3 ways to gain "The Analytic Advantage"

Today's blog is written by Layne Shapiro, one of our brand engagement managers.

To increase profit margins and get ahead of the competition, more companies are taking advantage of analytics.

As our world is shrinking (explored by Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat) it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate yourself from competitors based only on products.   Overseas or outsourced competition has the low cost advantage, due to inexpensive labor costs.  And innovative offers are only momentarily unique, as rivals copycat any successful tactic.

With analytics, companies are tracking how many new sources their marketing is generating.  We can determine the visitor to lead conversions from a particular source, and lead to customer conversions, which will discern the most and least effective source of leads.  Most companies today try to measure marketing ROI to justify their investments.

You can discover:

• what your customers want
• how much they’re willing to pay
• what keeps them loyal

Sophisticated data-collection technology and analysis empowers companies with the best evidence and quantitative tools for making the best decisions.  This is according to Thomas H. Davenport in the Harvard Business Review and in his new book, Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results.

He says, “Analytics competitors seize the lead in their fields.”  Click here to listen to a podcast interview with Davenport.

As tracking consumer behavior and interests becomes more accessible with the increasing use of mobile phones and internet cookies, what do you think the future of analytics might unleash?