped to navigate the complexities of the modern consumer landscape. They will understand what their customers do and, more importantly, why they do it. This profound understanding will drive innovation, foster stronger relationships, and ultimately secure a competitive edge in an ever-evolving market. It’s time for brands to embrace the power of primary research and make the leap towards a more empathetic, customer-centric approach to marketing.
Senior Marketing Executive
Sales & Marketing
General Manager PR -Internal Communications & Government Affairs
Vital Strategies
Customer Intelligence Director