Tips for Extracting Meaningful Insights from your Small Biz Customer Analytics

Currently, Miix is supporting 4 small businesses with pro bono analytics research to provide momentum to their rebound and growth efforts. Here are some of the tips we have learned in our Customer Analytics journey:

1. It starts with Data. Run an audit on the data sources available, starting with data you own or manage, your subscriptions, and any potentially paid data sources. Decide on a consistent and organized framework for your data. Make sure what you choose is easy to update on a continuous or routine basis.
2. Include three main "buckets" in your data architecture for each transaction: 1) customer ID data, 2) conversion/sales record data, and 3) marketing activation data. Each should have numerous fields within the bucket. Once combined they will enable you to run endless analyses and visualizations more easily.
3. Clean up your Data. Once you decide on the framework, you'll need to ensure that all of your records are 'harmonized' into your dataset. If you are limited to how much data you can store in one file, ensure all of the files you are using are built using the exact same framework (i.e. consistent columns, headers) so when you call upon each file in an analysis, the identifiers or elements you are looking up are the same.
4. Complete your data. Ensure you have as many fields (columns) as possible filled out. For anything missing assign a universal code, like "0", *missing*, or *null*.
5. Begin your Customer Analytics journey on a small sample of data. Experiment with visualization tools like Google's Data Studio, Microsoft's PowerBI, or Salesforce's Tableau. Initial data visualizations are an iterative process, you may find it takes you a few shots to land a meaningful view.
6. Add the full dataset. You shouldn't extract any insights before including the full story and running quality checks ("QCs") via data reviews with each and all stakeholders.
7. Approach the trends with an open mind. Explore your data with new eyes. Experiment with the various filters, sorting options, and chart styles available in any of the visualization tools mentioned. Let the data patterns speak to you and help you craft new questions to ask about your business performance.
8. Create key performance indicator goals (KPIs) to track as you continuously or routinely update your dataset. Discuss with peers and suppliers in your industry. What are the KPIs that are correlated to business growth?
9. Set time in your calendar each week to update your data set and monitor your progress. You will become more comfortable in your data each time you immerse yourself in it.
10. Hold yourself accountable for understanding your performance and acting on your insights. It is up to you, the business owner or lead, to act on your insights!

Call us if you need any help. To the small businesses out there working hard to survive the Covid Pandemic - You've Got This!

~ Hilary

Emma Matthews Digital Content Production on Unsplash