To help you make informed, data-driven decisions for your business, we’ve gathered insights from 11 industry experts, including CEOs, founders, and marketing professionals. From focusing on sales funnel drop-offs to embracing an A/B testing strategy, discover the top tips these leaders shared on how to measure your business’s success effectively.
- Focus On Sales Funnel Drop-Offs
- Use Weekly Reports and Dashboards
- Apply the SMART Framework
- Implement ESG Reporting
- Establish Clear KPIs
- Follow a Data-Driven Process
- Target Decision-Centric Data
- Monitor P&L Data Closely
- Track Organic Business Growth
- Refine Data Models Continuously
- Embrace an A/B Testing Strategy
Focus On Sales Funnel Drop-Offs
Look for the biggest drop-offs in your sales funnels. This tells you where you need to focus most of your time and energy to improve your sales. For example, from analyzing your data, you may find that many people go to your checkout but don’t complete a purchase. In this example, by addressing checkout abandonment, you’ll see tangible results fast.
Chris Mccarron, Conversion Rate Optimization Expert, GoGoChimp
Use Weekly Reports and Dashboards
Using standard weekly reports or dashboards is key to making data-driven decisions. For example, if one of our marketing channels has been delivering leads that are not converting to sales, then we can direct spending away from that channel to a better channel almost immediately. Determine which metrics across which departments deliver valuable insight and refer to them over time to measure success and determine what to change and when.
Lachlan De Crespigny, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Revelo
Apply the SMART Framework
Use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) framework to set data-driven metrics for your business. Define the specific goal that you want to achieve with your data-driven decisions and make the goal measurable by aggregating and analyzing relevant data.
Afterward, ensure the goal is attainable with the resources. Make sure the goal is relevant to your business and its growth strategy. Last, set a time-bound deadline to achieve the goal. Using the SMART framework can help you make data-driven decisions and measure the success of your business.
Tarun Saha, Co-founder and CEO, StallionZo
Implement ESG Reporting
Implement ESG reporting to get a comprehensive view of your company’s health. ESG reporting considers a range of factors from across your business, including your environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance practices.
This creates a comprehensive look at your company’s well-being. Data in ESG reports can range from simple metrics regarding volunteerism or community giving to more complex protocols for supplier diversity and industry-specific regulations. There is no uniform manner to share these reports.
However, they are highly data-driven and provide a capsule view of your company’s total health. By using ESG reporting to gain a comprehensive view of your company’s health, you can identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions based on data. Plus, it shows your commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices.
Tyler Butler, Chief Social Impact Officer, 11Eleven Consulting
Establish Clear KPIs
Establish clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)! KPIs are quantifiable measurements that reflect your business’s progress toward specific goals.
To set effective KPIs, begin by identifying your company’s key objectives. Ensure that these KPIs cover various aspects of your business, such as sales, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
Next, gather relevant data and analyze it to understand trends, patterns, and areas of improvement. This empowers you to make well-informed decisions, prioritize resources, and ultimately, achieve your goals.
Remember to revisit your KPIs regularly, as they may need to be adjusted to keep up with the dynamic business landscape. With the power of KPIs at your fingertips, your business will soar to new heights of success.
Matthew Healey, Digital Marketing Executive, Signum Solutions
Follow a Data-Driven Process
In my experience, the best way to make data-driven decisions that help you measure the success of your business is to follow a process.
First, ask yourself what it is you’re trying to measure. Is it revenue? What are the drivers of that revenue?
Next, you need to find out what data sources are available for these metrics. For example, if you’re looking at revenue, find out if you have access to subscription data from your accounting system. If not, you need to reach out to sales or support teams for this information.
Then, take all that information and figure out how each piece fits into the bigger picture. For example, if I’m looking at subscription revenue, does that mean I’m selling more products or services? Or does it mean my customers are renewing their subscriptions more often? Find out if those two things go hand in hand and if they don’t, see how they differ.
Gauri Manglik, CEO and Co-founder, Instrumentl
Target Decision-Centric Data
The largest challenge to Data-Driven is that it becomes data-centric. We think we can just collect data and analyze it for better decisions. Yet this rarely occurs because, although data will always provide insight, it just might not be right for your decisions. Anyone can find patterns in data, but true data-driven decisions answer the right questions.
Instead, leaders should look decision centric, meaning they understand the decisions you need to make, that model into the metrics of success of your business, and then source the data that helps to make that decision. This requires targeted data gathering that helps inform the decision, not broad data gathering that can confound the decision maker.
More data does not help with decisions. The right data supporting a properly defined decision point, focusing on both confirmation and disconfirmation that are tied to logical outcomes, helps leaders make the best decisions with the clearest impact on business success.
Michael Woudenberg, Chief Innovation Officer, Polymathic Disciplines
Monitor P&L Data Closely
To make data-driven decisions that truly help measure the success of your business, focus solely on the data that is tied to your profits and losses (P&L). Don’t get bogged down in other metrics that aren’t directly correlated to the bottom line.
Review your P&L statement regularly, set clear goals, and track progress toward them with data. By keeping a close eye on the data that matters most, you can calculate the success of your business accurately and make informed decisions to drive growth.
Alfonso Colasuonno, Co-founder, Real Unicorn Apparel
Track Organic Business Growth
Tracking the organic growth of your business is a fantastic indicator of success from both a brand and a non-brand recognition standpoint.
For example, with tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, you can track the organic growth of brand and non-brand keywords related to your business, and ultimately understand your “sphere” of organic influence in relation to your business competition.
Ben Tibbits, Founder and Managing Director, BroadbandDeals.co.uk
Refine Data Models Continuously
Continuously refining data models is crucial for effective data-driven decisions. By regularly reviewing and updating your models, algorithms, and analytical techniques, you can account for changes in the business environment, new information, or technological advancements. This ensures that your data-driven decisions remain relevant, accurate, and effective in measuring the success of your business.
Jaya Iyer, Marketing Assistant, Teranga Digital Marketing
Embrace an A/B Testing Strategy
We rely on A/B testing as our top strategy for making better data-driven decisions fast. We use this approach to test various hypotheses in sales outreach, product development, and marketing.
To outperform your competitors, it is crucial to generate and test creative ideas at a fast pace. With a relatively small investment of time and resources, A/B testing can yield significant amounts of data that can inform better decision-making based on the experiments you have conducted.
Vitalii Romanchenko, CEO, Elai.io
