2023 resolution? Get your business fighting fit through data

“New year, new me” is a phrase many of us will be familiar with. The sentiment, of course, is that January is a time for a refresh or reset: to figure out our life goals, kick off a new hobby or set those new year’s resolutions such as getting fit (and hopefully keep them).

From a business perspective, 2023 will likely be a year where leaders don’t reinvent themselves. Last year was tough and though recent ONS figures shine a positive light on the state of our economy – and even suggest modest growth – analysts warn that we must still prepare for a difficult time ahead; that a recession is “delayed” rather than “cancelled”.

Indeed, the CEO of ASOS recently put into perspective how challenging a year 2022 was for brands when he highlighted that inflation and rising energy costs hugely impacted consumer sentiment, meaning that “there is still a lot of volatility and it’s going to continue for longer, certainly for the rest of our financial year and [it could be] even longer”.

A spotlight on shifting consumer spending habits

Instead of piling on the pressure for reinvention, this year leaders will need to explore ways they can work smarter to weather the ongoing economic storm and ensure their organisation is profitable and stays afloat. Key to this will be keeping customers on side and driving conversions. But, as we know, this isn’t always easy and in our current landscape will prove even more difficult.

From our own research, we’re certainly seeing a shift in consumer spending behaviour – with more scrutiny from people on how and where they’re spending their money, and plans to cut costs. And this will no doubt continue throughout 2023, if not beyond.

For example, in the health and wellbeing market, our recent survey found that 51% of Brits expect the cost-of-living crisis to impact their exercise regimes this year, with many planning to take up more free activities including walking and hiking (79%), and at-home exercise (53%). Rather than maintaining costly gym memberships, consumers plan to reduce their spending by investing in items like trainers and skipping ropes for at-home or outdoor exercising.

For brands in this market, it highlights an opportunity to act quickly on consumer demand for cheaper, alternative methods of keeping fit, as well as how insights are central to maintaining competitive advantage as trends evolve during the cost-of-living crisis.

Do you even know your customers if you’re not using data?

In such a volatile landscape, staying attuned to the changing wants and needs of customers, and delivering against this, will be critical to maintaining a good customer experience, converting sales and maximising revenues.

This requires data – lots of it. Customer intelligence should be central to business decision-making from the frontline through to the boardroom. How else can leaders expect to know what their customers really want? Decisions on gut feeling cannot match the accuracy of those informed by data about customer sentiment and feeling.

In turbulent times, organisations also need to be agile and adapt. Data will allow them to do just this by giving them the means to understand their customers in the moment and make informed decisions based on those insights.

Proving that they understand their customers will give organisations the commercial advantage they need to help overcome the challenges that lie ahead and get their business fighting fit (through data).