Learn how to harness the power of data-driven marketing

Data-driven marketing is the practice of using customer data – not guesswork – to guide your strategy. Every click, search, purchase, and unsubscribe tells a story. When marketers listen to that story, they can deliver campaigns that resonate.

Instead of casting a wide net and hoping for results, data-driven teams use real insights to make precise, personalized decisions.

But here’s the disconnect: Even though 97% of marketers say they use data to improve efficiency, only 75% review it monthly. And 15% admit they check it just a few times a year.

That’s not just a missed opportunity — it’s a competitive disadvantage. Using outdated or incomplete data slows response time, weakens personalization, and leads to wasted spending. Many teams are collecting valuable insights — they’re just not acting on them often enough to see real ROI.

Insights from a new report by Adobe for Business reveal marketers are still missing significant optimization opportunities hiding in plain sight. If you want to learn how to utilize customer data platforms to achieve brand goals, then this new report from Adobe for Business is a must read.

The report is based on a survey of more than 400 marketers and uncovers how data-driven strategies are powering performance and reveals where data knowledge gaps lie within the industry.

The bottom line: there are still significant optimization opportunities hiding in plain sight.

Why data matters — and why most marketers still don’t use it enough

When used well, data can transform marketing from a cost center into a revenue engine. The survey highlighted key disconnects in how marketers are collecting, managing and leveraging precious customer data:

• 72% say the biggest benefit of data-driven marketing is improved efficiency.
• 62% say it gives them greater clarity on their target audience.
• Nearly half say it increases customer loyalty.
• 35% use it to fuel new product development.

Overcoming common data challenges

Data-driven marketing only works when the data is accurate. But that’s easier said than done.

The survey revealed:

• 48% of marketers say their biggest roadblock is ensuring data accuracy about their target audience.
• For small and medium businesses, the issue is representativeness — is this data truly reflective of their customers?
• Enterprise teams struggle most with completeness and consistency.

And even more concerning: Nearly one in ten marketers doesn’t know how to maintain good data hygiene at all.

Managing your marketing data: From collection to integration

The report cautions that you can’t make smart decisions with bad data. But even great data is useless if it’s locked in silos or pulled too late to act on. Adobe outlines four steps to collect clean, useful data — and make sure it flows across your marketing stack. Read the full report for the details of these steps:

1. Start with a clear plan.
2. Collect the right data – and clean it.
3. Regularly check your data sources.
4. Break down the silos.

Tools that power data-driven marketing

The right tools don’t just store data — they help you make sense of it, act on it, and personalize the experience at scale.

From the Adobe for Business survey:

• 66% of marketers use web analytics platforms.
• 57% use CRM systems.
• 51% use marketing automation platforms.
• 36% use customer data platforms.

Each plays a role — but the magic happens when they work together.

There are many Key Takeaways from the report, and we recap here for those especially time-starved people. That said, you should access and read the full report here. 

• Marketers say improved efficiency is the top benefit of data-driven strategies, but 1 in 4 are missing a key opportunity by not using data monthly to enhance performance.
• 62% of marketers believe data-driven strategies can help define their audience, but 48% struggle to verify the accuracy of audience data.
• 1 in 10 only use campaign performance data once a year for optimization. 
• Nearly half believe performance data can increase customer loyalty, but almost 1 in 10 don’t act on the data collected.
• The top ways marketers are using AI to innovate data-driven strategies are:
  • Optimizing campaign performance with AI-supported analytics (40%)
  • Automate personalized content recommendations (40%)
  • Analyze datasets with AI to find patterns for decisions (37%)
  • Improve audience segmentation with AI targeting (35%)