Back in November I mentioned that good data is essential to running successful triggered email campaigns, and it reminded me once again of how important the issue of data is to successful online marketing in general. In my experience, there are two opposing problems that often get in the way of organisations making the best use of their data.

What bedevils many companies is simply working out where to start. There is often a belief that data integration is somehow a black art, and that any project that involves making information from one source available to another process is always going to have to be complicated and costly.

However, many other companies get mired in the idea that if they’re going to join up some bits of data, they should actually be bringing everything together. So the process moves incredibly slow because everything gets put on hold until the master plan can be completed. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told about the exciting new data warehouse project that’s in the pipeline and how it will mean that everything that anyone knows about customers will be automatically uploaded to a single location which can then be used for profiling and marketing. The trouble is that I don’t think I’ve yet encountered a single organisation that has actually done it. There are so many kinks that have to be ironed out - particularly when things hinge on the idea that data has to flow through a system without any human intervention, which means throwing secure communications channels into the pot too.

It strikes me that too few companies take the pragmatic approach and work out what data is actually useful and not just interesting. Whenever I’m advising people now, I suggest that they try to work out the minimum that they need in order to achieve a significant proportion of their requirements. So if doing 100% of what someone wants would require an impossible data project, is it actually feasible to get the job 80% done if it means that the data can be easily sorted?

My experience is that modern email systems – especially installed software like Lyris ListManager - have multiple options for interacting with other data sources. You can use the API, direct database communication, scripted uploads and so on. Many of those can be automated - but I also have to say that there are many occasions on which it can prove infinitely more cost effective to have a manual process for exporting data from one place and importing it into another.

In the old days that used to be called a Sneakernet - not quite the Ethernet of wired networking but simply one where you put the data on a floppy disc, and then walked across the office with it....

In summary, many projects such as triggered emails are only possible if the email system can be joined up with other data sources - such as customer purchase data. But in these wonderful days of integrated online marketing systems, email applications can very easily make use of information from Web analytics systems because it’s all built in to an integrated product. We need marketers to rise to the challenge and make their data techies deliver on the promise!

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About the Author

Kieran Cooper is senior manager of support services for Lyris' international operations. Located in the Lyris UK office, he is responsible for account management, implementation and support.

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