12 tips on applying data-driven ways of working to your organization (and increasing the interest for CRO) 🔍

In a perfect world, being data-driven would shape every part of an organization. But, that is not always the case - especially if you navigate offline-born companies. Encouraging a shift from intuition to data-driven decision-making can be challenging, but don't worry - we're in this together! 🫶 In this blog post, I will share some practical strategies to help integrate data-driven practices into your organization. Let's dive in!

1. Start with the why

Aligning on the underlying purpose of becoming data-driven is essential. By starting with the ”why” you can make sure your organization is on the same page throughout this journey. Here are some reasons I've used in my presentations to help tell the story.

Why would you need to become data-driven?

• Because your customers are expecting you to
• It allows you to make informed decisions
• It supports you to be customer-centric and prioritize initiatives
• It helps you mitigate risks
• It helps you grow your business

Or if you want to have one:

Generate value through your actions while avoiding the costs of ineffective choices. (A little bit of scarcity here - who wants to have the cost of ineffective choices on their shoulders?)

Discover your "why" and align it with your business goals. Make sure that what you're testing is connected to these broader objectives. This will help you steer your initiatives and experimentation program in the right direction. If your A/B tests aren't aligned with your business goals, their impact on your business will be…

2. Visualize data in a smarter (automated) way

As a data nerd, smart data visualization is really important to me, okay? Effective data visualization guides the audience to understand trends and patterns, creating a deeper connection with the information.

In my early days of optimization, I felt like a hero when I created a Looker Studio dashboard, did some data blends and showed it to people - cue wow moment. (This was also a time when session recording tools showed you PII, Personal Identifiable Information, - those were the days.) However, things have become a little bit more complex now. Depending on the level and size of your business, you might need to assemble a team of data engineers, data analysts, and tracking experts to ensure that your data is compliant, smartly visualized, efficient, sustainable, and geared for the long term. But when you do - make sure you visualize your data smart.

3. Create stronger insights with data triangulation

Have you been to one of these meetings?

• Person 1: This shoe campaign didn't perform as well as the one we ran last month. I wonder why.
• Person 2: Maybe it's because the previous campaign was posted during a rainy weekend, and this weekend was sunny, so fewer people were likely on their phones.
• Person 1: That must be it. Let's move on.

Quantitative data tells you what is happening. How many items were sold? Where are users dropping off? How many users interacted with this video? Quantitative data won't explain why or how these events are occurring. For that, you need qualitative data. Qualitative data could be session recordings, eye-tracking, customer surveys, focus groups, polls, interviews, or usability testing.

Triangulating different data sources can uncover new insights when a single data source is not enough. By combining data from various sources you will get a more complete picture with both the "what" and the "why."

4. Go from reactive reporting to proactive engagement

We spend a lot of our time in meetings, and many of these are looking into numbers and reports - in a reactive way. When aiming to be data-driven, we strive to be proactive and forward-thinking.

Effective data-driven work demands active collaboration. We need to shift focus from reactive reporting to engaging with the data, encouraging your team to act on insights.

Hot tip
If you can, switch from long meetings with large groups to shorter, focused sessions with key people. When I made this switch on the client’s side, it helped us to get crystal clear on expectations, timelines, actions, and responsibilities. Try moving from reactive reporting to proactive analysis - what have you seen in the latest week or days in data that you can identify trends from?

Another tip is to host a heat meet to boost engagement. Check out my phenomenal colleague Agnes's blog post about it. (Link)

5. Understand the difference between motivation and friction

Focus on where the biggest problem on your site/app lies - do you need to increase motivation or reduce friction?

Example

• A charity organization manages to get everyone who wants to become a monthly donor or make a donation through the process to pay, regardless of the payment solution, but few proceed to checkout. Friction is not a big problem; they need to increase motivation to encourage users to stay on the site and keep them engaged. Focus: Upper-funnel.

An e-commerce site offering sports products is experiencing a high drop-off rate at checkout. Focus on reducing friction by eliminating any obstacles that may be preventing users from completing their purchases. Focus: Lower-funnel.

6. Set clear objectives for your experimentation program

Data shows that 61% of businesses lack clear incentives and goals, and 62% of businesses don’t have metrics to measure their experimentation program.

(Experimentation Maturity Benchmark Report 2023, Kameleeon)

Goals are crucial! At Conversionista, we've helped lots of businesses to set clearer digital goals and it makes a huge difference. OKRs is one great goal-setting method that my colleagues at Conversionista and I use ourselves (This would need a blog post by itself.) Want some templates to set goals for your experimentation program, browse by free templates here.

7. Incorporate testing into your decision-making

Run more experiments - Said every CRO consultant ever. But there's a reason for this advice - just listen to Jeff Bezos.

Integrate CRO into regular business processes to ensure that optimization is consistently a part of the decision-making. Since experimentation is also about risk mitigation, we are reducing the risk in our choices because, that's right, we are testing! Instead of implementing changes and risking negative outcomes, we test them first. This allows us to roll back, make adjustments, and easily reorganize if the results are not as intended.

An example of when experimentation is aligned with business strategy decision-making is shown in our work with our client Kronans Apotek.

8. Have a retrospective

Even if you're not fully agile, you can still draw inspiration from its practices. A retrospective is a great step toward becoming more data-driven, as it gives the chance to reflect on outcomes and identify what worked well and what didn't. By analyzing data (Your teams’ input is also data, yes!) from previous projects or initiatives, you can identify patterns and make smarter moves in the future. Here are some free templates..

9. Run more usability testing

Sometimes, when organizations struggle to convince top management that a specific area of a website or app needs more optimization, (real) users can be the key. And please let me add: users who are recorded and sharing their genuine emotions. This can be stronger than a number on a slide and helps you understand the why to complete your quantitative “what”-findings.

When conducting usability testing, it's important not to let your own thoughts or feelings interfere. Be the unbiased observer and ask open-ended questions that encourage a full answer. Need guidance on how to conduct usability testing? Reach out to me or my research colleagues.

10. Implement a feedback function on your site/app

Important message from me: Every large-scale website or app should have a feedback function. OK? This is a key source for you to “keep on optimizing”. For example, when implementing an exit intent poll, you will receive valuable input on why users are leaving your site. If there are any critical errors on certain pages, they will be quickly noticed.

11. Run a demo or a training session

Having a learning culture is essential in your digital, data-driven journey. Running regular training sessions and workshops can help demystify complex concepts and empower team members to embrace experimentation. (Do people look at you like the "crazy person in the corner" when you are talking about M-errors or P-values? Then, this is for you <3)

To overcome this, go for a training session! Too high of a barrier to do a training session? Go for a demo! This can also demystify what you are working on. Demand airtime to showcase user insights and experiments through a demo! Schedule it for a Friday and sweeten the deal with some fika. Encourage open discussions and knowledge sharing to build a collaborative environment where everyone feels comfortable exploring new ideas and learning from both successes and failures.

12. Have fun - Encourage engagement

Cliche, cliche. But it is very true. My phenomenal colleague Fredrik had a routine when running new experiments for his client, he posted the original and the variant(s) in the organization’s Teams chat and invited people to vote on the one they believed would be the winner. After the experiment, he bought ice cream for the one having the right answer. Be like Fredrik, make it fun.

Regularly communicate the successes and learnings from CRO projects to the organization. This can help build momentum and interest.

Thank you for reading this! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or need support in taking the next step into the fantastic, data-driven world.

Best,

Matilda <3