Matt Bailey is an experienced digital marketing expert and instructor. He is the founder and President of SiteLogic Marketing and a Digital Marketing Instructor for the Direct Marketing Association in New York City. Matt is also an instructor for the OMCP (Online Marketing Certified Professional) Program and author of several books, including “Internet Marketing: An Hour A Day,” “Wired To Be Wowed,” and “Teach An Old Dog New Tricks.” Additionally, Matt is a member of Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Faculty and recently shared his advice for communicating digital marketing analytics insights with storytelling techniques on March 31, 2021.
Communication is a key component of digital marketing analytics. In order to effectively monitor and track your marketing performance, it is essential to ensure that the communication between you, your client or customer and any other third parties involved is clear and concise. This will help to ensure that your data is collected and interpreted correctly, and that any changes that need to be made can be done quickly and efficiently.
The Communication Problem
According to a Gartner CIO report, although 72% of marketers are tracking revenue, only 25% feel confident in their ability to communicate the ideas behind the data. This highlights the importance of effective reporting to ensure the insights derived from the data are effectively communicated.
Reports that are merely copied and pasted from spreadsheets may contain all the necessary data, but they are not always presented in a way that is easy for the audience to comprehend. Such cut and paste reports do not offer any valuable insight.
Sometimes, the presenter may focus on presenting data in a more visual way, such as through charts and graphs, to make it easier to understand and compare trends. However, this type of report often focuses on tactical information about operations, without looking at the value or deeper insights that can be gained from the data. To get the most out of the data, the presenter needs to go beyond the top-level information and delve into the deeper insights.
What is the Question?
Hillburn’s Law of Data Intentionality provides a framework for understanding how data is collected and presented. This law maps intentionality onto two dimensions: intentionality of data collection and intentionality of data presentation.
Data tables from research studies often feature a high intentionality of data collection and a low intentionality of data presentation. These tables are carefully designed to provide a succinct overview of the data that has been collected.
Graphic representations of raw data can be highly intentional in their presentation, but require low intentionality in collection. On the other hand, presenting cultivated data requires both high intentionality in presentation and collection, creating a structured and understandable format that highlights meaningful information from the data.
A presentation based on intentional data collection and presentation can help craft a compelling narrative about the business results that are most important. As demonstrated in Figure 2, this approach can help identify the scenarios with the greatest likelihood for successful cost savings and positive outcomes.
Engage the Entire Brain
The left brain processes words and information logically, while the right brain processes images and stories holistically. Neuroscientists have found that we can comprehend a picture 60,000 times faster than words, demonstrating that a single image is worth a thousand words. Likewise, stories can help us to understand and recall meanings much faster than piles of facts and figures.
Use a Storytelling Structure
Digital marketing analytics can be improved by employing effective storytelling structure techniques.
To make the most of the brain’s natural inclination towards processing stories, one should use a storytelling structure when providing updates or presenting the results of their work. This structure involves three fundamental elements.
- Character
- Conflict
- Resolution
To use character, assign your target audience segments character names that are clear and descriptive of the traits you use to segment them. For example, Matt discussed customer behaviors and demands of a CRM platform. In the data story, two segments were given the character names “Power User” and “Novice User” to represent their different levels of technical experience.
When the company changed its content to better target and adapt to the different needs of bodybuilders and mothers, it saw a dramatic increase in sales of 400% and engagement of 2,000%.
To effectively incorporate conflict into your story, consider the conflicts your audience faces. Think about what keeps them from achieving their goals, what obstacles stand in their way, and how the conflict impacts them. Consider the resolution that your audience can achieve as a result of the conflict, and how it will affect or change them. Think about the implications of the resolution and how it enables them to find success.
Design for Speedy Discovery
Color and Contrast are key design factors to consider when presenting your story visually. The choice of color can convey meaning and draw attention, while contrast can help emphasize specific points and highlight differences. For example, the red-amber-green of traffic lights in many countries communicates their meaning quickly and easily.
The way data is presented visually can have a big impact on how quickly a viewer can understand the data. As an example, Figure 3 shows trends over time for five different factors. A bar chart requires the viewer to analyze each factor separately, while a spiderweb chart allows the viewer to quickly see changes in all five factors at once.
Headlines: For clarity, use big, short headlines. Emphasize them using bold, italics and underline. Select and be consistent with typeface, color and font size. Utilize white space to draw the audience’s attention. Fonts: In presentations, it is best to use sans serif fonts for headlines and quotations. For paragraphs, use serif fonts as the serifs help the eye transition from one letter to the next.
What key points do I want to emphasize in my presentation?
Yes, you are answering the question.
Yes, the overall presentation helps to effectively communicate the intended purpose.
Comparable data can provide valuable insights, but too much of it can also add unnecessary complexity.
Insight – Action – Impact
The next step in digital marketing is the insight-action-impact analytics technique.
The purpose of a report or presentation is to communicate a message in a clear and concise way, by presenting facts, offering insights, and providing a conclusion.
From the data, it is observed that there is a positive correlation between the amount of time spent studying and the amount of knowledge gained. This suggests that studying and dedicating time to learning can help improve understanding of the subject material.
The correlation is a measure of how two variables are related. Depending on the correlation, different actions may need to be taken. For example, if the correlation is positive, it may be necessary to implement strategies that strengthen the relationship between the two variables. On the other hand, if the correlation is negative, strategies may be needed to reduce the association between the two variables.
This change will have a financial impact, either positive or negative, depending on the action taken or not taken.
It is essential to understand the needs and objectives of your audience when constructing a presentation in order to effectively persuade them. The level of detail and narrative used will depend on the intended stakeholders and their individual priorities.
The data-insights-action-impact continuum (Figure 4) is based on the role that each audience member plays. Data analysts, directors, and campaign owners prefer more data as they are experts in analyzing it and understanding the underlying causes. On the other hand, CMOs, CFOs, and CEOs prefer simpler explanations and recommendations that are jargon-free and go straight to the point of insights, actions, and impact.
Using marketing analytics data, Matt provided an example of an analysis of a company’s ecommerce conversion rates by device type. This report revealed that improving the user experience on the mobile platform could potentially recoup $2.5 million in lost sales. It clearly explained the insight, proposed actionable options, and presented a clear assessment of the potential impact, making it easier for the executive audience to make an informed decision.
Simplilearn offers a variety of courses and programs to help you further your digital marketing career. Our Post Graduate Program in Digital Marketing, in collaboration with Purdue University, provides an in-depth certification across all aspects of digital marketing. Alternatively, you can also opt to take certification courses in specific digital marketing skills, allowing you to stay up-to-date with the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape and ensure your skills remain relevant.