We frequently have conversations where clients say, “I understand that data is important, and I know we have a lot of it. We want to do ‘XYZ,’ but I don’t know what the ROI will be. What do you think we can achieve by investing in data?”
Sometimes, it’s hard to see the outcomes of data investment or to identify the strategies we should implement based on the outcomes we do get.
We created a practical framework for how companies can take their raw data and make it usable, accessible, and decision-friendly and turn it into revenue.
How to Build a Data Framework
- Set Clear Objectives
What are your goals? What are the objectives to achieve those goals? Get clarity on what you’re trying to accomplish with your data.
For example, if your goal is to optimize your customer base, your objective might be to sell more to low-revenue, high-profitability customers. One strategy might be to provide the sales team with a list of customer accounts that fall into that growth category.
- Identify the Data You Need
What data do you need to identify low-revenue, high-profitability customers? Of course, you’ll need per-customer account revenue and profit margins, but what other data points are needed to segment your customers into this category? And where is it located?
We recommend paying attention to 1) frequency, or how often customers buy, and 2) recency, or how long customers take between purchases. Most of our clients find this data in their CRM or accounting software.
- Map Your Metrics
Key metrics contained in customer demographics, purchase history, and transaction data are critical to achieving the example goal and objective mentioned above.
We created a metric mapping template to help you organize your data – from objective to software to accessibility.
- Clean and Enhance Your Data
When you start mapping your data and generating reporting, you might notice gaps and outliers in the data. Start tracking these to ensure they’re accounted for and appropriately cleaned.
We always consider adding third-party and industry data from publicly available or subscription sources to enhance the quality of our client’s existing customer data.
- Integrate Your Data for Visualization
Integrate the data sources from your metrics map and build visualization dashboards that make the information easily accessible and understandable.
One of the core components of our business is integrating your disparate data sources to produce visually appealing and compelling dashboards so you can turn insights into actions.
- Get the Right People the Right Data
The final piece of this framework is to ensure the right people have access to the right data so they can take action to achieve your goals.
A clear framework for leveraging data to drive business growth is key to reporting ROI on your data investment and more. Knowing your goals, mapping your metrics, and transforming your data into action steps helps you unlock growth opportunities.
Do you need help implementing this framework in your company? infoFluency offers data preparation, visualization, and analysis services to help you see ROI.
