Recently, AdAge published a list of 4 Tips on How to Choose the Right Analytics Vendor for Your Growing Business. It's worth a read. Whether you are a luddite reluctantly accepting big data or a data expert who can programmatically query a dozen APIs before your breakfast gets cold, these best practices can help bring you to rational place that supports your organization's strategic and tactical goals.
I summarized the article's tips with my own commentary below:
- Pick a vendor that goes beyond the data. AdAge's advice here is to select vendors that provide more than just raw data, but deliver some of the value from that data so that your team isn't building from scratch. In my opinion this not only saves time, but helps you get the most out of what you're buying. Speaking from my own experience, I am pretty good writing queries, macros, and building visualizations, but I find that when I am using external data, if I get too fancy with my analytics then I am liable to end up incorporating some of my own assumptions into my design. It's best to work in a partnership with your vendor to make sure that you're not wasting time or introducing biases.
- Focus on core, actionable metrics. This sounds obvious, but plenty of teams make mistakes with this. There are a lot of nice shiny data out there, but it's best to determine how what you measure will drive your decisions, and then select a data vendor.
- Set parameters for reaching your best buyers. No surprise, this falls into the old category of do your homework on the vendor and try before you buy.
- Look for a good therapist. This was AdAge's comical way of pressing the point that you need to both instruct and incentivize your analytics vendor to be an impartial arbiter of truth. This is a big deal. Do not incentivize them for good results or good sales. That is your job. If the results are bad, they need to tell you accurately so that you can address what is actionable in a timely manner.
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