Data furnishes answers to a host of business questions. Data is reliable, objective and logical. Data can provide irrefutable evidence. Data is often the convincer in PR and marketing communications.
While all that may be true, marketing and PR professionals often misinterpret data or use it inappropriately. Although the numbers themselves are objective, how people perceive them and apply them can be subjective – and wrong.
Writer and researcher Larry Alton explains some of the most common and significant mistakes people commit when analyzing and applying data in an article for Website Magazine. Whether you are examining data from a web analytics or a social media monitoring service, it’s critical to avoid these common pitfalls.
Foregone conclusion. If you’ve already made up your mind, you probably see trends that don’t exist and create excuses to dismiss numbers that don’t support your preconceived notions. It’s essential to remain as objective as possible, ask neutral questions, and avoid reaching a conclusion until you’ve reviewed all the data.
Examining a fraction of the data. Analyzing only a small section of available data can lead to make incorrect conclusions or miss valuable insights. If possible, it’s highly advisable to draw data from multiple sources, try to zoom out for an overall view, and consider how related metrics interact.
Pondering the wrong questions. What you ask will determine your conclusions. The wrong questions lead to incorrect or unhelpful answers. Consider the nature of your business, goals and past to identify the right questions. Be as thorough as possible and focus on improvements in key metrics.
Equating correlation with causation. An action or trend is not necessarily prompting a simultaneous outcome. A new PR campaign may not be the cause of an increase in website traffic. Other factors may be involved.
Thinking all insights are useful. Uncovering new insights may be fun and interesting, but they are not all valuable. Conclusions are only valuable if they lead to meaningful change in strategy.
Other Common Data Analysis Mistakes
Here are some more common errors committed while researching data.
Invalid data. It’s essential to check if the methodologies used to produce the data followed accepted and standardized data collection protocols – and that the data produced is valid. One common mistake that invalidates data is a sample size that’s too small.
Overemphasizing averages. Although averages can be useful at times, they are often misleading as they mask the variance of the data set. As author Lawrence Dworsky wrote, “The average of an elephant and a mouse is a cow, but you won’t learn much about either elephants or mice by studying cows.”
Incorrect comparisons. Comparing data from one time period to another, for instance, can be like comparing apples to oranges. An e-commerce site that compares conversions between January and the previous month may be surprised by a drop in conversions. However, purchases typically spike during December holiday shopping. A more valid comparison would be between January and January of the previous year.
Stopping at the surface. Suppose you identify a referral source that delivers valuable customers. The referral source is not necessarily causing that higher customer lifetime value. It only means they are linked, says Robert J. Moore of RJMetrics. Blindly plunging resources into that one referral source could backfire. Instead, dig deeper to examine all characteristics of your customers to seek more meaningful, actionable metrics to act upon.
Gaining acumen in statistics is now a requisite in both PR and marketing. Even with proper grounding, savvy communicators consult with experts in statistics and data analytics to review and approve data-based copy in news releases, white papers, advertising and other promotional materials.
Bottom Line: Data analytics now drives many major business decisions and provides convincing evidence to support sales messages in PR and marketing communications. No matter how robust your data collection and analysis tools, its’s easy to misinterpret and misuse data. The most common mistakes business people make when examining all kinds of data can be avoided with proper training in data analytics and review of promotional materials by an expert in statistics.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
