Big Data Requires Focus; Key Ecommerce Metrics

Retail / eCom | Sectors   |   
Published November 28, 2013   |   
JERRY JAO

Online consumers generate an avalanche of data. Product purchases; Facebook Likes and comments; Twitter follows; Pinterest pins; on-site searches; pages viewed; recommendations; clicks — consumers do it all, from different devices and locations. And it generates lots of data.

Companies such as Amazon and Target have used Big Data for years. It’s the secret behind their highly personalized product recommendations and email promotions.

The good news is that smaller companies can use the power of Big Data in their businesses, too. But just because you can gather tons of data, doesn’t mean you should. For most small-to-midsize businesses, trying to harness Big Data can sometimes do more harm than good. It can slow down your website and cost time and money.

To make effective data-driven decisions in your business, control the types of information you collect. Focus only on the metrics that truly affect conversion rates and ignore the ones that don’t have much of an impact.

Tracking raw ad impressions regardless of whether they yield clicks or conversions is an example of monitoring low-impact data. The same thing goes for blindly monitoring Facebook Likes or Klout scores. Stop wasting resources on metrics like these. Devote your efforts on the data points that count.

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