Synonyms: Analytics, Evidence, Insights, Statistics
From a definition standpoint, this one is tricky. There are a number of ways that we talk about data. Below are a few examples of the type of data I am thinking about/referring to for this series:
- User data: information we have on an audience – their trackable engagement with your organization, their behaviors on your site, their customer information in your CRM and any offline interaction data we are able to track and store
- Site performance data: information we have on the overall performance of your website and/or digital properties. This includes general session numbers, bounce rates, page flow, etc.
- Personalization data: Information regarding the personas or patterns that users are matching based on their content consumption. Personalization data also provides insights around and the personalized content that is delivered to a user.
Why do we care about data?
Oh man, is that a rhetorical question? Data is one of THE most important factors when it comes to strategy and marketing. From a strategy stand point, data helps to inform the plan for engaging and delivering the best customer experience through digital channels and assets. For both strategy and marketing, data gives us the information we need around what is working and what’s not. We use data to tell us if our marketing is bringing in traffic, if our content is converting, if our experience is meeting expectations, and more.
We ALWAYS care about data. And if you are not collecting data or looking at your data on a regular basis, please, please, please start to make data a priority.
If you want to chat about best ways to collect data and use data to make informed decisions, fill out the contact form or HMU on twitter @jgrozalsky.
Stay thirsty, friends!
