What is data analysis?
Hans: "Data analysis is recognizing patterns and deviations in, for example, your website data with the aim of finding commercial opportunities. That data can be web data or CRM data, for example, but also complaint emails or information from social media. Data research can mean a lot for your webshop."
Can you cite an example?
"Suppose you have clothing webshop and a visitor clicks on a white shirt. You can then show related products, for example, other white shirts. That's what most webshop owners do. You can also think a step further and, based on a Big Data analysis, show other really related products. Figures show that many people are looking for vacation clothes in the spring and are looking for an outfit with a white shirt? Then it's smart to show related products like flip flops or matching short jeans."
What does such a data analysis look like?
"I am involved daily in analyzing website data using various techniques. I also conduct customer research with the goal of investigating how customers experience and use the website. To do this, I work with the UX designer, who determines whether a certain button might be better with a different color or shape. In addition, I check what the website does for your product. Does the product page convert well? And do visitors use the website as a source of information, or is the lack of info the reason that many people leave the website without converting?"
So you can use data analytics to solve problems?
"Very much so, using a thorough analysis of your website data you can often quickly identify the exact cause of a specific problem. For example, I found out that most sessions at a website were suddenly coming from somewhere other than normal. The cause of the problem turned out to be the payment option. But you can do much more with data. For example, Google can use search results to predict whether a flu epidemic is coming. For one of our clients, I'm researching the Belgian and Dutch diet markets. It is super interesting to map the differences between the target groups in the countries. For another client, I discovered that this year, for the first time, more purchases were made via laptop than desktop. That's important to know how to advertise, for example.
Furthermore, data also gives you insight into your numbers, of course. How many customers ended up choosing BMW through your car website? And how many customers opted for a Vodafone phone plan?"
But do you necessarily need an analyst for that?
"It may sound easy, but the research goes beyond just grabbing Google Analytics. Depending on the information needed, I look at mail traffic, social media posts, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), complaint forms, and yes, even the information from Analytics. The next step is to make connections between the information. For example, are visitors to a clothing webshop more likely to choose products with product photos showing people standing?"
Do you have to have a "problem" for data analysis?
"No! You can also 'data mine', in which case you proactively look for information that could be interesting for your business. An advantage is that if a problem arises, you get to the solution faster. Is 50% of your website visitors younger than 30 years old and you suddenly have 50% less visitors? Then you know where to look. You can act faster."
So data analytics is actually indispensable for your business?
"Yes. With data, not only can you solve underlying problems and uncover opportunities, but you can get ahead of your competition. Whether you want to know if your customers are satisfied with the current ordering module on your website, or if you are curious about what opportunities are still in your data. Data analysis is indeed indispensable for any website that wants to convert well."
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