3 Tips to Turn Better Big Data into Better Decisions

“There is no point in dealing with big data if you don’t have a clue on how to deal with it”, Professor Dr. Koen Pauwels explains.

In contrast with the highly inspiring session of Brian Solis, animated with overwhelming images and strong one-liners, Professor Dr. Koen Pauwels’ presentation was a bit more sober but still very effective.

“I have more data than ever, less staff than ever, and more pressure to demonstrate marketing impact than ever”

Three tips to help you out

1. Insight Engine

By using some simple examples, Pauwels stated that there is no point in dealing with big data if your marketing department doesn’t know how to deal with it, nor to automate it or making the right conclusions out of it.

He strongly recommends to implement a reliable dashboard, which will allow companies to be ahead of their competitors.

A well set-up dashboard keeps records, benchmarks and makes someone take action. This so called ‘insight machine’, will differentiate overperformers from underperformers, simply because they are capable to crossmatch insights with their business plans and strategies.

2. Human Biases

Marketeers will remain just people and that’s why we have to be careful about our ‘human biases’: the confirmation bias, communication misunderstandings and control illusions.

The way we look at things is unconsciously pre-defined and prejudiced.

On top of that and when it comes to understanding data, you won’t be able to fully understand them if the context of your company differs from the context of your department.

The third danger is to premise the wrong KPI’s, based on constantly fast changing real-time metrics.

Model, show and act!

Visualising helps. A dashboard will help you to make the correct conclusions from your metrics but it will certainly convince your stakeholders of the analyses made.

Collect all offline and online metrics related to your customer journey in a clear model and translate this in a more friendly, readable and understandable version.

It will allow decision makers to interpret your analyses and take immediate action. But always respect the feedback loop: “act and adjust to feedback”.

3. Consider data as a breeding ground

Big data supply rich nutrients, but it is still the marketeer who chooses the right spot to plant the seed.

If you feed your breeding ground with the relevant questions, when it gets the right sufficient light via the right angle, then success is guaranteed.