Actionable data is just becoming an empty buzzword for most of the businesses now.
Actionable data
According to the Forrester reports, 74% of companies desire to be “data-driven”, but only 29% won the game at connecting analytics to action.
Where they’re lagging?
Let’s figure out here!
Actionable insights seem to be the missing link for firms who want to drive business decisions from their data.
Companies are collecting data, turning it into insight, acting on it to improve customer experience and business processes. However, what makes data actionable?
Obviously, collecting correct data is something to focus on, but making it highly useful needs a different mindset.
Let’s discuss here the points that can help you to clear all confusions related to actionable data.
What is Actionable Data
Actionable Data in Five Segments
Why Actionable Insights Matter?
How to Get Actionable Insights?
Challenges in Getting Actionable Data
Let’s start!
What is Actionable Data?
What is Actionable data?
Actionable data is a term used in the data analytics and digital ecosystem for information that gives enough clarity to take any business decisions now and then. Actionable data is the outcome of extensive data analytics and data processing.
To explain, the vast amounts of customer data are analysed to determine their behaviour, patterns and interests. For example- Their market upheavals and downturns, spending habits, and other financial decisions they take that help an analyst to come up with a business plan.
So here you can take two types of actions with data- Direct and Indirect Actions.
Let’s discuss both actionable data insights in detail with some examples-
Direct Actions
These we can act promptly by turning data into actionable insights. For instance-
A notification to someone can remind them to take a particular action.
A list of customers to be reached via mail with a survey.
An analysis of marketing data could begin a targeted online campaign.
Indirect Actions
It occurs when the data turns people toward better decisions — without the necessity to decide on the spot. It mainly involves communication and collaboration between people, for example-using actionable data insights as an input for decision making or any strategic plans.
The entire process is carried out in audience insight tools. Once you get enough audience insights from a tool, you can take proper action on it.
Hielix outlines the aspects of actionable data in 5 segments. Here is the list–
Actionable data segments
1. Accuracy
It refers to the data elements that are-correct, legible, valid and equivalents.
2. Accessibility
It revolves around- data modalities, device modalities and user proficiency.
3. Ubiquity/Liquidity
Here data/information exchange and availability part to play like- interoperability, persistence and virtual availability.
4. Quality
It’s about- completeness, duplication, organisation, security and consistent definitions.
5. Organisation
It involves- context, logic, dynamic parsing, semantic consistency and updated taxonomies.
Why Actionable Data Insights Matter?
To get clear with this answer, you must first know the difference between these terms-
Data
Information
Insights
Most of the marketers lag in clearly differentiating them.
Let’s define them separately-
Data is the raw and unstructured facts that are generally in the form of text and numbers.
Information is prepared data that has been processed, collected and organised into a more readable format that gives more context.
Insights are created by analysing information and jumping to conclusions. Both data and information lay the basis for finding insights to take any action on it.
Actionable data, as we discussed above, will help the companies to make strategic and well-informed decisions.
Actionable data insights can help the companies to reach their intended marketing goals because the insights are directly derived from your customers.
Translating data into insights helps you achieve the end goals of data-driven marketing such as-
It brings a competitive advantage,
An opportunity to enhance customer experience,
A strategy to improve inventory,
Validation to pursue new markets.
Actionable data is the key to enhance your product and operational processes. In case your organisation is wholly based on data-driven decisions.
How to Get Actionable Insights?
To get this answer, first, you must have an idea of whether the data you have is insightful or not.
How can you differentiate between the two?
Let’s throw light on it-
Non-Insightful data is something that you already know, or you don’t need to know about it.
For example,- Teenagers spend time on Instagram, mostly to reach new products or promotions.
On the other side, Insightful data is something that you don’t know, or you have some confusion. Or an insight is a determination that contradicts your knowledge, denies or confirms your confusion, or estimates the significance.
Actionable data insights help the company to clear with what action to take and what action not to take.
Here is the list of proven strategies that experts followed for turning data into actionable insights:
How to get Actionable Insights?
1. Measure the Right Things
It would be best if you had a clear idea, what are your strengths and weaknesses of your business so that you can design a right plan and act on it. Consider for example-
You must check –
Which channels bring you more conversions?
Which types of offers are triggering your customers to act on your message?
What are your leaking buckets? (high bounce rate web pages)
Which features of your product do your customers like the most?
Which pages of your site people visit the most and reason for it?
2. Take Time to Answer Raised Questions.
You must check with your team members and try to analyse what are the challenges they are facing and try to get answers for it from your actionable data insights before performing subsequent data analysis.
3. Use Data Segmentation to Drive Actions.
Segment your audience data based on granular level precision details so that you can target them more precisely or in a combination of two or more segments.
This strategy will help the companies to reach the right audience and with the right offers.
4. Use Clear Visualizations to Convey your Message.
Giving a proper structure to your data is considerable that will help you to get clarity and overcome confusions.
If you’re converting your data into what, why, how to format, you can easily get useful insights from your actionable data.
5. Determine the Context of your Data Set
Collecting insights is not enough; you must have a proper understanding of context to take right decisions.
Focus on the context of the data like-
Why are these insights significant?
What do these insights mean to your business?
How and what are the ways that these insights help the business?.
Without having a significant context from data can lead to incorrect business decisions because of assuming it in the wrong way.
6. Create a Strong Optimisation Plan
Implement the “define, measure, analyse, improve and control” (DMAIC) process to develop your business. This six sigma concept is one of the most effective ways you can deploy in your business.
7. Get a Single View of your Customer
Connect all the sources of information at one place, to get a unified view of the customer. It will help the brands to get proper insights into individual customers and can provide the customised service.
You can select any one of the strategies or combination of these strategies to experiment and find which works best for your organisation.
Let’s move to-
Challenges in Getting Actionable Data
Harvesting more insights from your data can give enormous returns for your company. So what is hindering the business owners from connecting the dots between data, analytics, and business growth?
According to the survey conducted by KPMG, 4 out of 10 chief executives pointed towards their inability to implement right data technology according to business models. And 85% stated that they strive hard to implement the proper solutions from their data insights.
Most of the business owners are unable to interpret how to leverage the maximum from their data analytics even though they know it’s vital for their business.
Most probably, they start collecting massive data from their business without understanding how to use it in business. Then they go for data analytics, and finally, they come to know that translating data into insights is not enough, they need actionable insights to implement it in business.
However, to carry out all these operations, we need the right technology and platform. To suggest you, Audienceplay is one of such platforms that can help you to get great actionable insights from your audience data in just some simple steps.
All you need to do here is upload your audience data, segment data based on certain factors, get valuable insights from your audience data, and activate across various marketing channels. Moreover, you can earn from your segmented audience by allowing other brands to run campaigns using your segmented audience.
Audienceplay is a free DIY platform and easy to use with clear instructions at every stage.
Conclusion
Most of the business owners are gathering massive data from different sources of their business.
But at what level they are utilising it properly? It’s the question that disturbs most of the entrepreneurs.
Before collecting insights from audience data, ensure your hard-earned insights are actionable. So that they’re primed to drive value for your organisation.
Actionable data insights can only help the companies to reach their data-driven marketing goals.
To address your needs, you must adopt the right technology.
Audienceplay can be a probable solution to leverage maximum from your audience data.
Don’t wait, try it now!