Web analytics can get overwhelming pretty quick. Much larger businesses have access to big data.
And it can feel like you're stuck lagging behind in the race to your market. Constantly huffing for breath, while everyone else is racing toward the finish line.
But, one of the biggest benefits of being a small business is your agility. And one of the keys to agility is small data.
Small data can give you the insights and key factors to aid you in your decision-making process. So, while most of your competitors are trying to implement big data solutions, and the way most organizations approach small data, small data tends to be overlooked in the overall data management.
But the small data provides simple steps for you to take to out maneuver your competition:
Small Data Gives FOCUS
Big data looks at overall performance, where small data drills down to uncover specific actions that lead to improved results. Small data also comes in easily digestible data bites, which makes identifying trends much simpler.
Identify your wins for your site, or your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and the person or team responsible for each status. Then task them with tracking the development of a particular indicator. Look for the trends: People are visiting at X time of day, or content with X title converts more.
Small Data Is ACTIONABLE
Big data reports provide information on every department and every metrics which can be extremely interesting, and very important at scale. But if you want to get real value from your data, it must inspire you to make quick strategic and organizational changes. Because of the bite-sized state of small data, and the ease of identifying trends, you can move fast to action.
So once you've monitored your KPI, find the action item. Make it problem-oriented, and not too general and overwhelming. Then form a hypothesis: Write one sentence about the trend, focused on your KPI. If you're focused on content, it could be something like Titles with the word "Awesome" Convert More Customers. If it's content-based, try Products Promoted at 12 PM Sell More In 24 Hours.
Small Data Is IMMEDIATE
Sure, big data gives the historical insights, and that's important. It's difficult to know what has worked without looking at the past. Small data gives that focused real-time information, allows you to see trends that are happening, and move to act on them.
This is where A/B testing comes in. Once you identify your hypothesis, work to implement it. Put it into action, and test it out. Did one side of the hypothesis outperform the other? Then you may have just found your answer!
And boosted your business!