As a small business owner there are many hats you must wear to keep your dream afloat then ultimately thriving. Let’s be honest, some areas of our business we execute perfectly while other areas don’t get as much attention as they should. From working with multiple small business, I’ve noticed that the area that gets less attention is the business data. This is puzzling knowing how important data is to a business. From my years of working in corporate America I learned that not one decision is made without the analysis of data that supports that decision. So if our big corporate competitors are utilizing data why isn’t the small business? Let’s talk more about the importance of data and how it plays a part in your business outcomes and performance.
What does a data-driven culture look like in your business?
Making decisions that are based on data and insights is the definition of a data-driven culture. This is a culture where you leave behind the decisions based on assumptions and you utilize data to influence your business decisions. Why is data so important? Well data can pinpoint wholes in your customer funnel that may impact your sales or customer retention. These are things that it’s just not safe to assume because you want to be as accurate as possible.
A data-driven culture calls for your organization to trust the numbers and have access to this data so at any point the data can be viewed and analyzed so that all departments are backing up and making the right business decisions.
How to create this data-driven culture…
So, we know how important data is to our businesses, now how do you create this data-driven culture? To start seeing a progressive impact we need to go beyond the numbers and learn how to put data to work. Here’s a start to how you encompass a data-driven culture in your business:
1. Define your goals
The very first step is to define what you’re trying to achieve. Defining this goal will give you a road map to know which data is important to obtaining your goal. This step will also allow you to discover what metrics you aren’t keeping track of and track them.
2. Identify your key metrics
There is so much data available to you, but that doesn’t mean every metric available to you will impact how you determine performance success of your campaigns. For example, if you want to improve your customer experience you need to look at data that involves the customers. You’ll look at things like what pages on your website are they visiting, how long are they on your website, and what pages are they visiting before they leave your site. Data like this will help tell the customer journey which will allow you to sharpen the experience for your customer.
1. Commit to making appropriate changes when the data tells you to…
In a data-driven culture you don’t want to be stuck in your ways. When the data reveals that certain decisions need to be made you want a team that will embrace and trust the data so the right decision can be made. You will want to clearly explain the purpose of using data, goals, and metrics across your business. The concept is to get everyone on board with using data as the driver for all decisions and make them commit to them.
2. Create stories with your data
When you have the data, and you need to implement a decision you want to make sure the changes look easy to apply. Just pushing numbers in your team’s face may be confusing and overwhelming. However, creating a story with your data will paint a picture for your team as well as help them understand how the changes will impact the bottom line.
Here’s a few steps to help you narrate your data:
· Identify the storyline
· Know your audience
· Decide what you want your audience to know
· Utilize visuals that will help visualize your presentation
3. Organize your data so it’s easy to access and analyze
Create Google Drive folders or any process where it’s easy for your team to gather and understand the data. It’s important to have this process streamline amongst your team so that the data isn’t intimidating but something that your team is excited about retrieving.
There are many benefits of having a data-driven culture. One main benefit is that you increase your confidence in decision making across the board. You also boost your customer success because you’re able to understand their habits and preferences. This helps guide the actions of your marketing campaigns. There are many more benefits to a data-driven culture and it’s something you should think about when it comes to your business growth.
If you want to talk more about data and ow it impacts your business, sign up for our free branding consultation so we can discover your next steps to help your small business achieve big business goals.