Customer insight is only valuable if used properly

It is not enough to just analyse customer data more efficiently (Marketers make intelligence choices, MW 26 November). Organisations must also have the processes and systems in place to act on this information as rapidly as the customer expects.

While finding the right skills for analysing customer intelligence roles is crucial for gaining insight in the first place, customer insight is only valuable if you actually do something with it.

The growing use of methodologies, such as multivariate testing and behavioural targeting, that allow organisations to optimise real digital performance on an ongoing basis, means the lead time for feeding insight into the customer experience has gone from months to days.

Moreover, these techniques can prove the value that the customer intelligence and subsequent strategies can deliver – ultimately, the quickest route to board level is to prove how much value your department’s activities are delivering to the overall enterprise.

Organisational processes need to be improved to deliver on this intelligence-led world; speeding up the content generation or implementation is crucial for any company to operate at this level.

David Ellis, head of performance measurement, EMC Consulting