If you want your startup to grow, you have to keep improving your operations. Not so long ago, the only way to do that was to look at the ways you do things and identify areas that could use an upgrade. Nowadays, there’s so much data that can show you how to take your business to the next level. It’s all about utilizing that data the right way and planning your every move carefully. In case you need some help making use of your data, here’s how to do it.
Create an ideal customer journey
You can’t rely on data if you don’t have any. Sometimes, the most important information your business can collect comes directly from customers. The problem is, you can’t always expect them to help you gather the data you need. That’s why you have to encourage them to do so. The best way to achieve this is to design a great customer journey. When a customer is satisfied, they’re more likely to take time to answer your questions. Analyzing information you collect from online reviews and other feedback can reveal what your customers want. And once you know that, nothing can stop you from keeping them satisfied and setting your startup up for success.
Look at your website
Earlier, we mentioned that data is now more available than it ever was. This is as true as it gets and there’s just so much information that can help your business grow. Some of that information you don’t even have to collect – it’s already there. That is if you have a website. With just a little bit of time and effort, you can crunch the numbers and identify your best and worst-performing pages. Based on that, you can plan your next move. Data you collect this way will often tell you more about your site and point to any parts of it you might want to improve. To test your web performance, you can do some A/B testing.
Keep track of demand
To remain relevant, your startup needs to be aligned with the demand. In other words, you have to be aware of any changes in the number of customers coming in. Let’s take a look at an example. Imagine you’re running a small hotel. During the offseason, you probably won’t need as many employees as you do during the peak season. And once more customers start showing up, you need your team members to be more effective than usual. Things like this aren’t easy to keep track of if you’re not relying on data. On the other hand, with reports from previous years, you can come up with a forecast for the current year and make all your moves accordingly. Whether it’s hiring temporary workers or making your operations more effective, data can help you turn things around.
Be ready to upgrade your approach
We said earlier that businesses can nowadays use data to make their operations more effective. This goes even if you’re not sure what areas of your work could use improvement. If you choose to work with management consulting experts, they’ll be able to come up with changes in your approach you should make. These people have undergone special training and know exactly what to do as soon as they take a glance at your reports. They can work across all areas of your business and identify ways to innovate each department. Sometimes, these professionals will be able to help you transform the entire company culture and build a better workplace for you and your team.
Think about social media
Social media now plays a critical role in our everyday lives. What’s more, it found its way into the marketing world, and all companies now have their own social media pages. If your startup is on social media, nothing stops you from putting the data you collect there to good use. Social media profiles make it so easy to segment your target audience and find out more about it. And if you figure out how to appeal to them the right way, nothing will stop you from succeeding. In case you need some more convincing, look at it this way – companies with powerful segmentation strategies experience increased profitability by 10 percent.
The bottom line
Data is here to stay. Nowadays, it’s even more important to find a way to include it in your operations and use it to come up with ways to enhance your startup. Only the companies that integrate data science will soon be able to remain competitive in the market. Everything we talked about in this post will help prepare the ground and make better data-driven decisions. With machine learning and other tech advancements we’re witnessing, expect even more ways to use data to be available in the future.
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with twelve years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.