Every small business owner deals with a whole lot of data on a day to day basis. Data is essentially any information that your business takes in. This could be words, facts, figures, measurements… pretty much anything. It is generally noted down and stored – either in paper files or on tech devices, such as laptops, computers, tablets, or smartphones. But many business owners neglect the importance of data and fail to use data that they have collected to their business’ advantage. Here’s a little more information on this elaborate subject that should help you to get to grips with the basics and make the most of any data that your business does take!
Beneficial Data
There are so many different forms of data that your small business could be collecting, that you are going to have to whittle things down and work out what kind of data will prove most beneficial for your business – you can then focus on collecting this. If you don’t create an area of focus, you will quickly be overrun and swamped with facts and figures that you can’t really put to use. Here are some examples of beneficial data.
- Sales – monitoring sales can help you to see where your business is thriving and where it is falling short. If a certain line of items is generating huge amounts of profit, you can focus on this area. If a certain line is falling short, you can discontinue it and better invest your time, effort, and cashflow elsewhere.
- Interaction – seeing how people interact with your brand can help to determine why sales are up or down. Most websites allow you to monitor traffic, highlighting how long people spend on different pages of your site and which pages draw the most attention. Social media interaction through follows and likes can also teach you a lot about your demographic and what appeals to them.
Recording Data
The way in which you record data will vary depending on what type of data you are trying to collect. If you are trying to see how well consumers interact with your brand online, you might want to focus on media monitoring. If you want to see which of your products is proving the most popular, you will need to track sales.
Presenting Data
Data can be a little difficult to understand when it’s just a bunch of numbers on a page. If you want your employees or clients to engage with your findings more easily and willingly, consider turning your data into easily digestible charts, such as bar charts or pie charts. These visualise what you have to show and makes reports easier to process at a glance.
Making Data Based Decisions
When you have recorded data, you can then use the results to make rational decisions in your business. If, for example, you have found that consumers are more likely to spend money with your company at the end of each month, you can start launching new lines of products later in the month. You could also feel justified in running sales earlier in the month to encourage people to part with their cash sooner than they might otherwise. If you find that sales dipped after a particular marketing campaign, you can conduct research into what customers didn’t like and can consequently alter future campaigns to prevent a dip in sales in the future. It’s all good and well having data, but taking action and putting the results to use is what will really benefit your company!
This is just a little information in regards to data. Hopefully, it has helped to highlight the importance of data for your small business’ progression and success, and can encourage you to pay a little more information to the data that your business is generating and keeping a hold of!
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