Are You Making the Most of Your Data?
If you’re a company operating in the 21st century, you’re collecting data.
We work with companies across various sectors, from charitable organisations to SMEs, who need help using their data in new, creative, or more efficient ways. In this blog, we’re looking at examples of how data has been used successfully to increase sales and productivity.
Data in popular culture: Spotify Wrapped
As you’d expect from an app that offers a free plan, Spotify collects our data every time we use the app. Location, nationality, gender, mood, sexual orientation… chances are, Spotify knows all this and more based simply on the songs and podcasts we listen to. The information that Spotify collects is used, among other things, to personalise in-app advertising.
In 2015 the company launched Spotify Wrapped, then called ‘Your Year in Music’, rebranded to Wrapped in 2017. Spotify Wrapped uses data to tell a story of the year that’s gone by, using the songs, podcasts, artists and genres you’ve listened to. The marketing campaign, a great example of the creative use of data, goes viral every year. The 2019 campaign was mentioned in over 1.2 million tweets and generated over 3 billion streams in the app.
Why do people enjoy Spotify Wrapped?
Spotify Wrapped has established itself as a cultural phenomenon. Music is so personal to so many of us. The artists and genres we listen to say something about who we are. People love to share their Spotify Wrapped results to showcase their individuality, guilty pleasures, funny stories… insert reason here!
We all know there’s plenty of controversy around data collection. Facebook Meta, we’re looking at you. So why do people enjoy Spotify Wrapped so much, despite the fact that it’s their personal data that is being used?
The campaign clearly brings joy to Spotify users. It brings value in the form of entertainment. Spotify are also being transparent about the kind of data they collect by giving their users access to it and, in turn, allowing them to use their data to connect with their friends and family.
What are the benefits for Spotify?
Numbers don’t lie. In December 2020, Spotify downloads increased by 21% due to Wrapped. In the same year, 90 million people engaged with the campaign by posting about it on their social media or listening to their top 100 songs playlist created by Spotify. CEO Daniel Eik stated that the last quarter of 2020 was the company’s most successful quarter by far.
The campaign is a near-perfect example of data collection that has benefited both the consumer and the company. Spotify users get a lot of joy out of it and Spotify themselves leverage the campaign to increase sales and customer satisfaction.
Could you use your data more efficiently?
Marketing campaigns are a great way to use data, but we often speak to companies who need help using their existing data more efficiently.
In 2018, prepayment energy provider Nabuh Energy acquired a significant number of new customers from a third-party organisation. They could only gain access to vital client data through CSV files which they couldn’t directly import into their CRM (customer relationship management) system. Faced with the prospect of a time-consuming and recurring manual data entry task, we helped them develop a portal to process and automatically import that data directly into their existing CRM system.
Our client, Behaviour Smart, works with schools and institutions to help them develop, record and learn from behavioural incidents. We worked with Behaviour Smart to turn their methodology into a SaaS (software as a service) product that schools can use to record incidents and generate effective behavioural management plans. This is another example of using data that’s already being collected - in this case, incident reports - to greater benefit to both students and teachers.
Could you use your data more creatively?
As mentioned above, chances are you’re sitting on data that you could use similarly to Spotify. Most companies collect information on everything from performance and KPIs to employee satisfaction and customer data. This data could be used to promote your services, recruit new employees or increase customer satisfaction.
First things first - if you don’t already know, you need to educate yourself and your team on exactly what kind of data you have access to. If you’re not aware of this, it’s worth checking in with all your teams to ensure you have the full picture.
Next, it’s time for a brainstorming session: How can you use this data across all areas of your business? No ideas are too silly or farfetched. Spotify Wrapped saw the company leverage “boring” app usage data into a creative brand awareness and sales campaign. Up until that point, it’s entirely possible that data had only been used to improve the in-app experience.
We hope this blog has inspired you
Maybe it’s even given you a new idea? We’re ready to help you make it a reality.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss ways we can help you use your data more efficiently or get an overview of data from multiple sources.