Why are analytics so nebulous?

With a host of platforms available to analyze results for your email, social media, blogs, and almost any type of marketing campaign, it’s a wonder why analytics are often shrouded in mystery. Despite the need to rely on the outcomes of metrics to acquire new customers, retain and grow an existing base, nurture engagement, and demonstrate ROI, at times, even the most skilled analyst is baffled by the vague or inconclusive results that are derived.  Why are analytics so nebulous and what best practices can be put into place to maximize the results?

5 Best Practices to Maximize the Outcomes of Your Analytics Strategy

At the root of the equation is data. With vast amounts of data coming from multiple sources – CRM, social media, company websites – integrating the data becomes a challenge if your systems and platforms don’t sync together and provide a comprehensive view of performance.  Going a step further, is the quality and validity of your data accurate and reliable? Can you identify a prospect across multiple channels? What you put into an analytics platform affects what comes out and if data is not clean, accurate, and accountable, the discrepancies can lead to misinformation before you even begin to analyze.

Another common issue is the communications between performance marketing teams and data analysts often get lost in translation, especially when it comes to explaining what methodologies were used to derive actionable insights. Combined with the uncertainty of predictive models, the subjectivity and varying factors like what questions are being asked or the level of skill and expertise the analyst has, even the best informed guesses or interpreted results can lead to different conclusions even from the same data.

Despite the potential challenges, analytics are a marketer’s guiding light to making informed decisions that drive revenue and growth. By implementing the best practices below, identifying trends, target markets, and buyer patterns lead to optimizing marketing spend and becomes a crystal ball at your fingertips.

1. Take an assessment of your data: Where it is sourced, is it cleansed and appended, and identifiable across channels?  Is it relevant to your objectives? Building an accurate database is crucial to reliable and actionable results.
2. Set well defined objectives, align your analytics with overall business goals, and identify what metrics and KPIs you are measuring for success. This involves collaborating cross-departmentally to leverage different skill sets and gain buy-in across the organization.
3. Select analytical models that fit with your data and objectives, and the insights you are looking to uncover. Keep in mind the context and other factors like biases and the limitations of your data when you are interpreting results.
4. Rely on experts with skills and experience to develop and interpret models and techniques. Whether an internal analyst or outside vendor, communicating goals and the methods for measuring them requires clarity.
5. Document the process and leverage insights. What can be done better comes with continuous learning and leveraging new technologies that deliver better results.

The value of analytics comes from a combination of a collaborative team with clear objectives and goals that are aligned cross-departmentally, a reliable database, and platforms that work well together to synchronize information. Data, technology and analytics rely on each other to optimize the outcomes. See how Allant Group’s Analytics Capabilities can make your life easier.