Why you need to trust your data to drive success

Businesses of all sizes have been filled with uncertainty thanks to Covid-19. Budgets have tightened, less resources are available, and there is an even greater need than usual to be more creative with your marketing spend, to make it go further.

How do you go about this? Can you still get strong results? Yes you can, but you need to trust your own data.

The common mistake business owners currently make
Business owners have a tendency to believe that coincidence equals causality. This means that they make big assumptions about what is working without actually questioning the basis in data for those assumptions.

You may assume, for example, that your business is in a slump due to a competitor being more aggressive in a certain marketing channel or think that the Facebook post you put up is the reason revenue has spiked. The reality is, however, there could be a number of reasons why your business is performing the way it is.

You can find out exactly what the true basis for business performance is by embracing your own data.

Why trust in your data?

Your data is historical, meaning it’s everything that has actually happened in the past. It essentially tells the story of what has worked and what hasn’t. The good thing about data is that it is factual and quantitative. It has no bias, which makes it trustworthy. Using data to inform current and future decisions allows you to create a roadmap that will drive you out of any crisis and towards prosperity.

Finding your highest value customer

Google Analytics is the most widely used analytics tool in the world, and the good thing is, it’s free. Inside Google Analytics you can start to find the type of customer who generates the most revenue for you. Look at demographic, geographic, and acquisition data and see which customers have the highest conversion rate and produce the most revenue.

From here, use the insight you’ve found to create targeted marketing campaigns that focus on these types of people. As a result, you’ll be eliminating all the excess media spend and saving money. If this work is done correctly it should allow you to generate a healthy return on investment which you can scale up over the short and medium-term.

Here’s an example of how this process works. You may find that females aged 24-36 who live in Auckland make up 80 percent of your purchases between the hours of 6pm-9pm during weekdays. Use this insight to then target your marketing campaign solely on this demographic in the Auckland region, and pulse the times you advertise so you minimise spend, yet maximise conversion.

Discover what acquisition channels have worked best for you

Every business uses multiple different marketing tactics and channels to get their products in front of people. Look at whether it’s Facebook, EDMs (electronic direct marketing such as e-newsletters) Adwords, etc that have performed the best and also identify what mix of activity has performed best. This allows you to find the perfect formula that will ultimately drive successful conversion to sales for your business.

Focus on brand

There is a high probability that customers coming to your website from brand searches are going to have the highest conversion rate and the highest lifetime value.

Finding these brand advocates inside your data is a great strategy to focus on in the short term while your business may be under duress. The good thing is that it does not typically cost much to get in front of your brand advocates. Often it is even free. Create content that speaks to your brand advocates and then amplify it organically via media releases and media pitches, EDMs and social media posts and support that organic activity with paid media such as advertorial content or advertisements.

Here’s a checklist. Look at your historical data to: