You Can’t Datamine With No Miners

I’m very pleased to see the social media return on investment (ROI) debate being taken to the next level with more sophisticated discussion coming from strategists such as @briansolis @thebrandbuilder and @loic

 

Those of you that have worked in direct or database marketing will know that the real problem with collecting so much customer data is not in the ‘getting’ or the ‘having’ but in the ‘using’.

 

I used to work for a nationwide retailer with 350 stores collecting scan and consumer data. We would often joke about the paranoia from customers about the detailed information that we kept on them and that we as big brother “know what colour undies you wear to your store.”

 

Truth was—the information got swiped into the database at point of purchase and, for the most part, that’s where it stayed. Most companies in New Zealand have cut back on their marketing teams and dedicated, in house analysts are rare as hen’s teeth. A lot of large retail operations, like banks, have moved to generalist marketing teams that work on a project basis to save costs after the recession. Most simply don’t have people with the time or the skill set to sit and mine data and make meaningful business decisions with it. Not to mention record cleaning and system convergence issues.

 

One of the most insightful analysts that I’ve worked with on consumer purchase data spends most of his time doing historical, reporting work. His company isn’t resourced to have him doing more than the bare basics in his 40 hour week. There’s nothing wrong with that but I think some of the hype on dynamic product customisation and customer segmentation is just that- hype.

 

Retailer Tesco have done some very sophisticated card-based marketing work over the years and customised store offers based on real-time store data. What the glowing case studies forget to mention is that Tesco had up to 100 full time analysts mining the data and managing communications back through buyers, promotions and store teams. That’s a huge investment and one that most companies are not (and maybe should not) make.  You have to look at the total business case.  

 

Be straight up with companies and let them know the true resource commitment upfront. That includes community managers, trainers and analysts.

 

Yes there’s a big mine out there, but you need miners. Not software applications, real people with lights on the heads.   

 

Further reading: ROI: How to Measure Return on Investment in Social Media @briansolis

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Trust in others -NZ Data

Trust in others
New Zealand Social Report 2009

Definition

The proportion of the population aged 15 years and over reporting that people can "almost always" or "usually" be trusted, in the Quality of Life Survey.

Relevance

Trust in others is an important indicator of how people feel about members of their community. High levels of trust facilitate co-operative behaviour among people and contribute to people’s ability to develop positive relationships with others.

Current level

In 2008, 78 per cent of New Zealanders aged 15 years and over said that people can be trusted, a similar proportion to that recorded 2006 (76 per cent). Those who said that people can usually be trusted made up the largest group (60 per cent), while those who said that people can almost always be trusted made up 17 per cent. The corresponding figures for 2006 were 58 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

Figure SC3.1 Proportion of people reporting that people can be trusted, by level of trust, 2006 and 2008

Source: Quality of Life Survey 2006; Quality of Life Survey 2008

Age and sex differences

The proportion of New Zealanders aged 15 years and over reporting that people can be trusted was similar for males (78 per cent) and females (77 per cent). Eighteen per cent of males and 17 per cent of females agreed that people can almost always be trusted, while 60 per cent of both males and females responded that people can usually be trusted.

Young adults aged 15–24 years (74 per cent) were slightly less likely than people aged 25 years and over (78 per cent) to report that people can be trusted.

Ethnic differences

People of European ethnicity reported a slightly higher level of trust in people (79 per cent) than Māori (75 per cent). Pacific peoples (72 per cent) and those of Asian ethnicity (71 per cent) had the lowest proportions who said that people could be trusted.

Figure SC3.2 Proportion of people reporting that people can be trusted, by ethnic group and level of trust, 2008

Source: Quality of Life Survey 2008

Socio-economic differences

Across all income levels, a large majority of New Zealanders indicated that people can be trusted. Overall levels of reported trust increased with personal income levels. People with incomes over $100,000 reported the highest overall level of trust (84 per cent), while people with incomes of $30,000 or less reported the lowest level (76 per cent).

Figure SC3.3 Proportion of people reporting that people can be trusted, by personal income and level of trust, 2008

Source: Quality of Life Survey 2008

Regional differences

Across all New Zealand’s big cities, a large majority of New Zealanders indicated that people can be trusted. Reported levels of trust were highest in Wellington (87 per cent) and lowest in Manukau (68 per cent).

International comparison

New Zealanders’ level of trust in other people in 2006 compared well with those of people in European Union countries in 2005, and to that of people in Canada in 2003. Out of 25 OECD countries for which there was data, New Zealand had the sixth highest reported level of trust in other people.¹¹¹

New Zealand’s reported level of trust in other people (76 per cent in 2006) was above the median of 56 per cent for these 25 OECD countries. Norway had the highest reported level of trust in people (87 per cent) followed by Denmark and Sweden (both 84 per cent). Canada (53 per cent) and the United Kingdom (55 per cent) reported lower levels of trust in other people than New Zealand.

 

Source

http://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/social-connectedness/trust-others.html

 

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