{"id":6228,"date":"2019-05-30T13:14:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T09:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/?p=444"},"modified":"2025-05-20T14:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T14:12:11","slug":"keeping-your-mission-statement-as-the-master-of-your-measurement-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/blog\/keeping-your-mission-statement-as-the-master-of-your-measurement-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Data-Driven Decision Making: Insights for Better Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Long gone (or should be) are the days where important decisions and insight come by way of the HiPPO method. You know, decisions that just default to the Highest Paid Person\u2019s Opinion (HiPPO). This is typically the default when there is no data to back up alternative ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fortunately, things have changed. Data-driven organizations are positioning employees at all levels to have their opinions heard and to influence better decision outcomes because of the access to data and the story it tells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaders are being challenged more than ever to put emphasis and attention on the practice of data analytics for marketing optimization and beyond. Data is not a total replacement for executive intuition and opinion (so HiPPOs do not fear), but data is the fuel to reach informed insights faster and with greater confidence, not to mention stir up more important business questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The responsibility of leadership is to arrange for the resources that ensure quality and accurate data collection. If you are unsure or want to validate how trustworthy your data collection is, it is advised that an Analytics Audit be performed. This will cross-check missed best practices and reveal the common (or uncommon) hidden problems. Examples include double counting and collection of PII (personally identifiable information such as names, email addresses, etc) which are serious issues. It is a worthy endeavor to conduct an Audit every couple of years or when a lot has changed with your digital properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Key questions: Are we confident our data is clean and accurate? Can we trust it as our \u201csource of truth\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-an-executive-can-lead-their-organization-to-be-more-data-informed-by-starting-with-the-end-in-mind\"><strong>An Executive can lead their organization to be more data-informed by starting with the end in mind:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Famously coined in Stephen Covey\u2019s 7 Habits book \u2013 \u201cBegin with the end in mind.\u201d This is a wise guideline for approaching your organization\u2019s data practice \u2013 by demanding that your data informs how you\u2019re delivering your company\u2019s promise to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is your purpose as a company? Typically, look to your mission statement or your value proposition at the highest level. Alternatively, your division or department might have a focused mission statement or OKRs (objectives and key results) for its role within the greater enterprise. All efforts should be measured with that mission in mind. It\u2019s your duty to your customers and stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Key questions: How is this data helping us get better at delivering on our mission as an organization (as a department\/as an analyst)? If not, what\u2019s missing?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Dashboards &amp; Reports: A beacon for your next decision or useless noise?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your data and the analysis of it must be a guide on how to better attract and serve the RIGHT CUSTOMER the RIGHT VALUE at the RIGHT TIME in order for your company to be more successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at your reports. Are your executive or stakeholder or departmental reports indicating progress towards that mission, or are they just numbers feeding the HiPPO ego? Harsh, yes, but this is all too common. Common but poor digital marketing measurement examples are \u201c# of website visitors last month\u201d, \u201cis our website coming up on the first page for xyz keyword\u201d, last-click taking full credit for conversion attribution, and so on. These are meaningless on their own \u2013 without some perspective to other data points. It\u2019s time to set up your measurement implementation so you can get insight on more meaningful questions with expanded context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Key questions: \u201cSo what?\u201d What are the implications of this information? Does it point to changes we need to make or experimentation ideas to try? Does it validate our approach? Did this report just waste my time or empower me? Is it feeding my ego or revealing a truth?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div>Set a standard that all data (reports) are to be scrutinized against its role for impacting an improved client\/customer\/stakeholder condition. If it doesn\u2019t support that\u2026 it is data clutter\u2026 noise. Who needs that? Stop that! Stop it now!<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Give Data a seat at the table:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Collecting data is easy (mostly). Asking meaningful questions for the data to answer is hard. Imagine that \u201cData\u2019 is a member of your staff. Does \u201cData\u201d show up to meetings with important new insight and a plan of action for moving the organization forward? Expect more and ask more of \u201cData\u201d. You must first facilitate success through good requirements gathering, strategy, and purposeful implementation so \u201cData\u201d can be trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaders must also ask everyone (not just data analysts) to be held accountable for data-inspired decisions that support your company\u2019s mission \u2013 the \u201cwhy\u201d you exist. Now that customized and dynamic reporting is (or should be) more accessible at all levels of the organization, drive your people to act upon it so the pace of customer impact accelerates. This is a competitive advantage, that is\u2026 if the data can be trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quality data along with good business questions will clear a fast lane to better business decisions and action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Key question: Is \u201cData\u201d an active participant at all levels or our organization?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>With data on your side and with support of a great Google Analytics &amp;&nbsp;data engineering consulting partner&nbsp;(hint, hint), you can master how your organization measures your success as you strive for profitable delivery of your company mission\u2026 while avoiding the noise and the HiPPO in the way\u2026 even if that HiPPO is you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/60b5a901b91b8a155d34a3522c861b0d.png\" alt=\"Patricia Jordan-Hinojos\" class=\"wp-image-1361\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This post was originally written by<br><strong>Patricia Jordan-Hinojos<\/strong><br><em>Sales Director, e-nor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long gone (or should be) are the days where important decisions and insight come by way of the HiPPO method. You know, decisions that just default to the Highest Paid Person\u2019s Opinion (HiPPO). This is typically the default when there is no data to back up alternative ideas. Fortunately, things have changed. Data-driven organizations are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","content-type":"","ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mission-statement-thumb-1.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Bashar Hafez","author_link":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/author\/bashar\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6228"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34450,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6228\/revisions\/34450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-cens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}