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This week, Experian is participating in the Money 20/20 conference at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. This premier conference highlights innovators that are profoundly changing how consumers and businesses manage, spend and borrow money. At the conference, Experian is providing a comprehensive view on customer intelligence and how we can be a data partner in helping businesses make powerful decisions that help acquire, grow and protect mobile customers. The Experian team has hit the ground running and if you are attending the conference, be sure to check out all of the ways to meet up with us and stay connected.

New research shows email marketers are two times more likely than all other marketers to integrate customer data across all channels According to a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Experian Marketing Services, maturity in cross-channel marketing is low and, despite the adoption of multiple channels in marketing programs, integration and coordination do not occur consistently. The global research study, entitled The Road to Cross-Channel Maturity, also found that marketers seasoned in email, more than any other digital channel, are in a position to be the ones to lead the transition to the cross-channel marketing era. A complimentary copy of the study can be downloaded at Experian Marketing Services’ Website. Please visit http://ex.pn/ZDxdEQ. In particular, Forrester Consulting found that marketers around the world struggle to integrate data sources and adopt effective data-management practices. Only 24 percent of marketers surveyed said they use contextual data and customer data for a real-time view across channels. Sophisticated email marketers demonstrated significantly higher rates of data-usage best practices, which was twice as much as the average respondent. Practices among marketers in Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries demonstrated the highest prevalence of this mature use of customer data at 36 percent, with China leading the pack at 47 percent. APAC also led other regions in overall cross-channel marketing maturity. Seventy-five percent of marketers that Forrester Consulting identified as “sophisticated marketers” use data in real time. In the study, Forrester Consulting states “…an email can provide a consumer with information or incentive to engage with other channels. As one of the most reliable, consistently used channels, email has an opportunity to be more than another transaction-driving medium… With cues from email, marketers can better provide interactions in other channels and touch-points.” The Forrester Consulting study recommends that marketers identify where email is most relevant and influential in the customer’s path to purchase and then incorporate additional channels along the path that tie all the communications together. To understand marketers’ maturity in cross-channel marketing, Experian Marketing Services commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate digital marketers’ attitudes about, experiences with and challenges related to cross-channel marketing, as well as the role email marketing has and will have in delivering cross-channel interaction. Forrester Consulting surveyed nearly 500 digital-marketing executives in various industries in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, including decision makers responsible for search, email, social, Website, mobile and display marketing strategy execution. It also conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives in the United States and Canada. A Webcast about the study conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Experian Marketing Services is available to view on demand at http://ex.pn/1Ftjhyx.

More than 10 years ago I spoke about a trend at the time towards an underutilization of the information being managed by companies. I referred to this trend as “data skepticism.” Companies weren’t investing the time and resources needed to harvest the most valuable asset they had – data. Today the volume and variety of data is only increasing as is the necessity to successfully analyze any relevant information to unlock its significant value. Big data can mean big opportunities for businesses and consumers.