Successful business leaders have always relied on some form of data to help them make decisions. Data collection used to involve manual data collection such as talking with customers face-to-face or taking surveys via phone, mail, or in-person. Whatever the method, most data had to be collected manually for business to understand their customers and market better. Because of the financial cost, time, difficulty of execution, and more associated with data collection, many companies operated with limited data.
Today, gathering data to help you better understand your customers and markets is easy. (If anything, the challenge these days is whittling your data down to what’s most helpful.) Almost every modern business platform or tool can deliver rows upon rows of data for your business to use.
Even one-person startups generate data. Any business with a website, a social media presence, that accepts electronic payments of some form, etc., has data about customers, user experience, web traffic, and more. All that data is filled with potential if you can learn to access it and use it to improve your company.
After experiencing a slow sales month or finishing up a poor-performing marketing campaign, how do you pinpoint what went wrong or was not as successful? Trying to find the reason for under performance without data is like trying to hit the bull’s-eye on a dashboard with your eyes closed.
Even one-person startups generate data. Any business with a website, a social media presence, that accepts electronic payments of some form, etc. Has data about customers, user experience, web traffic, and more. All that data is filled with potential if you can learn to access it and use it to improve your company.
Data helps you understand and improve business processes so you can reduce wasted money and time. Every company feels the effects of waste. It uses up resources that could be better spent on other things, squanders people’s time, and ultimately impacts your bottom line.
Without data, how do you know who your actual customers are? Without data, how do you know if consumers like your products or if your marketing efforts are effective? Without data, how do you know how much money you are making or spending? Data is key to understanding your customers and market.