Johannesburg, 07 May 2015
"Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then', said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter'."
The above extract - from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland - highlights the imperative of having an objective (or destination) to determine the right path to take. The same quote can be applied to C-Suite executives grappling with their data and analytics initiatives.
At South Africa's leading marketing analytical data solutions provider, Effective Intelligence, we know you have a substantial customer database. We know you rejoice in its depth of information and the significant effort made to collect the data. We salute you!
But we must also inform you that it's not enough. Without the right tools, analytics and strategies, it's all useless. It quickly transforms itself into that unidentifiable greenish-mouldy lump at the back of the fridge - that used to be fresh bread. Follow these five simple steps below and you'll have information that really means something, rather than just a lot of data that confuses more than informs.
1. Ensure data quality: It means way more than knowing who is a "Mr, Ms, or Mrs" - it means being alert to stale entries, bogus addresses/misspellings and duplicate records. Poor data quality means higher marketing costs and the potential to seriously misunderstand the true profile of an important customer.
2. Measure success on metrics that matter: The flexibility of modern analysis and reporting tools is as much a blessing as a curse. Hundreds of meaningless reports can be created at a click of the mouse. Avoid this problem by working on the hypothesis to test a conclusion, rather than churning through instinctive what-if scenarios until you stumble across a pattern that provides a satisfactory explanation to a business challenge.
3. Enable users to get the insight they need: This means get beyond pre-packaged reports. Provide tools to the users that are relevant to varying levels of user sophistication, from call centre staff to analysts. It also means that data should not be static - it should lead to an immediate course of action. As an example: "I am with a user on the phone right now in terms of driving them to a problem resolution or cross-sell." Putting the data in the user's hands is another way to deliver insight from data and can be quite liberating.
4. Unify data across all channels: There is no single more tired analogy in decrying the problems of modern business than the "tragedy of the stovepipes". But, until it goes away, companies must use tools that allow them to recognise customer behaviour at multiple touch points as belonging to one and the same relationship, or it is impossible to get a true sense of each customer's value and their pain and pleasure points.
5. Establish meaningful customer segments: Just as you can run hundreds of meaningless reports, you can establish just as many vaporous customer segments. Don't let assumptions guide the definition of customer segments - design a hypothesis of what factors make customers different, and keep in mind that it may take several iterative passes examined with a fine-tooth comb to reach a final decision on what constitutes the best segments.
Truly successful companies know how to ask questions and listen for answers. Don't try to learn only from good news and nice numbers like profit growth. Studying customer losses, reports on negative experiences and what makes the customer say "no" can be even more telling than a glowing sales report. Getting to a true understanding means going beyond easy numbers. Your data should represent a world of possibilities for communicating with customers, prospects and defectors at a moment's notice, fuelled by triggered campaigns. But, make sure your database reflects, in bright lights, how those customers want to hear from you. Implementing the above will not solve your data issues, but provide you with a good place to start. And starting your journey is half your battle won.
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