The world today is driven by digital technologies. We are constantly intact and engaged on our digital devices that we find ourselves wreathing in discomfort whenever we are separated from our gadgets.
Fortunately, for the business world, all digital activities are recorded. Whether you are running an online clothing store or own a food outlet, you can learn a lot about your customers through digital information.
However, for many business leaders, these critical information lies untouched in databases and dashboards. You can change that and start to harness the power of data to make effective decisions. Read on and learn about the various ways you can do so.
Making Data-Driven Decisions Your Core Strategy
Many young businesses make decisions based on their gut feelings or observable trends. Few would go deeper to learn more about their clients. This is not sustainable as the company grows.
When you entrench data-driven decisions in strategy making, you will analyze historical data, harvested from digital sources, to establish trends that define the future. This allows you to align your resources to meet customers’ expectations more accurately. This, in turn, means enhanced efficiency, better customer experiences and ultimately an improved bottom line.
Below are steps to guide you on how to use data to achieve this.
1. Evaluate your objectives and use data to prioritize
At the heart of any growing business are the objectives. It is essential to ask yourself reflective questions such as, “What do you want to achieve?” and “What customer needs do you want to address?” This is the primary objective for all businesses, amidst the many others. Start by listing down not more than 10 of your core objectives and the priority level. A data-driven strategy will help you to prioritize additional services as a value proposition.
2. Gathering data
This step is as crucial as asking the right questions. It should begin on day one – instead of relying everything on intuition, have a good balance between intuition and data. Adopt good practice to log and measure everything so you can collect data which you can choose to track and visualize. Gathering them in one centralized place can help you display your findings meaningfully and gain better insight into the performance of your business.
3. Analyze and draw lessons from the data
Once you have had a look at past data, analyze it and draw lessons and trends. For instance, if you are offering professional services and would like to grow your customer base, social media posts can help you understand how to tweak your marketing and improve on brand awareness.
You can analyze through asking questions like, “Do the targeted clients feel like they have spent too many resources on the process?” and “What would they rather do instead?”. Thereafter, you can utilize these analyses to develop a strategy that aligns resources to address the gaps identified.
4. Measure the Success Rate
You would not be able to know the effectiveness of data-driven decisions on your company if you do not measure the success rate. The main criterion for success is the conversion rate. Review the conversion rate after a period. How does it compare with when you used your gut feeling to make decisions? Data-driven decisions will certainly take your business to a new level of growth.
You can also seek SME accounting services in Singapore to consult with accounting experts regarding the financial health of your business, so you can use the relevant financial data for all your decision making.
If you require any assistance on accounting services in Singapore, feel free to drop us an email at johnwoo@ag-singapore.com or contact us at +65-66358767. At Ackenting Group, we offer a free 30 minutes online consultation for us to understand your business requirements better.
