STUDY FINDS TOP B2B MARKETERS USING PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS OUTPERFORM COUNTERPARTS USING TRADITIONAL DATA ANALYTICS

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.

The CustomerThink and Forrester survey revealed the following findings.

• 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.
• 37% were interested in implementing predictive analytics at their company.

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%).
• They are most likely to implement analytics solutions in under 2 weeks (36% v. 21%).
• They 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.

Click Image To Enlarge

COMMENTARY:  Radius, the B2B predictive marketing software company, commissioned Forrester Consulting to survey 106 B2B marketing executives and CMOs in the U.S. The findings revealed predictive analytics is going mainstream, with a majority of marketers (61 percent) using predictive analytics today, allowing them to anticipate outcomes with a significant probability of accuracy.

Published in September 2015, the study, “From Insight To Action: How Predictive Analytics Improves B2B Marketing Outcomes,” yielded three key findings:

• B2B marketers who use predictive analytics outperform their
  counterparts who do not.
• Predictive analytics users are twice as likely to outperform non-users on several key business metrics, including the following:
  • Exceeding revenue growth target;
  • Exceeding marketing goals for revenue contribution;
  • Commanding a higher market share than competitors.
• Predictive analytics helps B2B marketers identify and address new
  markets.
  • According to the study, marketers’ top challenge is limited visibility into addressable markets, but:
    • 86 percent agree that predictive analytics help them evaluate new market opportunities;
    • 84 percent say that insights from these marketing-focused analytics have become the primary driver in their go-to-market strategies.
• Predictive analytics impacts the entire customer lifecycle, not just pre-sales acquisition.
  • While most marketers (89 percent) see value in using predictive analytics to identify new opportunities and to better qualify leads, the more advanced users also realize upstream and downstream benefits:
    • 97 percent of predictive analytics users analyze their best customers and understand how/why they buy;
    • 92 percent of predictive analytics users optimize the marketing mix to reach the right types of buyers.

Radius Director of Product Marketing John Hurley said.

“As the findings of this study prove, the best B2B marketers are predictive analytics users.  This is because they can pursue new market opportunities and attract, analyze and engage customers with insights backed by data science, not guesswork. Given our goal for this study was to evaluate the use of predictive analytics among B2B marketers, we were excited to find the majority of companies have already incorporated these systems into their marketing arsenals and are actively driving business growth. We’ve entered an age where technology and data science can deliver the power of analytics to marketers.”

Courtesy of an article dated October 21, 2015 appearing in Online Sales Guide Tips and an article dated September 29, 2015 appearing in Radius

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