How to Dig into Your Data the Right Way: Part 1

by chuckennis

Our answer is two-fold: from the “top-down,” and in parallel, from the “bottom-up.” Top-down -– you must first define your short-term and medium-term highest value needs that your data must deliver. These are a handful of strategic insights that we must know answers to and are needed to drive the business forward as clearly as possible. The temptation is to analyze the entire universe of available data available, but don’t sacrifice depth for breadth. By being selective, you won't drown trying to analyze everything and gain relatively little perspective. Proper scoping eliminates 50% to 80% of boiling the ocean of data and gets to you to the highest value insights the quickest. Proper scoping is the first key to digging into your data. The tighter the scoping, the more specific and actionable the insights will result. A strong approach begins with a narrow focus of two to three specific data-driven or data-validated insights that can be implemented and tracked. The insights should produce business-level results over the following 6 to 18 months. These cycles can be repeated in waves. Over time some of these waves can purposefully be broader in scope. But, again resist the urge to begin analyzing every single data record. Concrete results that explicitly tie to business results will be the fuel needed for continued success in data-driven marketing disciplines. Next month – the Bottoms-Up approach to successful data-driven marketing: Part 2. Whether you’re interested in using or licensing our data, have similar data to license us, or would like to learn more about the unique consumer behavioral insights we gain every day, we look forward to hearing from you.To learn more, please reach us at info@scanlife.com.