Quantitative data is absolutely necessary in today’s business world. Gone are the days of “ad men” (as much as I love Jon Hamm) – today’s marketers must have solid quantitative skills AND solid marketing skills.

A now classic example of this is the story about how Target’s marketing analytics department figured out how to predict pregnancy via data mining, and how ultimately they used that knowledge to target expectant and new mothers, which led to a rise in Target’s revenues from from $44 billion in 2002 to $67 billion in 2010.

Of course, that’s not the whole story. Target did manage to anger quite a few of their customers, most notably a father whose 16-year-old daughter received coupons for baby goods. Other customers reported being rather suspicious of getting a book of coupons where every single one was applicable to them. It doesn’t matter if the data is correct – people simply don’t like feeling like their every move is being tracked. It’s creepy. Going solely by the numbers can be a dangerous proposition – there are real people behind those numbers with varied experiences, perspectives and emotions. Numbers alone can’t give you the complete picture, but qualitative data can help fill in some of the gaps.