10 February 2016

Insight Is No Use Unless You Act Upon It

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Data can often seem overwhelming. If you’re a start-up or a small business, it can be hard to make sense of what it means for your future. But your customers hold a wealth of information that can help you build your business effectively and efficiently. Here we outline some key ways you can act upon that insight.

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1) Invest In It

Make sure you have a feedback mechanism in place so you are as close to the insight as possible. The best customers are happy and come back, and you’ll only know that if you know how your product is matching their expectations. A rating-based survey can certainly help you understand how your customers are feeling and whether or not your team members need to escalate any issues. Do make sure the information is shared across your business, though.

2) Know Your Customer Persona

Organisations that have designed their data capture around defined customer personae are better at delivering to those customers. It’s that simple. Use personae to define your workflows as well as detailed data storage requirements. And here’s a little more on why they’re important: http://www.tronviggroup.com/customer-personas-what-sally-can-show-you/

3) Use Your Insight to Tell a Story

You need to know how your business is performing from all angles, including what are your customers’ most frequent issues, how are you measuring success and how do you adjust your products to be responsive. But by drilling into this data, analysing effectively and sharing across your organization as a compelling story, you will build a better product and a better business. Here’s why even Google think this is important: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/tell-meaningful-stories-with-data.html. In order to do so you may need to:

4) Go Granular

Ensuring you have a good understanding of your customer segmentation can help you drive the right kinds of business decisions. It can help you understand where customers are struggling with your product as well as identify potential improvements. If you need to, look at the value available in membership management systems such as those from http://www.ofec.co.uk/membership-management-system-portfolio.aspx.

Ultimately, unlocking the data within your business can provide you with a unique insight into the habits and attitudes of your customers. Acting upon it, though, is absolutely vital – without action data is just data, so make it insightful for your business.