Data‐driven services marketing in a connected world

TLDR

Future challenges such as top‑management support, ethical concerns, and building data and analytic capabilities are highlighted. The paper aims to synthesize data‑driven services marketing, outlining a conceptual framework that links traditional and contemporary customer data sources to derive marketing insights. The authors conduct a literature synthesis categorizing marketing data into traditional, digital, and neurophysiological sources, and propose integrating these into a forward‑looking dashboard that links metrics to strategic and tactical insights and marketing ROI. The study reveals that data can drive tactical and strategic marketing decisions, underscores the necessity of executive dashboards with forward‑looking, service‑relevant metrics linked to outcomes, and identifies promising research directions for data‑driven service management.

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the benefits of data‐driven services marketing and provide a conceptual framework for how to link traditional and new sources of customer data and their metrics. Linking data and metrics to strategic and tactical business insights and integrating a variety of metrics into a forward‐looking dashboard to measure marketing ROI and guide future marketing spend is explored. Design/methodology/approach A detailed synthesis of the literature is conducted and contemporary sources of marketing data are categorized into traditional, digital and neurophysiological. The benefits and drawbacks of each data type are described and advantages of integrating different sources of data are proposed. Findings The findings point to the importance and untapped potential of data in its ability to inform tactical and strategic marketing decisions. Future challenges, including top management support, ethical considerations and developing data and analytic capabilities, are discussed. Practical implications The results demonstrate the need for executive service marketing dashboards that include key metrics that are service‐relevant, complementary and forward‐looking, with proven linkages to business outcomes. Originality/value This paper provides a synthesis of data‐driven services marketing and the value of traditional and contemporary metrics. Since the true potential of data‐driven service management in a connected world is still largely unexplored, this paper also delineates fruitful avenues for future research.