Data-rich, but Insight-poor.

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

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You’ve been wrestling with that eCommerce & Marketing dashboardfor the 100th time but you’re still dissatisfied - if not frustrated.

You can’t remember how many times you had it tweaked, but it still doesn’t scratch the “So What?” itch.

You have loads of data from all kinds of sources, but it’s still not helping you making decisions. 

Stupid dashboards, right?

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Not really.

You see, we've all been there, wrestling with unusable dashboards and reports, attempting countless adjustments, yet still falling short.

Data quality issues aside, this frequent problem is only rarely due to a dashboard or report itself.

Your dashboard isn't your opponent, it's just a mirror reflecting the clarity of your own thinking.

Especially in eCommerce, where everything is so tightly interconnected. Every single data-point, every single KPI means absolutely nothing, if not placed into the right context for decision-making.

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For example:

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Let’s say your Conversion Rate shoots from 2% to 4% overnight - amazing, right?

…not if your Traffic in the meanwhile dropped to a third of what it was before.

or

Your ROAS is going through the roof - now that must be good news! 

…not if that’s all Retargeting spend, meaning you’re getting no New Customers.

Now, these are just very basic examples, as the complexity of context setting is often much larger, but you get where I’m going with this.

Without context there is no insight, and without a clear decision-making framework, insights don’t turn into deliberate plans and actions.

…and if you’re not deliberate, well, then it’s not really you who’s driving your brand, is it?

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That’s why it’s paramount to get friendly with the underlying principles of eCommerce, understanding how everything is connected, and learning what to prioritise.

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Pick the area of eCommerce you feel the least confident about, whether that’s the Finance, Media, Tech or Data side of things.

Start reading on it and don’t be afraid to ask the experts around you loads of questions - or if you want to move faster, find yourself an mentor ora coach and accelerate this learning curve.

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Getting to truly grasp the forces at play, will dissipate the fog and give you the grounded clarity you need.

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Abraham Lincoln once said:

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

So let’s focus less on battling with a tool, and more on sharpening your decision-making. 

Your dashboards will quickly fall into place, once your thinking is clear.