Why Old Marketing Models Will Fail in 2025 — And What to Do Instead

We're living in an age where the average household juggles 17 connected devices and traditional customer data is riddled with errors. New approaches to consumer segmentation are emerging that combine granular data analysis with sophisticated identity resolution, promising more precise targeting across channels. While the technology is evolving rapidly, the core challenge remains constant: how to deliver relevant messages to increasingly distracted consumers who expect personalized experiences.

By Garret Reich, Editorial Operations Manager

Published on December 6th, 2024 in Marketing Strategies

The report: Segmentation for a Modern World

Source: TransUnion

Why we picked it: TransUnion is a unique — but imperative — player in the retail banking world. As it wields a wealth of consumer data, TransUnion’s reports often catch the eye of The Financial Brand as we seek out various insights into the banking industry.

Executive Summary

How do you effectively reach and engage consumers who are more distracted and demanding than ever before?

New research suggests the answer lies in smarter segmentation that combines granular consumer data with precise targeting capabilities.

Recent analysis from TransUnion highlights a significant shift in how businesses need to understand and reach their target audiences. The marketing landscape has evolved well beyond basic demographic segments — pushing toward more sophisticated, data-driven approaches to consumer profiling.

Key Takeaways:

Between 50 to 70% of current CRM data contains errors due to imprecise modeling and unresolved identifiers, highlighting the need for better data integration

The average U.S. household now uses 17 connected devices, making consistent cross-device identification critical for reaching consumers

Most traditional segmentation solutions offer only 50 to 60 one-size-fits-all segments, while modern approaches can identify 170+ distinct consumer groups

Real-time data updates are becoming essential as consumer behaviors change rapidly

What we liked about the report: Plenty of great data, and the report got to the root of segmentation problems that financial institutions are encountering, without piling on erroneous amounts of fluff material.

What we didn’t: The report heavily emphasized and promoted the TransUnion Truaudience product — which we find robs the authority of the report.

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The Data Quality Challenge

The fundamental challenge facing marketers isn’t just about reaching anymore — it’s about reaching them with relevant messages that resonate. Advertising costs are only expected to continue to rise, but consumer attention spans are declining precipitously. This creates an urgent need for more sophisticated targeting approaches.

Companies that rely solely on their internal customer data are operating with a very narrow view. And those using generic third-party segments aren’t gaining any competitive advantage since that same data is available to everyone.

This challenge is compounded by the fact that traditional customer databases are often incomplete or inaccurate. Up to 90% of CRM records may be missing key information as businesses try to streamline customer experiences by reducing required input fields. This creates significant gaps in understanding and makes effective targeting more difficult.

The Power of Identity Resolution

Modern marketing requires sophisticated identity resolution systems that can match partial customer records — like an email address or phone number — to create complete consumer profiles.

The most advanced systems work by reconciling multiple identifiers generated across different channels into a single, persistent identifier for each consumer. This enables consistent recognition and targeting across devices and platforms. More importantly, it allows marketers to build comprehensive views of their customers that incorporate both online and offline behaviors.

The key to modern segmentation is making insights actionable. Many traditional models produce interesting consumer groupings but provide no clear path to actually reaching those segments through marketing channels.

Modern approaches focus on connecting segments directly to activation channels, creating seamless workflows from insight to execution. This might include:

Integration of first-party customer data
Custom segment creation based on specific business needs
Flexible grouping of segments for different organizational use cases
Tactical applications for specific campaigns

This flexibility is crucial because different parts of an organization often need to view customer segments in different ways. While marketing might need granular segments for campaign targeting, executive leadership might need broader groupings for strategic planning.

Dig deeper:

Real-World Impact

One case study from the financial sector demonstrates how advanced segmentation can solve common marketing challenges. A major retail bank — which came to TransUnion looking for a solution for its website visitor retention project — was able to match 72% of its anonymous site traffic to existing customer profiles by implementing modern identity resolution techniques.

Through deeper analysis, the bank identified four distinct target segments based on propensity to use different banking products. This allowed for highly tailored messaging and offers, resulting in improved conversion rates across segments.

The success hinged on the ability to combine online behavioral data with offline customer information, creating a more complete picture of each customer’s needs and preferences.

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The Privacy Challenge

As privacy regulations and technical changes continue to impact marketers’ ability to track and target consumers, having a robust first-party data strategy becomes increasingly critical. Modern marketing platforms must provide frameworks for enhancing first-party data with ethically sourced third-party insights.

Today’s marketing platforms need several key capabilities to address modern challenges:

Data import and management tools for combining multiple data sources
Interactive visualization capabilities including charts, graphs and geographic mapping
Customizable reporting templates and dashboards
Permissioning controls for enterprise-wide deployment
Direct activation capabilities through major advertising platforms

Regular platform updates and secure cloud-based interfaces have become standard requirements, making sophisticated targeting capabilities accessible to marketing teams of any size.

Looking Ahead

As consumer behavior continues to fragment across channels and devices, the ability to maintain consistent, relevant communications becomes ever more challenging. Research suggests the solution lies not in broader targeting, but in more precise segmentation powered by comprehensive data and sophisticated identity resolution.

For marketers seeking to improve their targeting effectiveness while preparing for a privacy-first future, the path forward requires combining granular consumer understanding with actionable targeting capabilities. This enables the kind of personalized marketing that modern consumers expect.

Three key principles are shaping the future of marketing technology: integration of diverse data sources, precise and actionable segmentation and privacy-compliant identity resolution. These fundamentals help marketers navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape while maintaining the personalization consumers demand.

Editor’s note: This article was prepared with AI language software and edited for clarity and accuracy by The Financial Brand editorial team.