Quantitative marketing (quant marketing) has been around for a very long time. Most people have been approached by a marketing associate holding a clipboard looking to ask questions about a company or product. This is quant marketing, but it had almost vanished when big data was introduced to the marketing world. It was thought that big data, which includes social media information, would be all companies would need for market research.

Recently, marketing experts have realized that big data gives a lot of good information, but it does not give a complete picture. It is still necessary to go out and talk to the customers, which means that quant marketing is going to get pushed back into the mainstream as marketing companies strive to learn everything they can about consumer tendencies.

What Is Big Data Lacking?

Big data can use social media and other consumer indicators to tell trends from the past, but it cannot predict how consumers will react in the future to any accuracy. For example, if a customer had a very good experience at a store recently, then the customer might decide to visit that store more frequently. The only way to get that information is to ask consumers directly. Quant marketing uses a lot of closed-end questions (questions with definite answers) to get important marketing data.

How Will Quant Marketing Be Done?

While technology continues to march forward, quant marketing is going to be done the same way it has always been done. There are three methods to collecting quant marketing data:

• Face-to-Face – This is where marketing associates talk to consumers and gather data.
• Online – Consumers can fill out questionnaires on their own and the marketing companies collect data digitally.
• Phone – While new telemarketing laws will make it difficult to collect quant data over the phone, this is still a method that will be used to get the data marketers need.

Big Data And Quant Marketing

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, so it is almost impossible to say if there will ever be the definitive way for collecting data. But now that quant marketing is making its way back into mainstream marketing tactics, it is safe to say that most complete marketing campaigns in the future will include a combination of the two. Big data is excellent for collecting data that tracks past consumer trends and quant marketing is a more accurate way to forecast future consumer trends.

Many digital marketing experts felt that the emergence of big data meant that marketing associates with clipboards talking to consumers in department stores would be a thing of the past. But as we are finding out, the tried and true tactics of quant marketing are proving to be an effective compliment to anything that is being done with big data.