7 Methods to Let Data Drive Your Decision Making

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Data driven decision making is a new trend in business that bases decisions on customer data. Google is famous for this technique, having thoroughly tested consumers on their reactions to different shades of blue for their logo. You don’t need to be quite so analytical, but data collection is becoming increasingly important to e-commerce and retail businesses.

Events

If you’re planning an event, there is a lot of room for improvement if you have data on the attendees. A mobile event app might help you plan perks when attendees check into a location. You can also communicate meeting places much faster with an application that manages the event experience. In some cases, applications can help you track photos taken at the event or read comments people leave when they check-in or share information about the event.

You can also use a hashtag for your event on Twitter, letting other users track what is said about your event even if they can’t be there.

Surveys

Collecting data from surveys can help you understand how customers interact with your products and your staff. Be sure to create a survey that highlights specific tidbits you want to know. Would you like to know more about your customer’s shopping habits, his opinion of your store, or would you like to learn how you could make improvements to your staff? Answer that question and then build your survey around that idea. Remember to use multiple choice questions that ask for an opinion. Relying too much on customer input (like short answer questions) may hamper the results.

Forms and Lead Generation

Asking certain questions on a form is a good way to determine what the customer actually wants out of your product. In affiliate marketing, the more information that one can gain about a lead usually makes that lead more valuable. Think about the key triggers that you anticipate will lead to sales. Qualify your leads up front by asking them questions that touch upon those triggers.

Analytics

How customers interact with your website can help you understand their buying habits, and learn more about your demographic. You might learn more about the browser your customer is using, or which articles interest him most. This information can help drive decisions about how you build your site, how you design your shopping cart, and the techniques you use for content marketing. Google Analytics is free to use, and it connects with Webmaster tools to provide information on SEO issues and backend hang-ups.

Upsells

The art of upselling usually involves knowing what your customer’s expectations are regarding the product. Whether you’re selling warranties or comic books, providing a great bonus the customer will use often does the trick. Think about what your customer will do with the product long-term, or brainstorm some ideas to compliment the product. For example, a warranty add-on that covers engine and transmission parts or a buy 2 get 1 free comic sale.

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing your ideas will help you gather feedback from customers. A popular method is to use the hashtag to discuss an idea. This doesn’t always work… A few weeks ago JP Morgan had to cancel a live QA it had planned with its customers, but their reputation proceeded them. The main trick is to keep your pitches simple. Get your audience to give a yay or nay on something, or to vote on a particular item they like best. This can be useful to drive sales, asking customers which of three products they would like to see on sale.

Finding Feedback

Gathering feedback is like chasing a dream. If you want to find it, you’ll need to set Alerts for yourself through the Google Alert system. These automated queries deliver information to your email box related to customer feedback. These could be blog posts, comments or reports to consumer websites. Keep an eye on what you find, and remember that you don’t have to respond to everything.

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