Collecting and analysing data is essential for making informed business decisions. Data provides a benchmark for what currently exists and can be used to remove subjective elements from decision-making. It can also be used to monitor progress, evaluate results and identify new growth opportunities.
However, data is only helpful if it is accurate and up-to-date. Inaccurate data can lead to poor decision-making, which can, in turn, lead to adverse business outcomes.
When used correctly, data analytics delivers insights that help you understand your customers, make better decisions, and improve performance. It’s an essential tool for any company that wants to stay ahead of the competition.
In this article, we asked business owners to share surprisingly impactful decisions driven they have made driven by data:
Created Cultural-Specific Marketing Plans
Our company is in the travel industry and therefore crosses international boundaries, and it was through our data insights that we made the impactful decision to overhaul our marketing strategy. We assumed that our marketing strategy because it worked well on a national level, was universal and would lead to the same results internationally. However, after looking at the data carefully, we soon realized that the strategy that worked so well in the US did not translate as well to other markets throughout the world, as we saw our conversions drop dramatically.
Therefore, we made the decision to send teams to study the culture and tastes of the regions we had expanded into to cultivate a strategy tailored to each market. It was through our data insights that allowed us to gain the valuable information and led to the impactful decision to create a more specific marketing plan, which would eventually lead to great success.
Cody Candee, Founder and CEO, Bounce
Improved Our Product Features
When I analyzed the data from our customer surveys, I discovered that many of our customers were dissatisfied with one of our product features. This insight prompted me to proactively start discussions with other departments in our company to gather their feedback as well, and together we brainstormed ways to improve this feature.
With the help of these discussions, we could make major improvements to the feature, which resulted in an increase in both satisfaction and revenue for our company. I feel that this was a great example of how data insights can be used productively to make important decisions that have a positive impact on overall business outcomes.
Amira Irfan, Founder and CEO, A Self Guru
Transitioned From Magazine to Online-Only Content
One such decision I made was to discontinue our local print magazine and instead focus exclusively on online content.
I had never thought of that before, as the magazine was very dear to me. The data showed subscribers were abandoning print magazines in droves, and our goal was to capitalize on this trend. We were able to grow our online readership by over 30% in just the first year, and I expect this trend to continue as our website grows.
Isaac Robertson, Fitness Trainer and Co-Founder, Total Shape
Shifted to Quality Over Quantity in Correspondence
Sometimes less is more when reaching out to clients and customers. At first, the habit of reaching out as much as reasonably possible seemed like it was the way to go for us, but this didn't go over too well with everyone.
The number of unopened correspondences that we had with constant outreach was telling. It was quickly apparent that too much outreach was being treated no differently than spam, either going ignored or outright trashed with no regard.
The better option turned out to be fewer, more meaningful points of engagement. Whether that was emails or newsletters, people were much more willing to open a few daily emails as opposed to three or four, especially when the content within wasn't anything of importance. In this case, fewer, more impactful engagements easily trumped the alternative.
Soji James, Certified Personal Trainer, 1AND1 Life
Added a Button to Dramatically Reduce Bounce Rate
I decreased the bounce rate for my website by 31% by adding a button to the front page. People visit my website to play solitaire, but there are two different variations of solitaire, so many people got a variation they weren't expecting.
After I analyzed all the data in my Google Analytics, I figured people were bouncing because they were expecting a different variation of solitaire. So I added a button that would allow people to change to the other variation, and immediately after, the bounce rate of my front page dropped by 31%.
Holger Sindbaek, Founder and CEO, Online Solitaire
Pivoted Away From Our Free Plan
We had a free plan in our application for a month and our user adoption was through the roof. We were getting dozens of new users every day. It looked good on the surface, but when we dug into the data, we got worried. These people would come and register, and use the app a bit, but we'd never see them again. Or, they'd use the application much less than our normal active users would and not convert to paying users. We tweaked our onboarding and optimized our email sequences, but the results were mostly the same. As a result, we removed our free plan and instead provided a free trial. Though our new app registrations fell sharply, our trial-to-paid conversion rate went up 10X. We started making more money and could also reduce our expenses.
Daniel Ndukwu, CMO and Co-Founder, UsefulPDF
Introduced Nap Time in My Organization
A well-rested mind is a very productive tool for any organization. The goal of any data insight is quite simple: help make better decisions. Good data management and analysis strategy assisted my organization in monitoring the health of critical systems, streamlining them, and improving profitability.
The insights showed my employees tended to be dull and unmotivated to work right after lunch. Giving the staff an allowance of a thirty-minute nap revitalized them and improved their afternoon output.
Changed Fonts from Arial to OpenSans
One of the most unusual and impactful decisions I've made was to switch my company's default font from Arial to OpenSans. I came across the idea after reading an article about how important typography is for marketing and how it can affect people's perceptions of your brand. I'd been using Arial for years without giving it much thought—it was just what we had always used, and I didn't know any better. But when I started looking into different fonts and their specific characteristics and how they might affect our perception of our company, it really opened my eyes. We switched to OpenSans because we wanted something more professional-looking than Arial. The result was something that felt like our brand better than ever before: we got fewer complaints about legibility on our site and in printed materials; people responded more positively when filling out forms, and our employee satisfaction ratings improved by over 10% within six months of making the switch.
Amer Hasovic, Content Writer, Love & Lavender
Crafted Engaging Blog Content
While promoting your brand and products in blog posts is essential, reader engagement soars when you craft articles inspired by Google Trends data. However, the topic must apply to your business and offering to make this a successful strategy for your brand.
For example, last summer, I used Google Trends data to research the most popular milkshake flavour in every U.S. state. Not only does this topic resonate with a broad audience, but it also relates to summertime and outdoor living.
For these reasons, the article quickly went viral and now features on numerous food and beverage websites and media outlets across the country. Using data insights to write informative and entertaining articles is an excellent way to expand brand awareness and drive significant traffic to your website.
And the most popular milkshake flavour in the country? Strawberry.
Jayme Muller, Brand Manager, RTA Outdoor Living