Do you own a business? Being a business owner can be a one-way ticket to unbridled success and serious earning potential. You can make far more money as a business owner than working for someone else, but it takes hard work, determination and long hours. It’s also great to be your own boss and not have to answer to anyone. If you get big enough, you can even employ other people and provide an income for them. But there’s also a great deal of responsibility as a business owner, as you’re directly responsible for your business’s profit or loss.
One way you can boost your business is through the intelligent use of data consulting services. But how do you do this? Lucky for you, this helpful article will share six ways you can use data to boost your business. Read on to learn more.
- Study Business Analytics
You could consider enrolling in an online Business Analytics Masters or related degree. If you have a business or commerce undergraduate degree, this is the perfect next step for your progression, and it will directly benefit your business. When studying business analytics, you’ll learn to leverage data via analysis to change, adjust and pivot in business. You’ll learn how to utilize trends in data and apply analytic thinking to measuring it. In addition to this, you’ll also gain valuable networking opportunities by mingling with your fellow students.
If you’re concerned about how your business will cope while studying, you can appoint a manager who can run things for you for a decent salary. Then, you can provide updates regularly and make critical decisions during your free time from study. The great thing about the digital world is that you can monitor your business via email and online meetings with the manager.
- Utilise Web Scraping Tools
Have you heard of web scraping before? Web scraping utilizes a software tool to “scrape” websites and generate a report or spreadsheet that compiles data about that website. For instance, you can make a web scraper to sift through a competitor’s website and download all their product descriptions, discounts, special offers and pricing, and other helpful information. This is entirely legal and ethical, as all the data is available on their website. You could assign a staff member to perform the same function or do it yourself; it would take a long time. With a web scraper, you get all the data in an easy-to-use spreadsheet to sift through, which will occur quickly.
The benefit of data scraping is that you can use the compiled data to make strategic business decisions, such as how you price your goods, the profit margins you can make and how much you can discount your stock or services compared to competitors.
- Invest in Data Mining
What is data mining? This is a term for a process used by businesses to transmute raw, unfiltered data into helpful information that you can utilize for your business. Special software applications look for patterns in large amounts of data. You can then learn about your customers, their demographics and spending patterns to improve your e-marketing, sales efforts and customer retention.
As a business owner, you can even use it to detect and deter fraud, filter spam and phishing attempts, or for other uses. Take the social media giants like Facebook and X, which provide their services to users for free and use data mining to commodify their platforms. They sell their user’s data to third parties or use it to allow companies to target their advertising to a fine point.
Another example of how data mining can boost your business is that you can identify your busiest periods of the year and then ensure you have ordered enough stock to cover orders, such as Black Friday or the holiday period. Or, you could determine the most popular products you stock and then run a targeted email marketing campaign offering a discount on that product to boost sales volume and, therefore, revenue.
- Use Data to Refine and Streamline Processes
Your business can use data to boost operations, refine processes and streamline work. For instance, if you run a trades company such as plumbing or electrical work, you can equip your fleet vehicles with GPS tracking systems to monitor travel time, staff efficiency and how close they are to the next job. You can then use an automated text messaging service to notify customers how far off the contractor is.
Data can be used for all sorts of businesses. Wholesalers can use it to streamline warehouse picking and packing, monitor inventory and automate re-ordering, track supply chains and more. You can also use it to monitor staff activity and implement performance management or disciplinary action if required.
- Boost Your eCommerce Business with Data
If you run an eCommerce business, you can use data gathered from your website to boost productivity and customer experience. For instance, bounce rates can tell you your website is hard to navigate, whereas conversions can tell you it works optimally. You can use data to determine if your customers can find the products they want in a reasonable amount of time. It can also identify pain points or track abandoned carts, which you can then use automated marketing to try and turn into sales with a small discount offer or cart reminders.
A Data-Driven Summary
This helpful article has shared five ways you can use data to boost your business – from studying business analytics to web scraping and data mining. Use these helpful tips to give your business the boost it needs.