Are you using data to make your business more successful? Do you want to learn how to use data to make better business decisions and get more customers?
Following on from our article last week on why business data is valuable for your company we bring you the concluding part of our series.
At Insight Data we are data marketing specialists. We’ve written a two part series that explains why data can be your companies’ secret weapon. If you haven’t read part one yet go back and have a look.
The power of business data – internal processes
In part 1 we just talked about customer data. Whether you know it or not, you and your customers are generating data. Any business that has a website, social media accounts, PPC ads or a CRM is automatically collecting a wealth of knowledge through that data.
There is also another type of data that your company can use to make better business decisions. Internal processes in your company produce data too. Just like customer behaviour data, internal processes data is probably already being collected. If it isn’t, now might be a great time to start.
Internal processes often include:
- Planning and budgeting
- Recruitment
- Employee performance
- Approval
- Allocation of resource
Using internal processes data as well as customer behaviour data will give you a business-wide view of everything that you do, whether that be sales, marketing or employee engagement. Combining the two types of data will enable you to improve your performance across all areas of your business. This is because everything in your business is connected in some way. Every decision will have an impact on other parts of your company.
A good example of this is the happiness of your employees. If you invest in the well-being of your sales team through training or fun trips away from the office, you will not only have happier employees but more productive ones too.
But how can we use data to make better decisions? All that data can be extremely helpful if you know how to use it.
Five data insight tips to use to unlock business success
Here are five ways data driven insights, whether relating to customer behaviour or internal processes, can be used to supercharge your business to grow.
Data helps you make better decisions
When making decisions about your business there are many things to consider and pay attention to. Making decisions based on global events in the wider world, internal business politics or your instincts/intuition can all be quite subjective and open to interpretation.
Raw data, whether it is internal or customer intelligence, shows the real picture – the way things really are. Making decisions based on raw data will help you to make wise choices. Using hard data to steer your company is the safest and smartest route to success.
Companies can harness internal and customer data to make decisions about:
- Sales teams efficiency
- To gain and retain the best employees
- Enhancing customer experiences
- Investment in marketing activity – how much and where etc.
Utilising data to gain intelligence can be used to shape how you approach making smarter decisions for your business.
Data helps you solve problems
Data insights can solve problems across a range of areas in your business. This is because data can shine a light on every aspect or step in a process or journey you have taken.
Instead of looking at the problem as “a whole”, use data to explode the whole to show you every aspect.
This will enable you to pinpoint what you need to change in order to solve the problem. Customer data allows you to be a detective.
Example: When examining why a marketing content piece (maybe a blog article) has not received any views on your website, data can:
- Tell you exactly how many people have viewed it and when
- Show you which devices were used to view the content
- Allow you to contrast your unpopular content piece with another that has had much more views – this will help you to understand what you did differently in the past to get a better result
- If you have posted content to a platform that you have used for a long time, does your audience still use that platform?
Be a data detective to solve the problems you have.
Data helps you measure performance
If you want to measure performance of any kind, data is an invaluable asset. Much like problem solving, using data to measure performance is a great way to define success.
Internal process and customer behaviour data provides ‘measurables’ that can be used over time to chart improvements or decreases in performance (benchmarking). Data gives you a benchmark on which to judge future success.
A great example of this is how athletes train. If a sprinter runs the 100m several times, his or her coach could use performance data to understand whether the runner is strong at starting, at mid-race point or at the finish. Depending on what the data sets reveal, the sprinter and coach can then work on strategies to improve weak areas using averages of all the race results.
In terms of your business, this technique of measuring performance can be applied to everything from team member success to marketing activity success. A great way to keep your best employees is to reward high levels of performance. Happy employees = better performance.
Data helps you avoid inefficiencies
Through using internal data to measure performance and solve problems you can avoid wasting time on processes or resources that aren’t effective. Every company is guilty of some form of inefficiency. It uses up resources, wastes time, and negatively impacts your bottom line.
Use internal processes data to find your operational inefficiencies and deal with them. This point is really an extension of measuring performance. However, efficiency is really all about getting the most from what you have. It is a specific part of performance.
An example of efficiency is the operational processes or habits your sales team engage in. Being able to save time or reroute resource from processes that aren’t efficient could save you lots of time and money.
Data helps you connect with new customers
Utilising customer behaviour data to gain insight will bring in new customers. Traditionally, marketers use customer databases to cold-call potential customers in order to sell them services or products. Usually, prospect databases only contain basic contact details.
However, if you can learn more about those prospects, you’ll be armed with a much deeper understanding of who they are and, crucially, what they need.
An example of this could be connecting personally with the best person at a target company armed with lots of useful information about them. This would allow you to customise your marketing approach to their specific needs.
If you want to beat the competition, use detailed information about the companies you want to target. This can include their products, markets and financial position (combined with basic details of their decision makers) to effectively target them.
Insight Data: customer data experts
Insight Data are the UK’s leading experts in customer prospect data and market intelligence.
We provide the UK’s most accurate prospect marketing data for the glazing and construction industry. In-depth intelligence equips our clients with the ability to segment and target new customers. Our customers are able to grow their companies through successful marketing and sales activity enabled by Insight Data.
To find out how we can help your business get the most from data and get insight from it, contact us now.
