Blog

5 questions to ask your data provider for holiday marketing success

With the forecasted $1.035 trillion in US retail spend (up 3.7% from 2018) for holiday 2019, marketers are heads down with planning to capitalize on this spend. If you're feeling the hustle and bustle of the season and rush to put the final touches on your holiday planning, you're not alone.

To help with your planning and increase the likelihood of success, it’s important to make sure you are leveraging the optimal data for deployment.

Here are five questions to ask your data provider to make sure you’re getting the most out of your data this coming holiday season and beyond.

Question 1: How do you source?

Ask for transparency. Transparency in data sourcing is key. It’s about understanding what data is modeled and then what actually goes in to building those modeled audiences.

As you’re working with your data provider regarding their sourcing process, ask them these questions: 

  • How is the data sourced both internally and externally?
  • Is it sourced both online and offline?
  • How recent is the data?

Question 2: Is the data unique?  

When considering a new data asset for targeting, once you’ve established the quality of the provider, ask yourself whether they are bringing something new to the table.

At Epsilon, we believe in the value of data. We’ve spent decades building our data assets and making strategic acquisitions to strengthen our offerings. We manage the industry’s top-ranked consumer database, with coverage of every marketable U.S. household. And we continue to optimize our offerings through ongoing curation and development to ensure our data is unique and fits the needs of each and every customer.

A couple of our unique data assets include non-modeled merchant level transactional data along with the largest opt-in survey (20MM HHs) used for marketing purposes.

To ensure marketing success, you need to have unique data, and data that helps you get to the right consumers.

Question 3: Do you offer flexibility (is the process efficient to my needs)?

In addition to being able to partner with a data provider to receive discounted rates, there are many platforms that offer alternatives to standard CPM pricing.

For example, some data providers make select data available through percentage-of-media pricing, enabling select data to be leveraged on low cost media placements more effectively.

Make sure you ask your data provider if there are opportunities to ensure greater efficiencies out of the gates. During the holiday season, demonstrating fiscal responsibility is not just for consumers – it applies to marketers too.

Question 4: Can you share what competitive brands are interested in?

Let’s face it, we are all in this together. While no data provider will hand you the keys to someone else’s car, they may be able to share some high level thought starters or data examples of how your industry colleagues have tackled similar challenges.

And responsiveness is key. Holidays are busy enough. Make sure that you are level setting in advance to ensure your valuable deadlines are being met with immediate turnaround times.

Question 5: What’s currently in season?

Understanding your data providers’ seasonal audiences is important to the success of your holiday marketing. Seasonal data better aligns to consumer’s interests and creates an opportunity to provide more timely and relevant messaging while also creating a sense of urgency.

It can be overwhelming to start hearing about the holidays, but as a marketer, it’s important to be the one to plant the holiday seeds for your customers and prospects.

So as you’re putting the final touches on your holiday planning, think of ways you can leave an ever-lasting impression on your customers. And never lose sight of the value of data.