Yatnesh Pandey on customer experience and innovation

I see you're nice and warm with your scarf, Yatnesh, to cope with the Delhi winter. Yes, I think that's probably data. I'm coming from the market side, which is not that chill or winter. I checked the data. The data says put a scarf on. Put a scarf, be protected, and that's why I came here. Very good start to the show. Yatnesh, with Gulup Versuni or Abenavut College Deco, I have no problem making the leap between their brands and data. But when I think about green ply, big ticket items, interiors, sort of a big purchase, maybe fewer customers, it feels less data intensive or data feels less relevant. Is that wrong? No, I think it's very interesting. You have to see we represent the category where the category lives into the consumer heart.

But at the same time, consumer uses the mind also. So it has both the data and you have to say all the facts in terms of the aesthetics consumer is taking. Yeah, there is not much synthetic data is available. So we have to depend upon some of the real data or observed data. We have our own sources to collect this data. And it helps us to decide some of the new product innovation. It helps us to decide some of the customer services also. Just very recent case study, if I have to give it to you. During the pandemic time, everyone was started working from home. So we thought it as a product, we have to come out with the one product which can help consumers to divide their home spaces.

But when we check the data, what we find consumer wanted to create a certain spaces in their home, which can give them the more life-based and leisure experience. So what was the product development we were doing? It was against the data which the consumer was reflecting to us. So I think we also using the data. There is less syndicated data, but more the real-time or observed data which we are using. Well, that's very interesting, isn't it? Because like… Just for example, if I have to interrupt you, it is… Can you guess it? What the consumer was looking to create at their home during the pandemic time? Freedom space? What kind of interior space they were looking for at their home? Tell me. If it's not a sensor, it's for the bar.

The maximum consumer looking more at their home. The second level is the Pooja house, the temple creation. And we were thinking the consumer was looking for more work from home. They were looking more for the workstation. But this is the maximum thing consumer trying to create post-the-pandemic in their home. Well, that's very interesting. Because you touched on this idea, Yatanesh, of synthetic data versus real data. Talk to us more about that. Because as Gul was saying, data is everything. Data is everywhere. It doesn't have to be a digital bite as such. But how do you synthesize on a practical level the synthetic versus the real? How do you go about that?

You see, in the traditional world, the brand was trying to connect and communicate consumer with all the possible medium. And now in this new world, where the consumer has been using more and more web, and web has given the very complexity of the choice to the consumer. So they are continuously exploring, evaluating. On this, there is a certain set of the data available from the synthetic world. You can say the computer-generated data, what they are searching, what they are exploring. But at the same time, there is some real-time observed data is also available, which we captured from the marketplace, which we captured from some of our own sources. This tells us how they are evaluating it.

So between their exploration and evaluation, you have to come out with the solution, which is the more intuitive for them, which is more inclusive for them. So that's the way the synthetic and as well as the real-time data is helping for us to take the decision. Okay, so it's like a kind of river delta. You know, one tributary of synthetic meets another tributary of real. But when you come to interpret this information or data, Yatnesh, talk to us a bit about the role of the gut. I mean, we talked a bit to Gullabad, it's an art and a science. How do you, I mean, when you're talking to young marketeers, what do you tell them they need to do to be great at data interpretation?

Yeah, there are the certain biases comes when you take it the more real-time of the observed data. But once you mix it up with the synthetic data, those biases get neutralized also. So you have to use it, you have to analyze it. And sometimes analysis gives you the pivot to the new business things also. I was recently seeing the one of the startup presentation. They were analyzing the data of the scanning of the sea. From there, that startup entered into the fishing startup business. So sometime when you do the analyzing synthetic versus the real-time data, you pivot to the new business also. The same way the marketer has to see, they have to mix both the data and they have to come out with their own observations also.

And how important is experience in all of this? I mean, do you feel a marketing veteran? Are you better at this end of your marketing career at interpreting data than you were when you started? Yeah, I think it's an interesting question. When I started my career, I am from the stats background, so love for the data is quite natural. But when I started, so all my environmental were telling me the marketing is this art. You have to put it into the creative way, what the consumers are thinking. And you have to portray their consumer journey. But when I was progressing on this career, now people started saying the marketing is a science.

You have to use the technology, collect the data, and come out with the right prediction so that you can help them the consumer journey. But I think it's the harmony, the marriage between the art and science where you have to use the data. You have to collect the right set of the data. You have to predict their behavior and give them the very intuitive and inclusive solution. So I think it's both the art and science. Well, I can imagine you, Yatnesh, as an English literature graduate in a world of fellow English literature graduates, the lone voice for statistics. But your time has come now. As we go into the final straight of this very short conversation, data can do a lot of damage, right?

You know, we're all of us aware of the impact of data on kids, on mental health, of all those things. Where do you stand on that? And where do you as a brand do your bit to prevent data doing damage? So if I have to say the data is one of the most important tools currently into the marketer's hand, it's bring the unique opportunity. But at the same time, it comes with a certain caveat also. So we have to, as a marketer, we have to use the consent and control of the data in a very smarter way. Sometimes the productist characteristics which we're trying to market, it can become the detrimental to the brand also. Or maybe this is not good for the society. So as a marketer, we need to practice it and we need to see. There are the regulatory are there.

But we need to see how can we should not invade the privacy of the consumer or how we cannot make it harmful for the audience in the name of the inclusive marketing. So that's the caution which, as a marketer, we need to see while using this data. Yeah, because it's a responsibility. Yes, responsibility. It's a responsibility. Final question, Yatnesh, for our many young marketer viewers out there. When it comes to the science of data-driven marketing, what's your one piece of advice for them? If I have to say, data brings the unique opportunity. Brings a unique opportunity. Well, it's been a unique opportunity having you on the show, Yatnesh. Thank you so much for joining us on Trailblazers.