With technology continuing to evolve and social media becoming a top marketing tool, sometimes it can feel like all your business does is play catch-up with competitors. In an effort to not only stay competitive, but get ahead of the competition, there is one strategy that stands out: data-driven decision making.
Harnessing the power of data allows companies to gather valuable information and gain insights into everything from their operations to customer behaviour and market trends. These insights then drive more informed and strategic decisions. Insights teams play a particularly important role in this process, as they translate raw data into actionable strategies based on your goals.
In this guide, we explore the significance of data-driven decisions, highlight the contributions of insights teams, and delve into tips for data collection and analysis. By understanding and implementing these strategies, your organisation can enhance the decision-making process and stay on top of your industry.
The new insights team
Insights teams have traditionally served as the backbone of market research and consumer understanding. Their role is primarily to collect, analyse, and then report on data to inform certain decisions. However, the surge of insights tools and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has dramatically transformed this process.
As a result, insights teams have become increasingly capable of delivering data for informed decisions in-house. At times, they require fewer research services to uncover the insights they’re after. This shift allows businesses to be more agile, cost-conscious, and respond swiftly to market changes and new opportunities.
So why is data-driven decision making so important? There are many benefits, including more efficient resource allocation. Data also helps teams anticipate and manage potential threats, which makes risk mitigation more proactive and effective. Data-driven decisions even foster a culture of accountability, since they are based on verifiable information and clear metrics, so that every decision is justifiable. This approach not only enhances strategic planning but also promotes continuous improvement that can help you maintain a competitive edge in the market.
By integrating data into the planning process, businesses can develop more informed strategies. This sets the stage for future growth and innovation. When data is at the core of an organisation's operations, it encourages ongoing assessment and refinement of processes and strategies.
Curating the right research services
Identifying research questions and needs
The foundation of any successful research lies in asking the right questions in the right way. What you ask (and how you ask it) directly impacts the outcome of research, so it is important to make sure survey questions will deliver useful answers that lead to addressing specific challenges and business objectives. Determining the scope and nature of these questions requires first understanding the research goals and desired outcomes.
Equally important is deciding whether the data collection should be a long-term process or aimed at obtaining quick answers. Long-term data collection is appropriate when you want to track trends and understand market dynamics over time. On the other hand, quick, short-term data collection can be useful for immediate decision-making. It provides rapid insights into pressing issues or short-term campaigns.
Assessing data availability and gaps
Once you have defined the research questions, the next step is to evaluate the availability of existing data and then identify any gaps. This process begins with a comprehensive audit of the current available data within the organisation. This involves checking data relevance, accuracy, and timeliness in relation to the research goals.
Identifying gaps requires teams to examine what is missing and why it is significant. This might mean looking at different data sources, both internal and external, to determine if they can fill these gaps. Understanding the gaps can help in planning future data collection processes more effectively, ensuring that all necessary information is gathered to answer the research questions.
Leveraging in-house resources and expert support
Curating the right research services often means balancing the use of in-house resources and seeking external expertise. Internal resources, such as the insights team, have a deep understanding of your company’s data and culture, as well as goals, which makes them invaluable for contextualising research findings. However, internal teams might lack the specific expertise or bandwidth required for more complex research projects, or a subset of it.
Engaging the help of external experts can provide significant benefits, particularly in areas like research design and data management. Expert support brings specialised knowledge and experience, which can enhance the overall quality and depth of the research. These professionals offer fresh perspectives and innovative methodologies that might not be available internally. Ultimately, the right blend of in-house capabilities and external expertise lead to high-quality, cost-effective, and actionable insights.
Implementing effective data collection methods
Questionnaire and research design support
Designing effective questionnaires for online surveys is a key aspect of data collection that directly impacts the quality and reliability of the insights gathered. To design the most effective questionnaire, you will need to balance open-ended and closed-ended questions. Open-ended questions allow respondents to express their thoughts and experiences freely, which often leads to rich qualitative data. Closed-ended questions, on the other hand, offer quantitative data that is easier to analyse and compare. A well-balanced questionnaire can capture both depth and breadth of information.
Other considerations of questionnaire and research design is clarity and empathy. Questions should be straightforward and unambiguous to prevent misunderstandings. Respondents can provide more accurate answers when they know what is being asked of them. Similarly, the logical flow of questions helps maintain respondent engagement and makes sure the survey progresses naturally. This structured approach both enhances the experience and improves the quality of the data collected.
Empathic survey designs go hand-in-hand with clear research designs. To collect honest, reliable answers from research respondents, questions should be easy to understand, addressable and presented without introducing bias.
Finally, for online surveying, designing for mobile responders is critical. More than 80% of respondents are joining panels on mobile devices today. The reliability of data not only depends on source, but how surveys are optimised for mobile responders. Mobile optimised questions not only fit on the screen but are designed for the device to reduce bias and deliver rich data. When surveys aren’t accessible to or optimised for mobile responders, you can dramatically decrease your sample pool and reduce representation.
Global fieldwork management
Effective fieldwork management is always important, but that is especially true in global research or longitudinal research contexts. Managing fieldwork involves ensuring adherence to timelines and coordinating data collection activities, such as source blends and quota management.
Perhaps one of the most important roles of fieldwork management is maintaining data integrity. Experienced fieldwork managers will be equipped with the skills needed to fulfil complex quota requirements, such as hard-to-fill segments or nested demographic quotas. They will also ensure complex quotas are fulfilled using the same respondent source blends for tracking research – a critical step to maintain consistency and reliability in longitudinal tracking research.
For global research, you can employ local experts who understand cultural nuances and regulatory requirements to adhere to local laws and regulations for data collection. They can also help translate and adapt questionnaires for local contexts, ensuring they are easily understood by respondents in different regions.
Ensuring data quality
High-quality data is the cornerstone of reliable, data-driven decisions. Maintaining quality often involves implementing measures to prevent and address issues such as fraud or data skews. Fraud can occur through disengaged responses, dishonest responses or survey hacking, which can significantly distort findings. To combat this, use respondent sources that incorporate advanced anti-fraud technology within their panel management and employ in-survey quality checks where logical.
Data skews can result from biased or unrepresentative samples, and they can compromise the reliability of research. Ensuring a diverse and representative sample is crucial to obtaining accurate insights.
By adhering to these best practices in questionnaire design, global fieldwork management, and ensuring data quality, businesses can implement effective data collection methods that provide reliable and actionable insights. This comprehensive approach to data collection is essential for making informed, data-driven decisions that drive business success.
Connecting data & leveraging the right tools
Simply collecting information is not enough to drive data-driven business decisions. Instead, the true value lies in the ability to analyse and interpret data to extract actionable insights. While the first step is asking the right questions in the right way, the second is visualising data and enhancing it to extract meaningful insights. The right visualisation tools can help transform raw data into meaningful patterns that can then guide decision-making. By leveraging data enrichment and data visualisation techniques, you can gain a deeper understanding of your own operations and customer needs.
Data enrichment techniques
Data enrichment is all about enhancing raw data by integrating it with additional information from external sources. This can provide deeper insights that are not immediately apparent from the original data since it puts it into context. Adding relevant external data is an effective way to fill gaps and correct inaccuracies.
However, it’s important to identify relevant external sources for the best results. These can include public databases, social media platforms, first-party customer data, or third-party data providers. Wherever you get the external data, it should add a broader set of attributes that offer additional value.
Enriching data is a worthwhile investment as it provides a more comprehensive view of the market. This, in turn, allows for more informed and data-driven decisions. It helps uncover hidden patterns and drives deeper understanding of customer behaviours, ultimately leading to better business outcomes.
Data visualisation and dashboards
Data visualisation is another powerful tool for data analysis. It makes complex data understandable and accessible, even to those not involved in the collection process. By showing the data graphically, businesses can quickly identify trends and outliers that might otherwise be missed in text-based data.
Dashboards also serve as a quick and cost-effective tool to share information consistently across departments and global teams. Uniformity in reporting and data sharing ensures teams are aligned and communicate with stakeholders in a similar way – reducing ambiguity.
Utilising advanced data analysis tools such as data enrichment techniques and data visualisation enhances the quality and depth of insights — and makes these insights more accessible for decision-makers.
Finding the right data partner
Choosing the right data partner can significantly impact the quality and success of your data-driven initiatives. A reliable data partner can provide high-quality data, but perhaps more importantly, they can also offer the expertise and support needed to meet your unique research requirements. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind when selecting a data partner.
Criteria for choosing a data partner
When selecting a data partner, several key factors should be considered to ensure you make the best choice for your business needs. For example, experience and reputation are essential. Look for partners with a proven track record in your industry, as their experience will translate into valuable insights and best practices. Some other factors to consider include:
- Range of services: Make sure the partner offers services that align with your research needs and resource gaps, including data collection, analysis, and reporting.
- Programming capabilities: Verify that they use programming tools designed to optimise the survey experience for all respondents on any device, particularly mobile.
- Respondent reach: Work with a partner that has access to real people in all the global markets you plan to conduct research in now and in the future.
- Data security: Confirm that they adhere to strict data protection standards to safeguard your information and legally collect and store respondent data in all global markets.
- Client support: Look for a partner that offers strong client support, including dedicated account managers and responsive customer service with proven expertise.
Managing unique research requirements
Handling complex research needs makes it necessary for a data partner to offer customised solutions. This means understanding your specific goals and challenges so they can provide tailored research approaches to address them. A good data partner will work closely with you to design and implement research strategies that meet your requirements, whether it’s a complex global tracker or a quick-turn concept test.
Flexibility and adaptability are key attributes to look for in a partner. After all, they need to be able to adjust their approach to data collection to align with your changing needs. This ensures that your research effective, on time and on budget.
Investing in panel quality and fraud prevention
Panels also play an important role in how reliable the insights you gain are. High-quality panels include well-profiled, engaged participants who can offer accurate and thoughtful responses. This reduces the likelihood of bias while increasing the reliability of the data collected. To maintain panel quality, look for data partners that use diverse recruitment measures.
Of course, fraud prevention is equally important. Implementing certain fraud detection measures, including AI and machine learning, digital fingerprinting and IP tracking, can help identify and eliminate fraudulent responses. This is pivotal for data integrity. By choosing a reliable and capable data partner, businesses can confidently make more informed, data-driven decisions.
Making data-driven decisions a habit
Building a data-driven culture
The first step in creating a culture of data-driven decisions is promoting data literacy across the organisation. This means providing training and resources to help employees use data more effectively. You can also encourage a mindset that emphasises data in every decision-making process. Leadership plays a pivotal role in promoting this culture. Leaders must lead by example, consistently using data to guide their decisions and demonstrating the value of data-driven insights. To especially showcase the value that data adds, leaders should practice transparency with their decision making, ensuring that data and insights are accessible to their teams.
Continuous improvement and adaptation
Ongoing evaluation and adaptation of strategies are necessary to boost the effectiveness of data-driven decision-making. This means regularly reviewing performance metrics and outcomes to identify areas for improvement. Organisations should be ready to adapt their strategies based on new data and changing circumstances.
Leveraging Kantar Profiles division's expertise in data-driven decision-making can significantly enhance your business’s strategic capabilities. With a proven track record in providing consistent, high-quality data and flexible research solutions, Kantar Profiles helps organisations build data-driven cultures and implement continuous improvement processes. By partnering with Kantar Profiles, you gain access to best-in-class survey and visualisation tools and expert guidance, ensuring that your data is not only collected on time and on budget, but also transformed into actionable insights that drive success.
Get in touch for further support and insights on making data-driven decisions.
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