Analytics

First, Do No Harm

March 10, 2011
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The effects of poor data management vary. Sending a gardening catalog to a deceased customer after the family notifies you of the passing is hurtful. Continuing to email someone who has opted out is annoying. There are different levels of offenses, but if you aren’t regularly cleaning your data, you’ll do more harm than good. While it may not affect your customers, it will definitely affect your bottom line.

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5 Marketing Metrics Where Close Enough Counts

February 21, 2011

Marketing analytics are not engineering specifications. When designing a building, an error of one inch at the foundation can cause a three foot variance at the top. When calculating lifetime value (LTV), failing to factor in the future value of money has little effect as long as the calculations are consistent over time.

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Are You Using Idiot Lights to Manage Your Business?

March 1, 2010

And that’s the problem with most key performance indicators (KPI’s). They are too simple to provide any meaningful information. The theory is sound. If you set goals with minimum and maximum benchmarks, the needle adjusts itself so management can monitor performance. But, what if the goals and benchmarks are wrong? What if they’re right, but the data is corrupted? How do you know?

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