“The marketing funnel is dead!”
“It’s time to embrace AI!”
These are things digital marketers and e-commerce leaders are likely tired of hearing. While there may be nuggets of truth in those statements, let’s dive into some trends marketing and analytics leaders should focus on in 2025.
Focused Data Collection & Storage, with Emphasis on First & Zero-Party Data
Gone are the days of tagging everything and collecting data “just in case”. Between privacy legislation, consumer expectations, and technical debt, it’s time to be intentional in our data collection practices.
In 2025, e-commerce and companies should prioritize disciplined collection and distribution of consumer data. Beyond collection, it’s worth considering how you store this data. Does your marketing and advertising data only reside in the advertising platforms? If yes, it’s time to consider storing this data in your marketing data warehouse.
If finding meaningful insights makes you feel like you’re on an episode of Hoarders, that’s another cue to hone your focus on what (and how much) you’re collecting from consumers.
Consider these:
- Do you have cohesive naming conventions and taxonomies across campaigns, regardless of platform?
- Do you know who owns your marketing data? I don’t mean who takes ownership within your organization; I mean the organization who truly owns the data you collect.
Customer Journey Mapping
Regardless of whether you believe “the marketing funnel is dead”, each of your customers is still at a different stage of the “consumer decision journey”. Each of these steps can be measured, analyzed, and acted upon—anything from brand awareness to the minute details of your checkout process.
Once your first-party data collection is in order, there is a wealth of opportunity to use it to reach your customers. How well do you understand your customer’s decision journey? With a solid foundation of first-party data, you can analyze the various stages of the customer journey, and, as Kevin Hartman puts it, “use data to anticipate consumer needs and get out in front of them at the right moment.”
Beyond understanding your consumers better, mapping their journey with first-party data opens up the ability to tailor your attribution models to your business objectives and enhance your targeting efforts with propensity modeling.
Connecting Online Marketing Efforts with In-Store Purchases
While AR has made it simpler for customers to “try on” at home, 75-80 percent of retail sales still take place in a physical store. I know I’m a part of this majority regarding many purchases. Just recently, I was in the market for a new pair of running shoes. I did a lot of research online, browsing my favorite brands’ sites to compare specs on various shoes. However, I wasn’t ready to pull the trigger until I tried them on for fit. So, I went to my local running shoe store, gave them my e-mail for loyalty rewards (first-party data), and ultimately made the purchase.
Now, we can’t discount the value of AR and personalization, as it plays a role in generating repeat purchases and increasing sales. This underscores a durable first-party data strategy, as connecting an online interaction to an in-store purchase may require a unique identifier, such as a customer ID.
