What do Amazon, Netflix and Google have in common? As well as sharing dominance in their respective markets, they are all data-powered businesses. These shared factors are no coincidence, and no surprise — some 83% of CEOs say they want their organisation to be more data-driven. But there’s a significant gap between the desire to use data and its actual application in a business setting: only 16% of organisations in the UK are actually driven by data [1].
One of the best ways to start building a data-driven business is to create a data dashboard. Read on to discover how one could help you to understand and improve aspects of your business including operations, performance, customer experience, and sales.
What is a data dashboard?
A data dashboard is a customisable information management tool that visually displays all of your organisation's key metrics in one place, allowing you to easily monitor the health of a business, department or process.
Types of data dashboard
Broadly speaking, dashboards offer three core functions (though there is often overlap between them):
Operational dashboards
An operational dashboard is one that monitors and helps manage operational processes with a relatively short timescale (for example, a manufacturing business may use a dashboard to track production alongside complaints, defects, and returns).
Analytical dashboards
Analytical dashboards contain large volumes of data, allowing users to identify trends through comparison of multiple variables, make predictions and set targets. An example of this could be looking at the performance of your marketing campaigns across different channels and time periods.
Strategic dashboards
A strategic dashboard is more likely to be used at a senior level, as it can be used to give an overall view of business or department performance over set time frames: the past month, quarter or year, for example. A strategic dashboard is likely to combine several high-level KPIs.
Why use a data dashboard
“Data dashboards enable businesses to see things before they happen,” says Richard Osborne, founder of software company Business Data Group and business support platform UKBF (UK Business Forums). He used insights from data to successfully prepare his business to navigate the challenges of 2020.
"Through our analytical dashboard we saw the potential impacts of COVID-19 on our business – even before it was reported in the UK media – which enabled us to put appropriate mitigations in place,” Osborne says. "We captured information about the UK start-up market (such as net worth and shareholders) and were able to identify a change in trends. We noticed people moving towards food delivery and e-commerce, so we were able to advise our clients (for example, banks) on how to adapt their marketing approach."
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How do you design a data dashboard?
“When preparing for a data dashboard, SMEs need to consider what is really important and purposeful for their business, its development and growth," says Osborne. "This can sometimes be different to what is interesting or "nice to see".
Osborne's advice is to keep it focused, keep your KPIs in mind and ensure the development of any data dashboard is underpinned by your revenue goals. Here are some key considerations for design: .
Define what you want to achieve from your dashboard
Osborne built his own dashboard in-house, combining KPI data from internal systems.
Customise the dashboard depending on the needs of each department
“Provide campaign performance reports for the marketing team, and data around potential leads for the sales team to follow up,” says Matt Gilpin, CEO of property data platform Sprift.
Osborne adds: “A great dashboard needs to be adaptable and easy to digest for all users within the business. The sales manager will have different requirements from the marketing manager, and this will be different again for the business owner.”
Ensure everyone is working from the same dataset
Even if the specific measures they view are different, the data behind them must be the same. According to Gilpin, it’s vitally important that each of the dashboards relies on and uses the same dataset – to ensure true consistency and value for a business, and that divisions are not diametrically opposed in their use and interpretation of that data.
Collate data from multiple sources
“We have a uniform data 'lake' where we can combine and interrogate data collected from a variety of sources including technical data, our field app, IoT [Internet of Things] and sales data,” says Tom Harmsworth, UK managing director at property technology company WeMaintain. WeMaintain uses Salesforce and a data visualisation tool called Metabase to provide data to its operations and sales teams.
Be consistent
Using the same visualisations and layouts will make it easier to draw comparisons.
5 ways to use your data dashboard to reach sales goals
Data dashboards enable sales teams to be laser-focused in their targeting and decision making, pursue the most profitable activities, monitor their performance, and meet their KPIs. There are various ways that you can use your data dashboard to facilitate reaching sales goals:
1. Measure sales against targets
A data dashboard can help you see at a glance if you are on track to hit monthly or quarterly targets, allowing you to address any shortfalls or problems as soon as possible. Says Harmsworth: “Having live dashboards means we don't have to share reports on a regular basis. We use data to inform where we spend our marketing budget by analysing which sectors have the highest conversion rates. Where we haven't had success, we have used the data to re-think our sales strategy for these sectors.”
2. Predict opportunities in the pipeline
By looking at what deals will close in the coming weeks and months you’ll be able to forecast revenues more effectively. Real-time sales data will allow you to predict opportunities and, when combined with customer behaviour data, allow you to focus on the right leads. “By understanding the price point that is most effective for each sector, we can work out which sectors will be more or less receptive to our pitch and, therefore, where we should focus more sales resources in the future to achieve our sales targets,” says Harmsworth.
3. Explore conversion rates
Exploring conversion rates will help reveal different routes to conversion, and what their relative success rate is. Combining this with metrics such as average sales cycle length can help you to understand where, when and for how long to focus your efforts.
4. Shorten lead response times
Fast response times are essential for keeping leads warm and the conversation moving. Position average response times as a KPI (and monitor it against conversion) so you can make improvements if necessary.
Using an American Express Business Gold Card to pay for your business purchases gives you a payment period of up to 54 days on your purchases, giving you time to analyse business performance and plan ahead before money leaves your account².
- Membership Rewards points are earned on every full £1 spent and charged, per transaction. Terms and conditions apply.
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Sources
1. Tableau, How Data Culture Fuels Business Value In Data-Driven Organizations
