5 Signs you are not Leveraging Data in your Business Growth Plans

What do successful businesses have in common? One of the most straightforward answers is that they are powered by data. With large amounts of data available at their disposition, they can make informed decisions. Whether your business collects data manually by talking to the customers, or whether you get them virtually via forms, it can be used to pave the way for success in more ways than one.

Easier said than done; it takes a lot to make the huge chunks of data work for you even though it is one of the main tools in your arsenal. In other words, you need to smartly use data analytics and gain a stranglehold on the market. That said, here are some of the signs where you may be lagging when it comes to leveraging data for your business and growth plans.

You Are Not Able to Carry Out Strategic Forecasting

According to a study, brands enjoy up to 8% increase in the profit and 10% reduction in cost with a revolutionary marketing strategy based on Big Data.

A case in point is that of Amazon, which offers accurately-placed recommendations of various products during the users’ browsing sessions. The eCommerce giant achieves this precise prediction by tapping into big data. It tracks the customers’ purchasing behaviours, patterns like how customers rate items, and also notice similar purchases and interests of other customers with near similar shopping patterns. The company makes use of data to get the demand-and-supply right, i.e. get an idea about which customers will demand what products at what time.

In brief, businesses need to tap into the potential of big data and take it to the next level for near-perfect forecasting of trends and increase their revenues manifold.

You Are Unable to Use Insights for Taking Customer Engagement to the Next Level

“You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data.” — Daniel Keys Moran.

Improving your customer’s journey is a sure-shot way to fuel your business’s success. But before that, you need to deliver the right message to them and take engagement to the next level.

Let’s face it. Data empowers businesses not just to create detailed insights, but also to identify opportunities that can help bridge gaps. It goes without saying that you need to use data analytics to gain in-depth insights about customer behaviour and therefore, go ahead and do segmentation and targeting.

Netflix, for instance, takes the help of Big Data to personalise programs for its subscribers. Add to this the fact that the platform’s recommendation system influences 80% of the content watched on the platform. This near-perfect algorithm helps Netflix save $1 billion a year in value from customer retention.

Your Investment Strategies Are Not Aligned with Your Business Strategies

Using data effectively is a proven way to align your investment strategies with your business strategies. It is the first step that will pave the way to create new opportunities for revenue streams. For instance, if you are in the manufacturing business, you can use data to foresee the demand and source the apt materials. That’s not all, you can also go ahead to reinvent every step of the business strategy from accounting to hiring new staff, applying new skills and technologies in the business, and so on.

You are Unable to Gain Insights and Operation Research

Do you find yourself stuck just because you can’t gain the necessary insights? We have all been there at some point of time or the other. However, with the proper use of data, you will be able to do more. First up, you need to measure the right things as not every business is tailored in the same way. For example, you may want to know which channels drive conversions, what are the reasons for high bounce rates for your website, which devices are being used by people to purchase your products, and so on.

Once you have a clear measurement plan in place along with the perfect set of KPIs, there’s nothing that can stop your business plans from growing. Tracking and measuring the ROI of your businesses will help you prioritize the goals as well as take the corrective steps if needed.

Your Marketing Strategy Is Not Data-Driven

Love it or hate it, you can’t do anything without making marketing an integral part of your business process. From spreading the word about your business to running campaigns that give your brand’s USPs a boost, there are several key areas that can be enhanced with marketing alone.

A robust marketing strategy uses data to understand the critical information such as who the targeted customers are, what they are buying, why are they buying it, etc. Without leveraging big data in the campaigns, you tend to lose out on appealing to massive target audiences, especially when you are looking forward to launching a new product or increasing the sales of existing products/services.

Big Data analytics will continue to surge in the near future, and it is imperative that businesses are focused and embrace it at every opportunity that they get. Are you leveraging data for your business yet?