WEFRA LIFE INNOVATION HUB
From data to dashboard
Data is the new gold – and this is an assessment that is now common sense in many industries. It is particularly true for the communications and marketing sector. Yet what exactly makes data such a precious commodity and how can it be used optimally in campaign advice and planning? Anna-Lisa Eisenhauer and Lucas Schütz, two data analysts at WEFRA LIFE INNOVATION HUB, explain.
The term ‘flood of data’ is often used these days because of the enormous volume of generated data that accrues with digital performances. This flood of data from a great variety of resources is increasingly posing a challenge for clients as well as agencies. One example of this is the large number of channels. ‘A growing number of touchpoints need to be orchestrated, including across channels,’ observes Anna-Lisa Eisenhauer, Senior Consultant Business Innovation at WEFRA LIFE INNOVATION HUB GmbH, ‘Clients and target audiences expect consistent communications at the same time.’ She also says that channel-specific metrics are becoming more and more relevant for managing budgets efficiently.
Preparing and interpreting data consistently is a challenging task. Something that is particularly important with it is to integrate data from different devices into one bigger picture. ‘Most of the data ends up in silos and is not interconnected. These are shortcomings that we address,’ explains Lucas Schütz, Product Owner Data & Analytics at WEFRA LIFE INNOVATION HUB GmbH. WEFRA LIFE has found a smart solution for keeping track of enormous volumes of data and getting relevant insights: ‘We collect selected, key pieces of data from the significant channels. Then, we clean up and transform this data and prepare it for our clients in the form of dashboards.’ The benefit of such a visualisation is that clients gain access to and detailed insights into ad and campaign performance, all updated each day.
Precise insights across the entire customer journey
‘All the relevant touchpoints of the healthcare journey are considered when creating a dashboard,’ Anna-Lisa Eisenhauer explains. This includes, for example, print and digital media, displays and communities, apps, social media platforms, SEA/SEO, professional development and webinars, newsletters, landing pages, conferences and trade fairs. Data can be collected on an ongoing basis for these formats. Eisenhauer explains how a dashboard is created using this data basis: ‘We have identified what the media journey is based on an analysis of this data. It comprises three stages: awareness, engagement and invest. We consolidate the associated touchpoints – be they display, video and social or search, newsletter and content – into these categories. Within these touchpoints, there are now the various KPIs and metrics that we are able to present.’ They include, among other things, impressions, mouseovers, video views and cost per mille as well as clicks and click-through rate. Budget-related KPIs, such as ones for the total planned budget and budget already used, are also taken into account.
Transparent, intuitive and illuminating: dashboards offer an optimal foundation for planning and decision–making
The dashboard’s user-friendly and intuitive user interface unlocks varied, fast and precise insights for clients – and all updated on a daily basis, Lucas Schütz explains. Using drop-down lists, drill-down functions and numerous filters, users can directly reach the data analysis point that they are interested in. For example, it is possible to retrieve all the metrics about a newsletter, such as the open and click rate, click-through rate and click-through conversion, and also break down exactly when the impressions are from. In the detailed motive analysis, all the chosen motives for various channels are even displayed. For this, too, there are filters for even further nuance, for example, channel, medium, motive, target audience and display date.‘This way, we can directly answer important questions asked by clients, such as the efficiency of selected ads. Or obtain findings about how attention, penetration and engagement can be increased further. Looking at KPI performance over the entire period of time can also be interesting for identifying trends.’
Dashboards deliver significant benefits for clients as well as the agency, with decision-making about the use of a campaign budget being given a deep and transparent foundation through the extensive data basis. This not only optimises the advice given, but is also a reliable footing for lasting success.