Getting The Most Out Of
Your Data Sources
Introduction
The starting point for a lot of organisations in implementing data is to understand the different data sources you are using today, where different metrics live and which ones are the most important…
What Is A Data Source?
A data source is anything which produces digital information. This could be a file, a programme, a website etc. Every organisation uses multiple data sources everyday, and often they have to combine metrics from multiple sources to get the answers they need.
Data Sources Across The Customer Journey
A great way to identify all of your data sources is to first map out your customer journey and touchpoints. At the acquisition stage, prospective customers might see your brand on social media, through online advertising, search engine results, blog posts etc. During conversion, they may visit your website, review sites, sign up for a free trial. For ecommerce, customers may add various products to watch lists and carts. Once they have subscribed or purchased, their activities and profile details will be stored within a CRM or ERP systems or your backend database. They may contact support for various reasons. And lastly if they love your brand, they will spread the word via social media and review sites or refer your products to friends and family.
By mapping out your customer journey, you will establish:
- A list of key data sources
- Priority of data sources based on usage and the impact across the customer journey
- Which data sources are relevant to different business functions
- Key business questions along the customer journey
- Any current data gaps
Where Are Your Existing Reports?
In addition to different customer touchpoints, consider how reporting is done today. You may have various spreadsheets, downloading reports from various tools etc. These can give you a good idea on key reports and metrics being used by different teams, their importance, and any duplications, inconsistencies or discrepancies.
How Do You Determine Which Metrics?
Creating a list of key metrics and identifying their source involves a strategic approach. All of your data efforts will need to tightly align to your business goals, so a clear understanding of your short and medium goals is essential. No doubt each area of your business will have multiple KPIs and metrics that need to be tracked, but as a starting point it may be better to take a step back, consider the 10 most important things you need to know to run your business and start with those.
It can often be helpful to consider your current reports in the context of business decisions. What actions can your team make? What data can help inform those actions? This thought exercise should help you focus on those metrics which really matter and less so on the “nice to have” information.
For each metric, you should define its business meaning, how it is calculated, and where the source data comes from. For example, when do you consider someone converted as a customer? Is it when they created an account, or once they purchased an item? We recommend creating a data dictionary for this exercise, which will be used as a blueprint for your data modelling and implementations later.
How To Prioritise Your Data Sources?
Having mapped out your customer journey, existing reporting and your KPI list, you should have a solid understanding of which data sources are the most important.
Other factors you should consider when prioritising and integrating data sources:
- Accessibility. Some data sources may be easier than others to integrate. Check if it allows data transfer directly into your data warehouse (e.g., GA4 to BigQuery) or if it is available via a data extraction tool such as Fivetran or Stitch.
- Timeliness. You may need data visibility more frequently than what your current reporting provides.
- Manual intervention. Your current processes may require many manual steps which are prone to error and affect data accuracy, hence a need to prioritise their automation.
- Gut-feeling vs. data-driven. You may want to change how you define certain data to follow a consistent and data-driven approach. For example, “hot” vs. “cold” leads are entered based on the gut feeling of each sales person. Instead, you would like to base it on past sales activities. These types of insights are much easier to calculate once you integrate the data source.
Need Help Integrating Your Data Sources?
Extracting, modelling, visualising and activating data so it is useful can be a lengthy process, so why not plug in our team here at 173tech? We work with the tools and processes you already have in place and can help you quickly integrate and model multiple data sources. Get in touch today to find out more!
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