Back in 2015, EMC predicted big data companies will be collecting 1.7 megabytes a second on each individual connected to the internet in 2020. That’s 53,611,200 megabytes or 53.6 terabytes a year.

It’s hard to fathom that much information. And it’s kind of a silly number anyways? Is there really that much information about you out there?

Likely not. You do have to realize we’re probably talking about website caches and photo and video data. But still, big data takes in a ton of information.

What then are companies doing with it all? Are we feeding a supercomputer AI who is going to take over the world? Is Facebook using the data to create a social dystopia?

Well, the latter might actually be true, but it’s hard to know. But What’s relevant to us is the fact big data and the patterns they reveal could improve your marketing by a massive margin. Here’s how.

1. Repeat Those Sales Over and Over and Over Again

Especially if you’re in the eCommerce business, you’re going to make use of big data. And with big data, it will be much easier to figure out what your customers are going to buy next.

But how does that work? Machine learning recommender systems. The machine keeps a record of what your customers have bought and it then predicts what they might like in the future.

This kind of system has been around for more than a decade, but big data and machine learning have honed its abilities. Now with photographic learning algorithms, it can use more than just keywords to find what you’re looking for.

If your system knows then what your customer is going to buy next, it can push those products. You might get earlier sales with big data analysis and push the customer to bump up their planned purchases. Also, the machine will likely know what your customers wants before they even know they wanted it.

Thus, if the machine is presenting new products to your customer and it predicts correctly, you might get more sales by simple exposure methods.

2. A Few Ways to Use Big Data to Increase Conversions

You’re getting loads of traffic. Excellent! But sales are stagnant….what gives?

It could be that you’re not presenting the right products for the right people. Or you’re not attracting the right people to your website in the first place.

Here’s where big data analysis can come in and make a world of difference.

A/B Testing Isn’t Enough

Before big data, most people would make stabs in the dark. They’d make a change on the front end and see how the data changed on the back end.

The only problem is that a lot can go on when you’re not looking. Your site might go down for a short bit and you forgot to look for that. Or maybe a world event happened and you forgot to account for that.

The space between A and B is a box full of shadows and you can’t exactly see through it clearly. This is why big data is so important in conversion marketing.

Look For The Big Spenders

Conventional wisdom dictates that 20% of your customers produce 80% of your sales. But how do you figure out who those people are? Who are you loyal ones?

This is where data analytics kicks in. This is where you need to be tracking individual customers. You can make this easier by requiring a login when your customers shop.

Provide special promotions for those who are loyal and spend the most money with you. You can offer a platinum membership for anyone who buys from you more than once. And then offer some sort of discount for shopping while logged in.

This way you can easily keep track of what your customers are doing while they’re in your store.

Use Trigger Marketing

Identify which customers might only spend once unless. What do I mean by unless? I mean you offer them some incentive to shop with you rather than your competitor.

How do you figure out who is possibly in this category? This is where the importance of big data outside your site becomes apparent. You need to know about your customer’s habits on the outside.

This takes a little extra investment upfront, but it could pay dividends much later.

Another way you can use trigger marketing is to identify those who bought several times and then disappeared. What happened to them? Was there an event that caused them to run away?

What kinds of changes did you make back then? This is where previous data comes in handy. It might not be “big” data, but it’s useful data nonetheless.

If you were having them login previously, you might have their email. You could implement a limited email marketing campaign and send them promotions to maybe get them back through your “door.”

Pick Out the Duds and Make Them Customers

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you won’t sell to certain people. And that’s just part of running a business. But sometimes it’s not them, it’s you.

And if you can just figure out what made those leads duds, you might be able to turn them into customers. But how do you track them down once they’ve left? You don’t have their login information because they never bought from you.

Again, this is where big data comes in. You can purchase data based on who visited your site. And some tools exist that make this easy.

Just check out things like Facebook’s Pixel