Soeren Lueders PhD: The Right Data is More Important Than ‘Big Data’

Soeren Lueders PhD, VP, Effectiveness and ROI Modeling at SevenOne
Media, outlines his team’s ‘questions first’ data science strategy
and why focusing on the right data beats traditional ‘big data’
approaches

Marketing analytics is a key focus for German broadcasting
company SevenOne Media. But while many marketing analytics teams
prioritize gathering huge volumes of data to micro-target
potential customers, SevenOne Media is bucking this trend.


As Soeren Lueders PhD, VP, Effectiveness and ROI Modeling at
SevenOne Media, says in this week’s Business of Data podcast
episode, this isn’t necessarily the best approach for all
companies.


“As soon as you talk about ‘data-driven’, [people think] it’s
about data collection and it’s still about collecting as much
data as possible,” Dr Lueders says. “I think it’s slowly
changing. And what we’re doing as well is to look at, ‘Is all
this data really necessary for what we’re doing? Or, what we’re
doing with all this data, is it really getting us where we want
to go?’”
Having the Right Data Beats Having ‘Big Data’

Dr Lueders argues that many companies are drawn to approaches
such as microtargeting because the tech companies that sell the
data and tools needed to them generally have compelling sales
pitches.


However, he notes that research suggests focusing narrowly on
‘ideal’ customer segments can be counterproductive.


“Traditional digital targeting is all about data collection,” he
says. “So, you try to get as many data as possible. You try to
build groups upon that data and to try to target niche markets.”


“[But] when you look closely at your marketing campaigns,” he
continues. “Niche targeting or surgically targeting certain
groups is not really necessary for most companies because, most
of the time, your product is really available for a broad
audience.”


“You can easily analyze this by yourself, if you just look at,
‘Who are you aiming at?’ and then at the end, ‘Who is buying your
product?’” he adds. “If you make this analysis [and] you see that
there’s a big difference, then you should think, ‘Maybe this
approach doesn’t really make sense.’”


For Dr Lueders, unnecessary microtargeting causes many companies
to neglect large portions of their true customer base. In the
end, it’s customers who lose out, with some audience segments
receiving too many ads and others being served none at all.
A ‘Questions First’ Approach to Data Science

Ultimately, the key to avoiding this kind of trap is to flip the
approach that many companies take to data science. Rather than
collecting lots of data first and then working out what to do
with it, data-focused executives should start by asking questions
about the problems they want to solve.


“The right data is the data which is necessary for the project to
fulfill the task or to get the results,” Dr Lueders. “It’s very
common in the market to collect as much data as possible. And
then, once you’ve got data, you kind of decide what to do with
it.”


“[This is], I would say, the wrong approach,” he concludes. “You
should really focus on what kind of question you want to answer,
and then you look at, OK