Known as “Information overload”, but also as “infobesity” or “infoxication”, the difficulty to manage a big amount of information is nowadays very common among companies. The amount of data collected every day continues to increase and people often feel confused and overwhelmed. Did you know that 90% of the online data have been created only in the past two years?
The potential of data is enormous but often ignored. What many companies do not realize is that turning new data into information could have a huge impact on our activities and could allow the undertaking of data-driven strategies, that could improve work organization and effectiveness.
90% of online data have been created only in the past two years
Why does reporting matter?
So how can we make proper use of data and information in order to make it profitable for your company? One of the best ways to collect meaningful information from your data is to establish a structure reporting process in order to drive change and improvements in a business.
Often companies, employees, organizations underestimate the importance of evaluating results and the effectiveness of projects. But why is reporting so important?
The right analysis can be transformational for an organization for several reasons.
First of all, it allows you to have a clear vision of the effectiveness or not of your work. Did you reach your goals? Did you get the expected results or should there be something to change before taking the next actions?
Furthermore, by having a clear vision of the results or trend of your website, projects or whatever has to be analyzed, it will be possible to predict possible evolutions. Reporting and analytics focus on understanding the past, providing useful information in order to affect current outcomes and trying to predict future events. This can be done through constant analysis and interpretation of data, matched with the right comparison between specific time ranges.
For this reason, it is always suggested to have a historical understanding of what happened in the past.
Reporting is useful not only to check results and success but most of all to report issues or malfunctions. Indeed, there are often things that do not work properly or that stop running without any notification (think for example of issues caused by automatic updates or broken links). While reporting, it is necessary to pass through every step of the process: by doing this, potential problems can be easily intercepted and fixed.
Last but for sure not least, reports are a very powerful tool to make a good impression among your clients. Creating and sharing your reports are one of the most worthwhile things you can do for yourself, and for your clients. It allows companies to strengthen relationships with their customers, by showing results and how hard you are working for them.
So it does not matter if you are doing reports for personal purposes to share internally or with your clients: reports will always be your agency’s success.
What should my reports show?
But doing reporting is not so easy.
Nowadays, different tools like Google Data Studio or Tableau can provide big support, allowing you to easily collect data, create graphs and intuitive layouts to share with your clients.
However, the most important thing despite the creation of wonderful presentations and colorful graphs is to interpret data in order to transform it into meaningful information both for you and your clients.
In order to create worthwhile outcomes, there are some elements that should never be missing.
Here three of the most significant details you should ensure to add to your report:
1. An interpretation of the significance of the analyzed data: is the outcome positive or negative? Is this result valuable or should it be improved? This interpretation should not necessarily be a written comment or text but could be highlighted for example with symbols. Compare for example the collected data with the ones from the previous period and analyse their trend. Are results better or worse than before? Is the trend constant, did it grow or decrease?
2. Add a summary of the main highlights regarding the analyzed period of time or project. Put the main focal points, the main results or main accomplishments in first place in a summary slide. This will make your client feel satisfied with the work you’ve done and creates a clear overview of the most positive outcomes of it.
3. Remember that your client is not as expert as you are about your report. If this will not be delivered together with a direct explanation, make it self-explaining. Give them the possibility to clearly understand your analysis, providing an intuitive layout and clear graph and information. If technical terms are present in your reports, it is highly suggested to add a final lexicon. In any case, always add contacts details and be ready for clients doubts!
Conclusion
Providing the right mix of analysis, reporting and information delivery can have a huge impact on your company’s reputation and organization. By filtering data and collecting the right information, establishing a structured reporting process will make it possible to create an effective data-driven strategy.
Are you sure to get the best out of your data? Do you and your company give the right importance to the achieved results and reports? 21iLAB provides detailed reports of your digital assets or campaigns and could help you to improve your business.
Are you sure to get the most out of your data? Contact us to request a detailed report of your business!