Digital Analytics: Getting into the Game

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Digital Analytics is kinda like baseball. When I talk with companies about creating a data driven culture I use a baseball analogy. Baseball isn’t about swinging the biggest bat once. It's about a great field, clear strategy and arming the team with lots of little bats for hits and runs that all add up to the big win. Digital Analytics is the same. We can’t win all at once but we can set our companies up to win over and over again with trustworthy data and a great team.

Define Business Goals and Define the Game

Before you can play the game, the players need a legit field. At Analytics Pros we create awesome fields for official games. This is a place where you can play the game well, the field has good visibility and is full of engaged players. Before laying a proper field, you need to think about what you want from the game. You need to know what you are trying to achieve, and if you're building a stadium or a place to play tee-ball. First, ask the question: what type of business goals are you trying to achieve with Digital Analytics? Determining your strategy from the outset will determine what kind of field you want to create.  When I think about the data analytics field, I think about how people are going to perceive it or trust it. How will we make it clean and trustworthy so that people know they can count on the data? Likewise, a regulation field, rules of the game and an umpire helps define the sort of game that's played. A big issue with Digital Analytics is that many organizations collect loads of data but they don’t trust the data. That means no one makes data driven decisions. But if you had a professional installation and upkeep would people trust the data more?

Get Talented Team Members Who Know the Game

Next is understanding who is on your team. This is where the company needs to own their part. Who can bat? Who can support?  Is everyone working toward the same end goal? Do they know what game we are playing? Every person on the team has to be truly on the team. From your CEO to the person working the front desk - everyone needs to understand how decision making is done at the company. They need to understand whether the company is emotion driven or data-driven. Maybe it's a healthy mix of both. Know your strategy and make sure everyone is onboard and playing their part well.

The Three Bases of Data Driven Decisions

Bases. Baseball wouldn’t be exciting without the bases.  Just like data isn’t exciting when it's not used. 1st base - Analysis. What does your data say? What can we learn? Are we achieving the 2015 business goals according to the data? 2nd base - Cross-platform understanding. Getting your mobile site and app in working condition and measured. Create a digital expression of your customer. No matter how they are interacting in-store, online, apps, wearables…the sky is the limit. 3rd base - A/B testing. Become a scientist, make hypotheses, test your hypotheses, draw conclusions, make data driven decisions. This is when you know you are in the game. Use Analytics Pros as your coach and get to home plate. It doesn’t count if you can’t get home. Slide into home base as you drive ROI through data. Make money. Win. Show how Data is all about winning and make sure you attribute data wins to the data. Build trust in data with your company team members which will allow everyone the chance to play the game again and again. Baseball is fun.  Eat some popcorn, watch the live action and enjoy. Side note - I actually have never played baseball and can count on 1 hand the number of times I have seen a game. If any parts of the analogy don’t totally sync with the game then, please, have grace.