Setting up a system to make sure you look at the right numbers at the right time
Everything we do today can be marked as data, which has had a profound impact on our lives and business. More and more companies are putting their bets on big data and expecting to dig more business insights from it. However, compared to the enthusiasm of big companies, small businesses seemed a bit shilly-shally. Limited budgets to collect data and inadequate skills to understand complex scenarios are the leading causes of setbacks.
In my experience, small companies still have budget-friendly ways to deal with data and to thrill their business.
Size Is Not the Only Thing
Yes, big is good. But how big is big enough？
The limit of an Excel sheet is one million rows. If your daily transaction or customer base has not reached this number, you don’t need to worry about the “big” thing. In fact, you should consider variety and veracity more, instead of volume. With the same quality, the bigger, the better. And yet with the same quantity, better quality always wins.
Focus on the Right Data
Before scouting the competitors, you should focus on your realm. You already have the data at your fingertips. It’s important to recognize it so that the information can be properly cataloged and interpreted. If you have a store (such as a bakery, supermarket, or cafe) you’ll set revenue and customers as high priorities. Therefore, you should pay attention to the transactional data, in-store traffic, and cash flow.
Transactional data
Image source: Author
- What they purchased
- How much they purchased
- When they made their purchase
- How they paid for their purchase
- What promotions or coupons they use
In-Store Traffic
- How many people visit my store
- When they visit
- How long they spend in my store
- How many of them are regular customers
Don’t panic. Highly-tuned motion sensors can track the location of customers as they move throughout the store. You don’t need to know which customer is which, but you will be able to get a sense of how many customers shop in each department.
Cash Flow
Sample projected cash flow (Image source: Bplans)
- Which products are my profit drivers?
- Which products are my sales drivers?
- How is my inventory? ( overstock / adequate / understock）
- How are my cost units? (Are they reasonable and stable?)
- How are my revenue and growth rate?
- How are my profits and profit margin? ( Profit margin≠ Profit）
If you have an online shop or a website, you need to focus on web traffic, conversion rate, and campaign performance.
For startups, the lack of traction is the top cause leading to failure. Fortunately, we have plenty of analytic tools to evaluate your online shop’s or website’s performance. Now you have the best mining tools on hand, you just need to find out the entrance.
All About Traffic
Let’s start with the right questions.
- How many people visited my website? Where are they from？
- How do they interact with my website？ How can I retain them？
Channels
Channels indicate how people found your site. The Source/Medium report below shows you in more detail where people came from, for example, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.
Source/Medium report (Image source: Author)
Interaction (time)
When do they visit your website? If you have a plan to make a campaign, a promotion, or a post, now you know the best time to attract the user’s attention.
Image source: Author
Interaction (behavior flow)
When do they use your website?
With user behavior flow, you can see each page’s performance, where they get in, where they drop out, and the proportion.
Google Analytics — Behavior flow
With the interaction record, you can understand their interest and behavior more intuitively — what catches their attention, the hot area, and so on. Then you will know what and where on your website can be improved.
Image source: Author
Customer retention
Have you experienced this? You paid heavily to acquire new users but they churned very quickly. Their customer lifetime value (LTV) is lower than their cost of acquisition. The more you invest in them, the more you lose. To be honest, not all customers can yield revenue and profit — some of them just consume your resources. That’s why customer retention is vital. You may ask very good questions, such as:
- How long do most customers stick around? (Daily active user / Weekly active user/ Monthly active user)
- How long do various customer personas stick around?
- Have recent product changes helped or impeded retention?
- What changes can improve retention?
Image source: Author
Customer conversion
Whatever actions you have executed or you are planning, the ultimate destination for business is revenue. The conversion rate leads you to understand how many visitors become your users and how much they contribute. Moreover, you can break down each procedure and look deeper. Any recognition of strengths and weaknesses may help you optimize the conversion rate and improve the revenue or profit.
In real business, things could be more complicated. However, I hope this article can help you build a 3-D scanner and let you have a crystal-clear picture of your business.
If you desire data-driven marketing help including designing a metrics dashboard to manage your enterprise, contact Mach 1 Design by emailing us at [email protected] or calling us at (469) 536-8478.
