As a researcher, I’m constantly asking my team for more data. “What’s the minimum sample size?” they ask. More often than not, the answer is “More is always better.” More in general isn’t really what you want. More good quality, helpful data is best. Often times, this data can be compiled from many sources and, as a result, can be large and complex. This type of data is known as big data and it is finding its way into applications for a wide variety of companies – from amusement parks looking to provide better experiences to stores looking to drive customer loyalty to companies looking to make smarter business decisions to a campaign looking to get its candidate elected. As organizations work through all the information at their fingertips, we have to ask: how much data is too much data?
Disney Parks
Disney plans to roll out a system called MyMagic+ to its parks this year that is essentially a bracelet that functions as your room key if you’re staying at a Disney hotel, ticket into the park, credit card for food and souvenirs, ride and attraction tracker, and your personal information. You will be able to limit how much information is shared by setting options online. Even if restrictive settings are chosen, Disney will still be able to track how you use the park. At the Magic Kingdom, do you rotate through the park from Adventureland to Frontierland to Liberty Square and the new Fantasyland and finally visit Tomorrowland? Or do you hop from land to land hitting just the most popular rides like Space Mountain and The Pirates of the Caribbean?
Target
Andrew Pole’s data mining work for Target received much attention when it was revealed in a New York Times magazine article in early 2012. Target wanted Pole to find insights into their shoppers’ habits, particularly for new parents whose buying patterns change considerably when a child is about to be or is recently born. Based on her purchase history, Pole eventually was able to predict whether a woman was pregnant and approximate her due date so Target could send coupons for each stage of pregnancy. A Target shopper himself, the author noticed an increase in the baby-related coupons from Target as his wife’s pregnancy progressed.
Insurance Companies
Insurances companies are also joining the ranks of companies using big data to evaluate customers. The software being developed identifies clues in your life that can help determine how risky you are to insure. Do you subscribe to Car and Driver and attend car races in your city? Does that indicate you are interested in driving fast cars and more likely to get in an accident? Do you buy new athletic shoes every six months? Are you a runner and are less likely to have health issues?
President Barack Obama’s 2012 Presidential Campaign
For the 2012 election, President Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina hired an analytics department that was five times larger than the staff for the previous election. The team first worked to combine all of the data used by different functions of the campaign, which was a weakness in the 2008 election. Their work let the campaign to find new voters, pull lapsed supporters back into the fold, raise more money, determine where and how to place advertisements, and predict turnout more effectively than ever before. The strategy changed how campaigns must run in the future if they want to be successful.
But how much data is too much? The father of a teen-aged girl was outraged to (correctly) receive baby coupons in the mail from Target addressed to his daughter. The founder of a business intelligence company specializing in the insurance industry reports buying junk food without his grocery loyalty card and buying fast food in cash to avoid detection. Given how many children visit their theme parks, Disney must be very careful of parents’ privacy concerns, despite how amazing it would be for a child to be greeted by Snow White by name. Paul Ohm in the Harvard Business Review warns against creating a “Database of Ruin” that could contain too many private details about peoples’ lives.
The Pert Group’s experts in quantitative data can scrub your data, no matter the size, to help reach your customers in relevant ways through custom market research. Contact me to get started.