It’s a given that businesses will regularly review their metrics and data against target or historical results to benchmark current performance and inform marketing priorities. Some businesses will do this as frequently as several times a day. The metrics available can be a wealth of information but can also be overwhelming. In some instances, I’ve seen a lot of knee-jerk reactions due to numbers not being where they had forecast or targeted. This panic can lead to a long list of reactive urgent actions for various functions of the business to complete ASAP. This can then cause teams to be overstretched but also makes it difficult to understand the true commercial impact of actions. If performance does improve, which action was it that drove it?
In my experience, I have learnt that speed is key in driving growth, but direction is more important.
The Power of Singular Focus
What I’ve seen work best is when businesses are clear on the metrics that matter to truly drive positive commercial impact. The single metric that matters for that week should also be defined to provide a focus and clear direction for various business functions.
When this metric is identified, different teams can collaborate to troubleshoot issues and collate solutions. For example, the overall conversion rate on a website may be dropping or falling short of the target. This metric is not solely the responsibility of the ecommerce team as many departments can play a part in improving this.
Putting Customers at the Centre
Data and insights are brilliant, but when we work in a business it can be too easy to sit behind dashboards and interfaces, forgetting that it is a group of people and customers that are driving these numbers. Taking a step back and viewing the data through the lens of the customer can help simplify the actions needed to drive a positive result for the business. I’ve seen so many examples of businesses panicking because of a drop-in conversion rate and marketing ROAS, however by carrying out simple actions such as walking the website, an error can be spotted that could be a barrier to a customer purchasing. Sometimes a quick, simple change (not always) can be all that’s needed to get back on track.
In other circumstances, the action may take a little longer, but this focused effort without panic and distraction helps drive logical action that is aligned with the metrics that will move the needle. We can drive business growth without the need to throw the kitchen sink at it and burn out teams in the process.
Simple doesn’t mean basic.
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