Why Quantitative Data is the Biggest Problem Facing Multi-Channel Retailers

Dan Croxen-John

Analytics vendors say it’s the golden age of data. But we say it’s the age of noise, confusion and data overload.

If you’ve been in e-commerce any length of time, you’ll be well acquainted with the feeling.

A never ending stream of emailed demands from managers, colleagues, team members. Why’s conversion down? Why’s traffic down? Don’t forget this problem. That deadline. Innumerable messages from vendors, blogs and all manner of self-proclaimed digital gurus bombard your inbox.

Most of the e-commerce managers we meet find it a struggle to know what to give their attention to

And no wonder.

In the midst of all this noise you’ve got to know exactly what to do to your website to hit your growth targets, and because the cost of making changes to sophisticated websites is high, so is the risk of failure. Bad decisions mean wasted time, wasted budget, wasted development resources – and wasted credibility.

Before committing you must know as far as possible which strategy will live up to its promise, which will give you mediocre results, and which could leave you out in the cold looking for a new job. 

With this perspective in mind, it’s easy to see how tempting it is to lean more and more heavily on data. It offers you much needed decision insurance. A business case you can point to if, and when, things don’t turn out as planned.

But, if more and more data is really the key, why do companies still struggle to make dramatic leaps with their conversion?

Even companies with the highest paid analysts working with the most expensive tools still struggle with the same problems

• Conflicting opinions on what to change on the site, and horrifically slow implementation times
• A long list of ideas, with no certainty which one is going to deliver the outsize results you, and your senior managers, are looking for
• Difficulty attributing an ROI to your analytics investment. Where’s all that money gone?

And when tests do finally get implemented, there are too many single-digit lifts, some don’t reach statistical significance at all and more still just plain lose.

So if quantitative data is so amazing, why the struggle?

We believe we know the answer.

Over the course of hundreds of split tests, some winning, some losing, we’ve refined an easy-to-follow, repeatable system that has the power to give you total clarity on your web strategy at all times.

Say goodbye to all that noise. Unsubscribe from most of your email lists. Forget about the majority of your analytics reports. And stop worrying that you’re not up to speed with the latest technologies.

Follow the secret map we’re about to give you, and you’ll soon have a robust plan that will deliver you many more winning split-tests, with much bigger gains for your company than you imagined possible.

Let’s be clear.

Quantitative data is great for delivering a host of insights. But for the e-commerce manager that wants action and measurable ROI, extracting the answers to the following questions should be at the epicentre of your data analysis:

• How many qualified visitors are dropping off your website without buying. (Because they represent the biggest opportunity.)
• Where are they’re dropping off. (So we can do something about it.)

But even when you’re equipped with that data, you still have a big unsolved problem.

The multi-million pound question (most businesses forget to ask)

The problem is that you still don’t know the answer to the single most important question – Why are visitors dropping out in the first place?

This is where your analytics tool falls down.

• It can’t tell you what’s going on inside the head of your users as they surf your site
• It can’t tell you the wants, needs and desires of your users
• And it can’t tell you those niggling objections that stop a user from buying what you have

Knowing this is fundamental to all sales success. You’ve got to know what motivates your visitors, and what turns them off? Why do they behave the way they do?

If you don’t have a deep understanding of your customers, your website becomes an automated version of that annoying telesalesman who doesn’t bother to ask a single question before he tries to close you.

We don’t want that, do we?

To learn more about how to make your conversion optimisation programme a success and ensure your website is easy to buy from, read our ebook below:

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Posted in: Conversion Rate Optimisation

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