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The state of marketing analytics in research and practice

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Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review of marketing research on the burgeoning new area of “marketing analytics” and considers the importance of marketing analytics for marketing research and practice. This article contributes to the marketing literature with a systematic review of studies and findings on marketing analytics, which allow for further recommendations. We identify the central themes and concepts related to marketing analytics present in marketing research and provide a comparison between the focus of marketing research, practice, and academics regarding this topic. The study also provides practitioners with a summary of the current findings and a more natural way to translate and apply theoretical findings in practice. Academics can also use these results in the classroom to promote and demonstrate the importance and benefits of marketing analytics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA

    Dawn Iacobucci

  2. ICN Business School Artem, Nancy, France

    Maria Petrescu

  3. Colorado State University, Global Campus, Greenwood Village, CO, USA

    Maria Petrescu

  4. University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA

    Anjala Krishen

  5. Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Michael Bendixen

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  1. Dawn Iacobucci
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  2. Maria Petrescu
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  3. Anjala Krishen
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  4. Michael Bendixen
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Correspondence to Maria Petrescu.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5 and 6. To date, what the analysis of marketing analytics research suggests is that the concepts and terminologies as yet appear somewhat fragmented concerning the different areas of marketing and their uses or benefits from marketing analytics. For example, recall the varieties even in defining marketing analytics (Table 1), and the array of coverage across the literature (in Appendix Table 5) of research foci, theoretical approaches, and types of data requiring analyses.

Table 5 Content summarization of marketing analytics literature review
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Current marketing analytics seem to represent a somewhat higher tendency towards practical and concrete marketing aspects, yet these studies could also benefit from the consideration of a more rigorous theoretical base when developing a conceptual model. Perhaps this focus on practical over theoretical is understandable given the influx of big data from the real (non-academic) world, hence bringing with the accompanying practical questions. We echo a call from leading marketing analytics scholars who encourage that academics provide theory-based criteria for managers concerning marketing metrics use and interpretation (Hanssens et al. 2014).

Table 6 Theme Cluster Correlations
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Iacobucci, D., Petrescu, M., Krishen, A. et al. The state of marketing analytics in research and practice. J Market Anal 7, 152–181 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-019-00059-2

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