While we have always thought of data as this rich resource that contains all the information we need, it glosses over the work that needs to be done to transform data into that invaluable resource that it is.
Raw data by itself does not have any value. Rather, they are comprised of unorganized facts that have received no processing whatsoever. This means that while you get some information in the data, this information remains useless because you do not have the context as to what the data is referring to
This is where information comes in. Basically, information provides the needed context for the data to be more understood by the person reading the data. As such, it is important that the data is analyzed and processed in a way that the information that comes out of it is understood by the audience.
But if the audience is comprised of an organization’s decision-makers, there is a critical need that the information conveyed by the data to be what is considered actionable intelligence. This refers to the point and purpose of internal and external efforts to understand what’s going on in your business and in the greater environment around your business.
Actionable Intelligence is Information with a purpose where the big and tough questions are asked and allow for the data’s audience, which would be mostly the business’ decision-makers, to derive valuable insights that can facilitate more informed decision-making as a result.
The benefits of actionable data
Maximizing the actionable insights are key to a company’s data-driven marketing success. Specifically, it provides some important benefits:
Facilitate better decision-making
No matter where the business is in its marketing journey, there are always decisions to be made, and a lot can rest on these decisions. With actionable insights, you can gain the right information you need to facilitate better decision-making.
Help guide your marketing strategies toward success
Choosing the right marketing strategy is key to generating a higher ROI for a lower cost. Actionable insights can help you keep track of your marketing campaigns and how they’re performing, uncover the flaws and strengths of your campaigns, and provide insight into the channels that provide better leads and sales, thus deserving additional funding.
Improve the customer experience
Actionable insights can provide you with an abundance of information on your industry and customers. You can use analytics to extract key insights to identify problems in the customer journey and improve customer experiences to drive retention and improve ROI.
How to turn data into actionable insights
Transforming data into actionable insights may seem to be a tall order. But with the right tools, goals, and processes in place, it is going to be difficult to achieve this goal. As such, the following tips will help ensure the successful transition from data to actionable insights.
Define your goals and objectives
Actionable insights depend entirely on the right data. So it is important to first outline your goals and objectives as they will define the entire transformation process. There are tons of metrics that sound impressive and look good on paper, but in reality, add no value to your business. So avoid tracking data that isn’t important to your overarching business goals.
Invest in the right tools to capture actionable data
Choosing the right data analytics tool is essential in transforming data into valuable action. However, there are a myriad of analytics tools in the market that claim to be the one and only solution for the job. It is therefore critical to choose which tools provide the most comprehensive features list that provides value to your business operations and can derive the most amount of actionable insights that can be generated from your data.
Provide context
As noted earlier, data only becomes valuable when context is included. If your report isn’t formed by context, you’re essentially presenting arbitrary numbers. But where and how does one start in providing such context? While there are a number of ways to achieve this, the most common and most effective is to ensure the context provides information that answers the 5 W’s of the data: the who, what, when, where, and why. This allows you to structure your data effectively and create an interesting story that gets the audience engaged with the data you are sharing.
Make use of visuals
As the famous saying and cliche goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. It is estimated that 65% of the population are visual learners. As such, charts and graphics are a great way to help your readers follow and understand your data research. They also help reduce the amount of time it takes to create a report, allowing you to focus on more important tasks.
Harnessing the full potential of your data to derive actionable insights can have a profound impact on the success and growth of your company. These insights not only enable smarter decision-making but also drive innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and uncover new business opportunities.