Any business owner knows that their customers can switch to any one of their competitors if they wanted to, and especially if they consistently receive poor service. However, because of the amount of data gathered from such customers these days, that’s hardly a pressing concern.
Businesses are able to gather data at every point in the customer journey – including digital clicks, social media interactions, and mobile app usage – which means there’s a large amount of raw data to process at any given time. This is where an advanced analytics consultant can step in. They can help make sense of all the information gathered, and guide decisions based on the digital fingerprints unique to each individual in a company’s customer base.
That said, if you haven’t been using advanced analytics for your business, you’ve been missing out. Let’s take a look at a few different business processes that can stand to benefit from this practice.
Production
While this is a more behind-the-scenes process, it’s nonetheless important for any business that offers a range of products. Advanced analytics can predict patterns in demand for certain products over another, and whether or not these are bought by themselves.
Using these predictions, a company can make sure the high-demand products are available when customers look for them while keeping production of low-demand products to a minimum. This in turn will help the production team know what to order and how much, lessening waste and keeping costs low. This is in comparison to a company that keeps churning out products at the same volume week after week, regardless of demand.
Marketing
As far as marketing goes these days, a one-size-fits-all approach will have low chances of getting someone to so much as look at what a company offers. After all, that’s the first step toward getting someone to sign up for a newsletter or service, or purchase a product.
Advanced analytics can make a world of difference by helping marketers form highly targeted strategies aimed at a particular person, if not a particular group of persons, with notably higher chances of success.
For example, if a company catered to both men and women aged 18 to 55, a general marketing campaign might pique the interest only of those aged 18 to 25. That means everyone in the 26 to 55 age bracket – around 75% of its target market – wouldn’t even consider looking at the company’s products.
However, let’s say the same company created several different marketing campaigns aimed toward each age bracket, or one campaign targeted towards women aged 18 to 25 and a second targeted towards men in that same age range. Even if only half the people in each target group responded to the campaign, that’s still a better response rate.
Sales
This is perhaps the most straightforward process, and the one where analytics has a very obvious effect. Considered a primary business process because this is how companies earn profits, sales can use advanced analytics to present products that will answer customers’ needs, or answer a customer’s questions and eventually convince them to sign up for a service.