What happens when organizations base decisions solely on what they’ve done in the past? Blockbuster happens. Instead of noticing a market trend towards digital and embracing it, they famously turned down Netflix’s offer to sell in its infancy. We all know which company is still around today.

Making decisions based on past experience is all too common. According to a survey from KPMG, 67% of CEOs say they have ignored the insights provided by data analysis or computer-driven models in the last three years because the insights contradicted their own intuition or experience. Why is this dangerous?

Basing business decisions on intuition means spending resources on trial and error to discover new opportunities. It’s a lot like trying to hit a nail while wearing a blindfold — it’s inefficient, and you may not even find the opportunities you’re looking for.

Customer analytics and business intelligence have changed how C-suite leaders make decisions — making them more data-driven than ever before. But, decision-makers still need creativity and intuition to capitalize on market opportunities. The only difference is that now they can put those ideas to the test with the science of marketing analytics. When they can blend data with creativity and intuition, amazing things happen.

According to a Mckinsey report, data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain customers, and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result. Why is that? How does analytics help organizations make better decisions?

3 WAYS CUSTOMER ANALYTICS IMPROVES YOUR BUSINESS

  1. Improved customer experience. The customer experience is key to business growth and prosperity. Happy customers spend more time engaging with companies, are more likely to refer new business, and are less likely to complain. Customer data can help improve the customer experience by showing you where customers have trouble. It can also help you find gaps in your service or UX that could make the customer experience more seamless.
  2. Strategic decision making. As we mentioned before, executive teams have gotten used to making decisions based on past activity and intuition. While that intuition is invaluable, combining it with science-backed marketing analytics can help your team avoid trial and error. It also gives your team the confidence to stick with decisions that don’t reap immediate results.
  3. An enhanced vision of market trends and opportunities. The only sure thing about the market is that change is inevitable. Executive teams can’t succeed by hoping that their products and services stand up to these changes. They need to use marketing analytics to predict market trends and proactively make adjustments that keep them viable year after year.

The great thing about customer analytics is that these three benefits only scratch the surface. Apart from these, the skillful use of analytics can improve marketing efficiency, innovation, ROI, and much more.

Knowing the power of analytics is only half the battle. Companies must also know how to wield the tools that help them extract value from their analytics. Let’s look at one such tool: Salesforce.

HOW SALESFORCE HELPS BUSINESSES GATHER, ORGANIZE, AND ANALYZE CUSTOMER DATA

 

Salesforce is a sales-focused CRM that helps connect customer data to the rest of your departments. It helps you gather and store customer data and interactions in one place so that all of your team members have access to the same information. On a granular level, it improves individual customer interactions and limits repeatedly collecting the same customer data.

At a higher level, Salesforce can help your team provide an omnichannel experience that doesn’t just focus one part of the customer journey but on the journey as a whole. This means it helps you better connect the efforts of sales, marketing, and customer service to the appropriate stage of the sales funnel. But, it can do even more for executive teams. Its analytics tool, Einstein Analytics, can help executives make informed decisions. How?

Einstein Analytics starts by allowing you to gather data from multiple sources, including those found outside of Salesforce. This means you can get all of your data loaded into one central repository. Although, true insights become apparent with data visualization.

SUPERCHARGE EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKING THROUGH SALESFORCE ANALYTICS

With Salesforce’s visualization tools, executives have access to sales and service KPIs. This helps their team understand customer trends and identify gaps in the market. Let’s look at the types of questions customer analytics can help your team answer.

  • Which products and services are underperforming/over-performing?
  • Are there stages in the buyer’s journey where you’re losing people?
  • What do your best customers look like? Are you optimizing your process for them?
  • Are there gaps in your service or the industry standard that present an untapped opportunity?
  • Does team performance indicate a need for additional training?

It is possible to answer some of these questions through trial and error. However, that’s inefficient, and you could end up expending a lot of resources before landing on the right answer. Worse yet, you may lose out to a competitor who is quicker to capitalize on the changing market. Instead, leverage data to give your team the edge.

As we’ve seen, customer analytics can help you blend science with data to make decisions that give your firm a competitive advantage. But, you may wonder how you can set up Salesforce analytics for your distributed workforce. Our team can consult with you about your options and help you set up data visualization for better decision-making. Let’s talk today.