Data and the analysis of it is an absolute essential for the majority of businesses. By acquiring data, businesses are able to analyse key factors such as when and how sales are made, where customers find out about their products and which marketing techniques seem to be working the most effectively.
But as with anything, there is scope for businesses to make errors when it comes to data-driven marketing. Let’s have a look at some of these common errors and how to avoid them.
Losing Sight of Your Aims
One of the most easily made mistakes is to collect data that is not relevant to your business decisions or is simply too wide and vague to be of any use. For example, you may have collected data on all sales and what method people are using to pay for the product, but is this of any use to your future business decisions? It may be more relevant to pick a specific data set which you can collect and use to inform worthwhile decisions, such as assessing how many sales are coming via social media, for example, according to statistics experts at Sprout Social.
Don’t Forget the Digital Data
Analyse digital data such as how long people have spent on your website before making a purchase. Third party software can assist you with this, as can expert help from a data analysis company. This sort of insight from a data analysis company can help you to make simple and responsive decisions on your website.
Focusing Only on the Wins
It certainly makes you feel good to find an upwards trend in your data. If sales have increased month on month, it’s tempting to display this in a smart graph as proof of how well business is doing. This is a good way of boosting staff morale. But it can be short-sighted to focus only on positives. Take time to update staff on areas which don’t share the same success to ensure everyone knows which area to focus on.