For our CPG brand client, we took data from spreadsheets and mapped and visualized it to understand the densest clusters of stores with products at a point in time. Then combined the geographies with a model to target marketing campaigns and support sales outreach, which increased revenue.

If you’re not a data scientist (and sometimes even if you are), big data can be daunting. 

Plowing through numbers is taxing and time-consuming. It’s easy to lose your way. You might battle through ‘figures fatigue’ and find useful points and patterns, only to find yourself struggling to communicate them to a wider team. And if you’re dealing with data points in the thousands or millions, it’s simply impossible to process them in numerical format alone.  

Data visualization is one of those things that just makes corporate life easier. And it comes down to a simple fact (on which the data is undeniable): our brains prefer pictures.  

For our CPG brand client, we took data from spreadsheets and mapped and visualized it to understand the densest clusters of stores with products at a point in time. Then combined the geographies with a model to target marketing campaigns and support sales outreach, which increased revenue.

Why should I use data visualization?  

1. To communicate insights easily. Nothing incites a mental switch-off like numbers. Some of us experience ‘math anxiety' well into our adult lives. Data visualization converts dull digits into clear, attractive, interactive imagery that you can present, brand, and customize. It allows you to choose the types of charts that resonate the most strongly with you and your team. And it builds trust and understanding among staff, clients, shareholders, board members, and investors. 
2. To boost your revenue. Data visualization can reveal weak links (like low-revenue products or unnecessary expenses) and unrealized potential (like new markets and untapped demographics). It can signal a need to reposition, illuminate what’s working and what’s not, and help you understand and replicate previous successes. 
3. To have a positive social impact. Many socially-led organizations and nonprofits are reaping the benefits of data visualization. When it comes to charity, fighting for causes, inciting behavioral change, and getting people to listen, data on how people are responding is not just helpful - it’s indispensable.  
4. To strengthen trust and communication within your team. As humans, we’re prone to biased views on why a project might have gone badly, why sales are down, and even less helpfully, who’s to blame. Sales might blame marketing and vice versa. Comms teams might clash with C-suite execs. Data visualization cuts through the noise to present simple facts. Removing bias and emotion from workplace debates saves time and facilitates healthy, efficient resolutions.  

What data visualization tools should I be using?  

There are several good data visualization tools you can use to create intelligent views of your data so you can make revenue-boosting actions.  

• Tableau is the biggest data visualization platform on the market. It’s integrated with MySQL, Amazon AWS, Hadoop, and Teradata.  

• Qlik has a ‘brother and sister’ offering: Qlikview and Qliksense.
  Qlikview is an ‘in-the-box’ tool, offering ready-made models and charts for presenting insights. Qliksense is geared towards exploration and discovering, allowing you to build your own applications and visualizations. Qliksense is so customizable, and the features offered are so broad, you’ll need to be fairly well-versed in data science to get the most out of it (or hire a data strategist to capitalize on it).  
• Perhaps the best thing about Sisense is its drag-and-drop interface. Drop all of your data into a singular ‘repository’ where you can use multiple tools or ‘dashboards’ to query it. You can build custom dashboards for different departments or team members. Even the less ‘techie’ among us will find them easy to interpret. 
• Microsoft PowerBI is another powerful platform and is conveniently compatible for those using the MS Suite. Note: even Microsoft Excel includes small-time data visualization tools. Naturally, this comes with the caveat of being well-versed in Excel, something paid, dedicated software doesn’t require.   
• Google Data Studio comes with the major advantage of being totally free. It’s suitable for all user levels and provides tutorials for beginners. However, some organizations dealing with huge quantities of data might find it restrictive.    

What do I do with the data once I’ve visualized it? 

Although data visualization makes interpreting your numbers substantially easier, there are still decisions to be made once you have a clear picture.  

We couldn’t put it better than the Harvard Business Review did in 2016: ‘Automatically converting spreadsheet cells into a chart only visualizes pieces of a spreadsheet; it doesn’t capture an idea.’ 

This is where the harvesting stops, and the strategy starts. Ask yourself, does this data present a final answer? A non-negotiable solution? Or does it require further drilling down?  

Data will tell you that you need to change your strategy, but it won’t tell you how. This is where data strategists come in.  

See how data can boost your revenue by booking a free 15-minute meeting with a Datamize Strategist today. We can help you to unlock valuable information from your data, and get tailored, expert assistance with the crucial next steps. 

There's never been a better time for Direct Mail. The DMA reports that in 2018 the response rate was 4.9% for prospect lists and an incredible 9% for house lists. That's double the previous year. And the highest since the report started in 2003. Direct Mail pulls higher response rates than any digital direct marketing channel with response rates about five to nine times greater than email, paid search, and social media. Add the fact that roughly 66% of people have bought something because of direct mail, and you could be easily fooled into thinking everything in the industry is perfect. But there's a hidden story.

It’s the story of massive waste, corner-cutting, and cost inefficiency. Over 147 billion pieces of direct mail get delivered to customers every year. And companies spend billions to manage these campaigns without knowing if they're getting true value from service providers. But a closer look reveals some startling facts:

• Building a list of lists plan is often a manual non-standardized process handled by one person so it takes more time and costs more to build. And the margin of error is increased.
• Many printers and direct mail agencies build predictive models with data that is insufficient or not prepped correctly. This leads to inaccurate predictions that drive major marketing and investment decisions
• Direct Mail industry profits are often driven by volume, not value-added, so campaign data is often skewed toward "mail more" strategies, thereby costing more.
• Short-term (next campaign and the same campaign as last year) thinking means companies often double down on campaigns that don't deliver an improved ROI.

And the list goes on.

In truth, companies and nonprofits can earn or raise more by improving these outdated processes. But first, they must be able to spot the inefficiencies by doing three things better than anyone else:

1. Bring together customer (donor if you are a nonprofit) and marketing data from multiple sources.
2. Simplify the process of extracting data, and turning that data into a usable form for marketing analysis.
3. Use predictive analytics and execution optimization to improve campaign performance, and enable better investment decisions.

By reducing cost through domain knowledge, improved data quality, process efficiency, and accurate, factual reporting, ROI will increase. And that's where Datamize comes in.

Datamize solves the inefficiency problem in the Direct Mail Industry by bringing people, data, and technology together.

We are database marketing experts who transform direct mail marketing operations using advanced predictive analytics tools and artificial intelligence. We function as your full-stack data team or support team made up of:

• Data Scientists
• Data Engineers
• Data/Marketing Analysts
• Solution Advisors
• Technologists
• Data Programmers
• Business Intelligence Specialists

With experts in Alteryx, Google Data Studio, Tableau, and more, we prepare, transform, integrate, blend, and model your data from multiple sources using advanced data workflows and visualizations. And we develop machine learning models to give you predictive segmentation and personalization insights in less time with greater impact.

If you're new to predictive analytics, and not sure how to get started, we bring you up to speed with the latest advances in data analytics without the high cost.  Contact us today to learn more about how you can put predictive analytics to work and improve ROI for your next Direct Mail campaign.

"People working together is what makes technology effective."

Judah Fontz - CEO & Founder, Datamize

We are a people-first company. And for us, that means having team members with an insatiable curiosity, who are open-minded and adaptable. We explore the origin of everything and ask deeper questions to find better answers. We rely on our domain expertise but always remain open to learning new ways of growing and improving. We embrace technology fully but don't leave our independent analysis and creativity at the door. And we welcome a challenge. The bigger, and more impossible-seeming, the better. On a more practical note, we're easy to get along with - and that's important. Because our first goal is always to be helpful. Helpful in solving the inefficiencies in your direct marketing operations, and helpful in creating more profitable outcomes. To do this we:

• Examine your current process, and present detailed analyses that outline problems, opportunities, and solutions based on your needs, expectations, and key performance indicators
• Discover and harvest data, as well as structure and integrate data from different sources
• Interpret, evaluate and interrelate data and develop integrated analyses and projections for better decision-making
• Orchestrate repeatable, actionable, and insightful reporting that spots trends and opportunities for improvement
• Deliver accurate, ad hoc analyses that investigate ongoing or one-time issues
• Deploy machine learning, data mining, and statistical modeling to predict customer behavior
• Implement machine learning for optimizing response rate, retention rate, lifetime value, market timing, and more.
• Produce data visualizations that make it easier to see the big picture, ask better questions, and make smarter decisions.

And this is only the start. As the sworn enemy of inefficiency in the Direct Mail industry, we are constantly adding to our technology expertise. And constantly figuring out better ways to bring your Direct Mail Marketing safely and profitably into the future.