{"id":7283,"date":"2020-02-14T12:53:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T10:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ontrack.agency\/?p=7283"},"modified":"2020-02-14T14:40:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T12:40:53","slug":"moving-from-data-driven-to-human-centric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ontrack.agency\/2020\/02\/14\/moving-from-data-driven-to-human-centric\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving from data-driven to human-centric"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Almost anyone remotely involved in marketing nowadays says that they are data-driven. Everything revolves around data and numbers and ROI. 
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It kind of feels like our society has built this environment in which we\u2019re all obsessed with numbers – the numbers of likes a picture gets on your Instagram account will, most likely, determine how you feel about it afterward. The number of shares or claps or retweets one of your articles gets will determine its value and the quality of its content. 
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We need to reach a certain income by the time we are a certain age. We have Forbes 20 under 20, 30 under 30, 100, 500, and so on. The hierarchy seems to be determining our level of happiness and self-appreciation.\u00a0Even
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Our obsession continues with numbers at the box-office for any new movie. \u201cBad boys for life tops Super Bowl Weekend while The Rhythm Section is a record worst opening\u201d<\/a>. This will make 80-90% of us want or not want to see a movie. If not that many people thought it was good, why would we risk wasting 2 hours of our lives on it? And that\u2019s what it comes down to in the end, no? We don\u2019t take chances anymore – take a chance to have a meal at a restaurant that does not yet have enough reviews, take a chance to watch a movie that is not so highly rated or reviewed and so on. 
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That brings me to the point I\u2019m about to make with this article, an article which started as a completely different thing but you know what, this is important too \ud83d\ude42 
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Are we too focused on numbers that we forget to take into consideration the human aspect of it all? Our Instagram posts should be aimed at humans, not algorithms. Our blog articles should offer value and knowledge, original information that readers care about, not a 1200-words piece rotating around that keyword we definitely need to rank for. Data-driven is great but it should lead to a human-centric approach wherever possible.
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Find out why things are not working. Not just what\u2019s not working.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We are seeing this behavior in ecommerce businesses and the way they look at their buyers, their website visitors, their returning customers. What\u2019s the first thing that we do when we want to analyze an online store\u2019s performance? We look at the numbers in analytics! We draw up our reports and identify segments based on specific demographic features, we identify drop-off points from the conversion path, we identify which sources of traffic are bringing in valuable users that are likely to convert and which sources of traffic are bringing in users that are not likely to convert so we stop spending money on those users. 
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Some might stop there – they know where \u201cthey\u2019re leaking money\u201d  (an expression we all love and have used until there was nothing left of it) so they can fix those leaks and then voila! Increased conversion rates, more money, more profit. 
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However, although numbers give you the \u201cwhat\u201d is not working in your conversion funnel and on your website, the numbers are not giving you the \u201cwhy\u201d it\u2019s not working. 
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For those purposes, we need to get back to being human and start talking to our users. Sometimes this is the only way through which you can get valuable information and actually start making worthwhile decisions for your business. 
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There are different ways to learn what your users want and what they don\u2019t want from the experience they have on your website and with your brand and products. 
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Bring in the qualitative research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is really where qualitative research comes into play and it is a major part of our conversion research for any ecommerce scaling program. 
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The purpose of qualitative research is to help you get an in-depth understanding of the customers\u2019 behavior and the reasons they behave that way. 
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Techniques for qualitative research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  1. Site polls<\/li>
  2. Customer surveys<\/li>
  3. User testing<\/li>
  4. Live chat transcripts<\/li>
  5. Session recordings<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

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    Site polls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Where do you launch these site polls? Do a quick funnel analysis and identify the drop-off points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If 70% of your users are leaving on the product pages, there might be something there that is not convincing them. What better way to find out than to ask them? Our typical site poll looks something like this:
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    Customer Surveys<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    We typically like to ask between 7 to 10 questions. The idea behind any question is that you want to understand more about your buyers and what defines them, just make sure it\u2019s information you can actually use in your future communication and in the way you tailor their experience. 
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    It might be fun to know whether your customers wear briefs or boxers but unless you\u2019re selling underwear, it might not be very useful to you. 
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    This is a list of what we usually ask and then tailor questions according to each brand:
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    What can you tell us about yourself?<\/strong> (you want to find out their age, occupation, location but also how they identify themselves – it might be golf pro, fishing aficionado, vegan, etc.). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What made you buy our products\/become our subscriber\/sign-up?<\/strong> (this is good to identify the main points that convince users to buy so you can emphasize them in further communication with your prospects)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What doubts and hesitations did you have before buying\/subscribing\/signing up? <\/strong>(by knowing their doubts you can immediately address them on your website and make the conversion process a lot smoother)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What would you miss if you could not use our products\/services anymore? <\/strong>(this will give you a nice insight into the things they value the most about your product or service) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is the one big thing we are missing? <\/strong>(you always want to improve your services and product and who better to ask than your clients?)
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    User testing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    User testing is a way to see first-hand how users interact with your website. 
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