Having previously been a data and web analyst for many years, data is typically always extracted and placed into everyone's ever so familiar, favorite reporting platform, MS Excel. So why use the charts and graphs provided by an aggregated data platform in the first place? I know many analysts and businesses who would agree with me and say they don't use them (possibly even the analyst(s) in your organisation right now).
It takes a brave person to make a purchasing decision based around the above two key mentioned areas. I can testify (by speaking from experience) just how many businesses adopt this 'strategy', having worked over many years with a lot of organisations across multiple business sectors, including financial services, travel, retail, utilities and telecommunications. Just because the few charts/graphs you have look good doesn't mean the data in the report(s) it provides to the business are with any insight which is actionable. The charts/graphs need to be interactive!
Most of us have MS Excel on our desktop machines. It doesn't take a semi experienced MS Excel user long to build a dashboard from scratch. The hardest job with any dashboard build is the collation and consistency of the data.
One of the most recent dashboards I have built in MS Excel can be seen below. This incorporates non-aggregated visitor data covering all marketing touchpoints (not just first and last click, but all clicks inbetween) which have been weighted to provide a true picture on what channels, promotions, activities, placements, offers, partners and so on actually are working to influence a prospect to engage and convert with a web site.
Additionally, if you have a Business Intelligence platform such as SAP Business Objects, Crystal Xcelsius, Microstrategy, Qlikview, SAS and so on, you can do even better things with the charts/graphs. All with interactive controls and functions, enabling you to get to the lowest level required (which in my case is often the visitor level - their phone number, email address, social security number and so on).
So in reality, if you wanted, your Business Intelligence dashboard could actually look like the screenshot below. Most Business Intelligence platforms today are appreciating Mobile BI is the future by empowering analysts to influence, make decisions and provide real-time insight whilst on the move. The example below is taken from the Microstrategy blog but it shows Mobile BI at its best and certainly provides much better 'eye-candy' than any other online analytics and optimization tool I have used before.
What I love best about interactive dashboards is the involvement of data from more than one channel (typically the web). In the above example, data is being collated in a Customer Data Hub (more about what defines a CDH later), but for a business to see how all channels are performing, volumes of calls, revenue attributed when compared with other channels, trends compared to last year and so on, this insight is like 'Gold Dust'. BUT, what makes this all the more appealing, is the ability to go down to Visitor/Customer/Prospect level and then actually do something with the data extracted; perhaps send a list of possible fraudulent applications to the anti-fraud team by email to investigate, or abandoned insurance purchases to the call center for a follow-up phone call. These are only a few of the actions very few businesses are actually doing today with their marketing insight platform, whilst others so desperately want to be able to do the same.
Without any shadow of a doubt, aggregated data and the charts and graphs associated with them, have limited shelf life. Yes, they are good for spotting trends and identifying upcoming demands, but they are not good enough to give businesses today what they really want. The good news is this, what businesses want from their online/offline marketing channels can be achieved today. But, the right platform needs to be in place. So, the question to ask is: 'Does your marketing insight platform have a Customer data model? (have you seen it? does it address/meet your analyst/business requirements?). Does it provide aggregated or non-aggregated visitor level insight? Can you slice and dice the data quickly, repeatedly, over time, integrate other channel sources and so on? Do you have a Business Intelligence platform in place already? If not, would MS Excel cut the mustard for you?
Done correctly, Customer Insight can be very powerful. The most surprising bit though is the cost to achieve it - it's not as much as you might imagine.
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