The guide to choosing the right BI tool for marketing analytics

As marketing analytics become more complex, the tools that business intelligence (BI) professionals use to make sense of the data also have to evolve. It can be hard to keep up with the latest and greatest software offerings in this rapidly changing field.

When looking to harness the power of data to improve marketing return on investment, it’s important to choose a BI tool that is well-suited to the specific needs of marketing analytics.

That’s why we’ve put together this guide to choosing the right BI tool for marketing analytics. By the time you’re finished reading, you’ll know exactly what to look for in a BI tool—and you’ll be able to confidently choose the best one for your needs.

The need for marketing analytics

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of choosing a BI tool, let’s take a step back and look at why marketing analytics are so important in the first place.

In short, marketing analytics allows businesses to track and understand their marketing efforts. This understanding can then be used to make better decisions about where to allocate resources and how to improve marketing ROI.

While data has always been part of business operations, the world of marketing analytics is always changing. As new channels emerge and new technologies are developed, the way businesses collect and interpret data has to change along with it.

This can be a challenge for even the most experienced BI professionals. After all, it’s hard to keep up with the latest and greatest software offerings when you’re busy actually using those tools to get insights from your data.

So what’s a BI professional to do? The answer is simple: find a good guide that can help you navigate the ever-changing landscape of marketing analytics.

Features to look for in a marketing analytics BI tool

Now that we’ve discussed the different types of marketing analytics data, let’s take a look at some of the specific features you should look for in a BI tool:

Fast, flexible data exploration

When it comes to business intelligence (BI) tools, one of the most important features is the ability to quickly and easily explore data. After all, if you can’t easily navigate through your data, you won’t be able to get any insights from it.

That’s why it’s important to choose a BI tool that offers fast and flexible data exploration. By choosing a tool that meets these requirements, you’ll be able to quickly find the information you need and analyze it in whatever way you see fit.

So what should you look for in a BI tool when it comes to data exploration? Here are a few key features:

Flexible navigation: The best BI tools offer flexible navigation, allowing you to move around your data in whatever way makes sense for you. This includes the ability to quickly zoom in and out of your data as well as the ability to filter by specific criteria.

Dynamic reporting: Another key feature for effective data exploration is dynamic reporting. With dynamic reporting, you can change the layout of your report on the fly, making it easy to see the information that’s most important to you.

Fast loading times: One of the biggest frustrations with BI tools is slow loading times. That’s why it’s important to choose a tool that can quickly load large data sets.

Self-service analytics

Self-service analytics is another essential feature for any BI tool. This feature allows users to access and analyze data without needing to rely on IT or other technical staff.

With self-service analytics, users can connect to data sources, build reports, and create dashboards without needing any help from IT. This not only saves time and resources, but it also empowers users to get the insights they need when they need them.

When looking for a BI tool with self-service analytics, make sure you find one that offers features such as data discovery, drag-and-drop report building, and visualization builders.

Advanced analytics capabilities

In addition to offering basic reporting and visualization features, the best BI tools also offer advanced analytics capabilities. These features allow users to go beyond simple data exploration and start doing things like predictive modeling and machine learning.

Some of the advanced analytics features you should look for include:

Predictive modeling: Predictive modeling is a powerful tool that can be used to forecast future outcomes. With predictive modeling, you can take historical data and use it to make predictions about what might happen in the future.

Machine learning: Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to learn from data. With machine learning, you can automatically identify patterns and build models that can be used to make predictions.

Qualitative data analytics: Qualitative data analytics is a way of extracting insights from unstructured text data and other non-numerical sources of information. It allows you to analyze customer feedback, social media data, and other unstructured data sources to extract valuable insights.

Ease of use

When it comes to business intelligence tools, ease of use is often underestimated. But the truth is, if a tool is difficult to use, you’re not going to get much value from it.

That’s why it’s essential to choose a BI tool that is easy to use and offers a user-friendly interface. Look for a tool that offers features such as an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, pre-built templates, and built-in help.

Scalability

Finally, you’ll want to make sure that the BI tool you choose is scalable. This means that it can grow with your business as your needs change.

Look for a tool that offers features such as the ability to connect to multiple data sources, support for large data sets, and the ability to create custom reports and dashboards. These features will ensure that your BI tool can keep up with your business as it grows. And as your company grows, so will the insights you’re able to glean from your data.

In general, it’s a better idea to invest in a BI tool you can grow into instead of buying one that can only meet your current needs. Having to upgrade to a new BI tool a few years down the road is much more frustrating than just buying the right tool the first time.

Don’t forget the other uses of BI

While the features we’ve discussed are all important, they’re not the only things you should keep in mind when choosing a BI tool. Remember, business intelligence is about more than just reporting and data visualization.

BI can also be used for things like process improvement, competitive intelligence, and fraud detection. So, when you’re looking for a BI tool, make sure it offers features that will support these other use cases and enable you to boost your ROI with your BI investment.

Move toward better business decisions with the right BI tool

Business intelligence tools offer a powerful way to turn data into insights. But with so many different BI tools on the market, it can be difficult to know which one is right for your business.

When choosing a BI tool, look for one that offers features such as self-service analytics, advanced analytics capabilities, ease of use, and scalability. These features will help you make better business decisions and get the most value from your data.

BI tools for marketing analytics work because they offer an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, pre-built templates, and built-in help. This makes it easy for users to connect to data sources, build reports, and create dashboards without needing any help from IT.

In addition, most market-leading BI tools offer advanced analytics capabilities such as predictive modeling and machine learning. This allows users to go beyond simple data exploration and start doing things like predictive modeling and machine learning.

Finally, the best BI tools are scalable, so they can grow with your business as your needs change. This allows them to be beneficial to businesses of all sizes.