Getting more value from your cloud data warehouse: 3 main use cases

We throw this stat around a lot at Lytics, but only because we really believe it’s that important:

By 2022, Gartner estimates that 75% of all databases will be on a cloud platform.

It’s a staggering number, but it’s more palatable when you really sit down and think about it. The world has been going digital for some time now. So it only makes sense that a company’s most important asset, their customer data, is stored in a secure digital environment, such as a cloud data warehouse. These platforms offer a level of flexibility and efficiency that siloed databases inherently cannot.

However, while businesses are increasingly shifting away from traditional data storage to cloud-based data management systems, far too few are actually taking full advantage of the newfound flexibility afforded to them. For instance, if your data is transferred to a cloud platform but still sits there unused, was the investment into new IT infrastructure really worth it? Maybe your data is more secure, but you’re still not generating value from it. That’s why we wanted to demonstrate three different use cases that will enable you to derive more value from your cloud data warehouse. If you’re totally new to this world, jump back and read our earlier post for a quick intro. However, if your warehouse is already up and running and you’re looking to make your data more actionable, dive on in:

Organize & segment your data

This may seem obvious, but it can’t be overstated how essential cloud data warehouse’s are to your data management and organization. Because of their robust storage capacity, you can import all of the data that’s currently scattered across disparate tools and platforms into one secure location, eliminating data silos. Not only do you now have a “single source of truth” for all of your data, but you also have an organized platform in which you can easily access data segments.

…Which leads me to our latest innovation, Cloud Connect. Lytics Cloud Connect is a reverse ETL solution designed to help you make your cloud data actionable. Here’s how it works:

With Cloud Connect, you have robust SQL querying options to unlock advanced segmentation possibilities. What that means is your data team can now easily write an SQL query to create a highly specific marketing segment right in your cloud data warehouse. And as we’ll see in a moment, that segment can then be easily pushed downstream for use in your suite of marketing tools and ads platforms.

Increase efficiency across teams

Here’s the thing about segmentation: it takes time. A LOT of time. And I’m not talking about simple segmentation like targeting everyone with a marketing title. I’m talking about the highly granular segmentation that requires copious amounts of customer data and a capable data team that can piece that segment together for you. The process for executing that level of segmentation is something like this:

1. Your marketing team requests a segment of customers that meet a specific criteria, such as every rewards member who purchased skincare products in the last 90 days.
2. Your data team then builds that segment from the data stored in your cloud warehouse.
3. In order to export the segment, your data team builds a one-off connector from your warehouse to a downstream email, ad, or social tool.
4. Marketing then decides they need a similar segment, such as shoppers who bought sunscreen, built for use in a different downstream tool.
5. So your data team builds another one-off connector from your data warehouse to that tool. Then marketing…you see where I’m going with this?

These one-off integrations are a massive waste of your data team’s time, who are now forced to ignore their other day-to-day responsibilities. It’s also extremely detrimental to your marketing team and business as a whole. Marketing is constantly running different campaigns, pushing out new content, and trying to engage different audiences. If your segmentation process is slow, then it leads to a major backlog for your marketing and data teams alike.

With Cloud Connect, you’re able to export audience segments from Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Azure and RedShift directly into downstream business systems and marketing tools without having to create and maintain multiple one-off connectors. This is a game changer for data teams who can finally reclaim time back in their day, and marketing teams who can operate at a much higher level of efficiency without sacrificing campaign quality. And because marketing is all about testing, you also have the ability to test different variations of a segment. Rather than create an entirely new segment for an A/B test for instance, you can simply tweak the initial SQL query to build your second segment.

Improve marketing ROI

Now that your specific customer segments can be easily exported from your cloud data warehouse, they can be used to help you run more targeted, higher converting campaigns. Companies who are too broad in their campaign targeting not only fatigue their list of engageable prospects, they also see lower conversion rates.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. A broad marketing segment likely includes unengaged, inactive, or low quality accounts that will net you little to no conversions.
2. You’re trying to be everything to everybody. Broad messaging that doesn’t specifically target anyone will be perceived as more marketing white noise.

To remedy both problems you need to use a solution like Cloud Connect that allows you to be more strategic in your segmentation and targeting.

For instance, let’s say you want to sell an acne product. If you target a broad list of users with an email touting that product, you’re not likely to get much of a response. However, if you use TikTok to target an acne product to users aged 16-21, who engaged with the product page in the last two weeks, you’re going to see a significantly higher conversion rate. Why? Because you’re now:

• Using your customer data to craft a specific segment of active users who fit the target audience for the product
• Easily exporting the segment from your data warehouse using Cloud Connect
• Identifying a platform (TikTok) that resonates with a younger demographic, and delivering the right message, in the right place, at the right time.

The beauty and benefit of Cloud Connect is that it actually enables you to take your marketing a step further. When you are able to produce highly specific marketing content to extremely targeted audiences, you’ll increase ROI, stop wasting marketing spend, and build a sense of loyalty among your customers.

Get started with Cloud Connect

Lytics Cloud Connect enables you to more efficiently access and action your most important customer data. Now you can easily create and transfer highly specific marketing segments from your cloud data warehouse for use in all of your downstream ad, email, and social platforms. Ultimately, Cloud Connect saves your team time and helps increase efficiency and drive better ROI for your business.

Get started for free and build your first target audience today using your own first-party data from your cloud data warehouse.

To read more about Cloud Connect, check out our introductory blog.