Brands have a long way to go before they get the maximum benefit from their data, judging by The B2C Perspective on Using Data to Predict Future Performance, a study from Pecan AI, conducted by Ascend2. 

Most B2C firms have not deployed predictive analytics with machine learning capabilities. Those surveyed are:

• Currently using — 8%
  
• Planning to use in the next year — 27% 
  
• Would like to use but have not made plans yet — 40%
  
• Not currently using or planning to use — 25%

Moreover, it’s not clear that they are going to invest in these capabilities. 

Only 6% are significantly increasing their budget for data-driven marketing initiatives in the year to come. Another 38% are planning moderate hikes, while 46% will remain the same and 10% expect decreases. 

Despite all that, 72% say they somewhat successful in using data-driven marketing to achieve their goals, but only 17% are very good at it, or best in class. However, a mere 11% admit they are unsuccessful. 

They face several hurdles in extracting accurate predictive insights from their data:

• Implementing a strategy to get started — 35% 
  
• Data requires a lot of cleaning and engineering — 15%
  
• Inadequate data science resources — 12%
  
• Unable to make the results actionable — 11%
  
• We do not use predictive analytics — 27%

Here’s one more challenge. When asked if they have prepared their data-driven strategy to accommodate the loss of third-party cookies, they: 

• Strongly agree — 9%
  
• Somewhat agree — 44% 
  
• Somewhat disagree — 31% 
  
• Strongly disagree —16% 

But let’s look at the bright side. According to those surveyed, the chief benefits of data-driven marketing are:

• Improving the customer experience — 61% 
  
• Increased personalization — 51% 
  
• Improving data tools and integration — 26% 
  
• Using predictive analytics — 25%
  
• Aligning online and offline data — 21%
  
• Improving omnichannel marketing — 14%
  
• Increased first-party data collection/use — 13%
  
• Using AI/machine learning — 7%

And, these are the areas in which data-driven marketing is most useful: 

• Customer experience/journey mapping — 51%
  
• Personalization — 43%
  
• Email marketing — 39% 
  
• Paid advertising — 31%
  
• Product/service development — 30%
  
• Forecasting/results/performance — 20% 
  
• Omnichannel marketing — 5% 

Ascend2 surveyed 219 marketing professionals. Of these, 12% work in enterprises with more than 500 employees, 14% in firms with 50 to 100 and 74% in companies with fewer than 50. 

A majority of B2C firms have not yet deployed predictive analytics with machine learning capabilities, Pecan AI and Ascend2 report.