Big data is making a huge imprint on the global economy. The global market for big data is expected to rise to nearly $67 billion by 2021. Why is the big data market growing so rapidly? More importantly, what value does big data for entrepreneurs provide and how can you benefit from it?
Big Data is Driving Our Economy
We live in the information age, and there are vast amounts of data generated via the internet daily. Learning to make sense of what all of this data collected, is a point of study in-and-of-itself. Big data is the term given to explain massive data sets that are computationally analyzed to determine any present patterns, trend, and associations—especially in regard to human behavior and interactions.
This is something that every small business owner must understand in the coming years. They can find ways to tap the potential of big data and substantially increase their productivity and ROI. However, they need to know how to leverage it for maximum benefit.
Here we will explore five ways big data can benefit your business.
The Big Benefits of Big Data for Business
Large data sets are more accessible to store today than just a decade ago. With cloud technology and an endless number of normal servers, companies can efficiently collect and analyze over one million pieces of data in a few minutes. This information can range from GPS data gathered from all mobile app users seeking directions to websites tracking transactions—in conjunction with demographic information about each customer.
Let’s look at five ways you can get this technology working for your company.
1. Understanding Customers
Market research is the biggest impact of big data. A 2016 study found that advances in predictive analytics and deep learning are helping brands forge new understandings of their customers. This helps them significantly improve the success of their marketing strategies.
Data mining is the term given for the process used to analyze large datasets. Accurately quantifying this data can reveal a great deal about customers based on their previous transactions. A notable instance is of Target department stores ability to determine when female shoppers are pregnant before they are in their second trimester.
Good data miners identify patterns in customer transactions, trends that are abuzz, and behaviors that customers exhibit. This is a powerful way that your company can benefit from understanding your clients or customers using significant data mining efforts.
The trick is to make sure that you know what data to collect. A lot of customer data is useless, so you need to think how any data sets can be properly monetized. Studying the types of customers that convert and the behavioral factors that drive them to make purchases should be your top priority.
2. Predicting Behavior
By determining what everyday things are purchased during pregnancy—like larger clothes, vitamins, and cocoa butter—they were able to predict future buying behavior of the customer. They predicted that the customer would need baby-related items in the following months. You can also use patterns from customer transaction data sets in this same fashion to predict what offers to present to customers and when.
3. Targeting Customers
The ability of Target to predict the pregnancy of the teenage girl was a demonstration in predicting customer behavior and understanding customers. When they sent coupons to the girl’s family home, was a targeting effort. Your company can target and retarget customers with discounts or special offers related to purchases they have recently made.
4. Explore Trends
Google is one of the largest data farming company in the world. Google Trend offers the capability for your company to search for trends based on keywords or terms. Let’s say you want to search for trends related to “homes for sale in Jacksonville, FL,” you can easily find any patterns related to this in Google Trends. This will help you structure your future offers.
5. Monitor Social Media
Find out what is being said about your business online by monitoring social media. Social media platforms are the perfect places to access large data sets of feedback and comments about your company brand. It gives you a direct pipeline to your customer base.
Conclusion
The gathering and analysis of large data sets allow companies to understand their industries and clientele better. Use this data as a tool to identify trends and understand the behavior of your customers.