Key results:
- Rapid creation and scaling of data pipelines. With a small number of resources and data engineers, Hashtag You now runs a very large data ecosystem.
- Hashtag You was able to empower its own marketing performance measurement solution with low Data Engineering effort, thanks to Fivetran.
- Sixty-seven data sources are currently integrated with automated pipelines. Hashtag You has tripled the total number of its data sources in less than a year since the start of the Fivetran project.
- Fivetran is enabling large scale data democratization at Hashtag You. Three quarters of the staff - about 85 employees – now use at least two dashboards daily.
Background and data stack:
- Company Size: 100+ employees
- Industry: Ecommerce
- Pipeline: Fivetran
- Fivetran connectors: Shopify, Facebook Ads, Snapchat Ads, Google Analytics, Google Ads, Pinterest Ads, Mongo DB, TikTok, Postgres
- Destination: Snowflake
- BI/Analytics: Metabase
- Cloud platform/service provider: GCP
- Data transformation tool: dbt™
Hashtag You is an emerging brand builder in direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce. The company uses its expertise in influencer marketing to build the next generation of social media brands and strong brand-based communities. Its brand portfolio includes Ava & May and Faynt home fragrances and perfumes. The company is primarily active in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Italy, however they are fulfilling the orders from all around Europe and the world.
The challenge: are customers unknown entities?
For Hashtag You, a data-driven e-commerce company, the question of how to use data and structure it within its organization was mission-critical from the very beginning. Leveraging analytics — from marketing to product and customer analytics to operational analytics — is an essential success factor in Hashtag You's business model.
Like many companies, Hashtag You had initially implemented many piecemeal solutions through Google Sheets with data pipelines they had created themselves. The business knew it needed a centralized and scalable approach to data ingestion and were impressed by Fivetran’s ease of use and ELT capabilities.
In addition to establishing robust data pipelines, Hashtag You was particularly impressed with the simple and quick way to connect new data sources. Fivetran offers a step-by-step process of linking a connector in an easy way that enables staff who are not data specialists to make the connections. The Google Analytics connection, for example, was up and running in just ten minutes. The loading of all historical data was also done quickly; it was completely available in only three hours.
Centralizing data was critical for business success
Today, Hashtag You has established connectors to all of its marketing channels, which are the most important data source for the company – with great success:
- Advertising across various platforms
Facebook, Google, Instagram or other channels: Even if the content is the same, each platform offers a specific type of advertising that has a unique impact and can be used differently. The challenge for all e-commerce marketing experts revolves around determining which advertisement used by which channel appeals to and excites the target group the most. - Combining marketing and webshop data
The webshop is typically operated by Shopify. Several connectors are necessary here, as separate accounts need to be created for different countries. - Linking with other data pipelines
After this initial phase, followed by connector setup for the largest and most important data sources, Hashtag You then links other data pipelines, e.g., the internal budgeting tool, which runs via MongoDB. In the meantime, other sources such as TikTok, have been added. - Analyzing campaign performance
For campaign performance measurement, the information from the various sources is combined. In this way, Hashtag You can present and analyze performance.
A unique approach to influencer marketing, thanks to Fivetran
Hashtag You’s data-focused approach to influencer marketing is a company-wide priority. The business has developed a proprietary solution that addresses the performance measurement of every project it completes with influencers.
"Our approach to influencer marketing is really very unique, very automated and very in-depth," said Ashish Kalra, Data & Analytics Team Lead at Hashtag You. "With Fivetran's connectors, we can quickly and easily spin up certain pipelines and easily obtain data that's important to us."
Outlook: CRM, the final part of the project
Today, Hashtag You has already connected 90 % of its data sources to Snowflake with Fivetran. This means the company no longer has to worry about data pipeline maintenance and can instead focus on more strategic, value-driving initiatives. With a very small number of resources, Hashtag You can manage a very large ecosystem around its marketing activities. Hashtag You is now a truly data-centric company: three quarters of the workforce – about 85 employees – use at least two dashboards every day.
The company looks forward to connecting its CRM tool (Salesforce). This final step will further enhance Hashtag You’s position as a pioneer in building customer-centric lifestyle brands.
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