Analytics still faces the test

Iain Lovatt is right (March 2009). Many companies are sitting on top of rich seams of competitive and commercial advantage, but lack of analysis means they don’t even know this data is there to be profitably mined.

Applying analysis to unlock the potential of these opportunities is all well and good, but you have to go further and translate them into clear plans. Unless you can develop communications programmes that address what to say to who and when, those opportunities will remain just that. You need robust testing to verify the results of the analysis.

Work we have carried out suggests that companies have increased their focus on email activity, but have failed to reach many of their highest-value customers. While the channel may well be faster and cheaper to implement, if higher-value customers either ignore it or are not influenced by it, then the end result is a potentially costly failure. In this case, analysis might have helped to uncover the high value groups or communication opportunities, but only a robust testing plan would have ensured the impact of the right channel was seen and understood before any roll out.

Daniel Guest, director, r-cubed