Your company's analytics data should make it easier to make decisions and take action. Are they doing it now?
The monumental amount of data and reports available in Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics is no secret. How do you turn this analytics data into actionable insights for your business? No need to be an expert on the subject, this article will not cover data segmentation techniques. Instead, I offer a simple and intuitive framework to address this important challenge. Are you ready?
FIRST OF ALL, WHAT IS AN INSIGHT?
Let's look at the Oxford Dictionary 's definition of insight :
The ability to have a deep and precise understanding of something or someone.
In digital analytics , insights are often associated with information that helps improve an organization's performance through digital initiatives (paid media, A/B testing, SEO, etc.)
But what does it take to generate good insights ?
THREE KEY ELEMENTS FOR RELEVANT INSIGHTS
Like any good recipe, you need the right ingredients to produce good insights . Or, as a colleague of mine often says, “ Garbage in, garbage out . The problem is that many analytics reports are simply lists of findings. Take for example, the statement presented in the first example below :
EXAMPLE 1:
“In 2018, our e-commerce revenue reached $1M; this is a 5% increase over the previous year”.
Although this information is an important measure of performance, it is not an insight . Indeed, the information does not make it possible to fully understand the reason behind this growth or the measures to be taken to reproduce it .
EXAMPLE 2:
“In 2018, we generated $1 million in e-commerce (+5% compared to the previous year). This growth is attributable to the launch of our new product X in Quebec and Ontario. The volume of sales of this product is over-indexed compared to other provinces.
Example 2 helps to better understand the increase in sales volume. If you remember the definition of insight from the Oxford dictionary, the words " ability to have a deep and precise understanding of something " now makes perfect sense!
This brings me to an important question when looking for insights : what characterizes a good insight ? These three pillars are fundamental.