Explain the Difference Between Web Analytics and Email Analytics

Web Analytics

Web analytics (aka: digital analytics) refers to the collection, measurement, and analysis of data about visitors and their behavior on websites. It provides insights into the number of visitors, their sources, behavior on the site, and which pages they interact with. The goal of website analytics is to improve the website’s performance and user experience.

Digital analytics and marketing analytics are related but distinct fields. Website analytics is focused on measuring and analyzing data about website traffic, user behavior, and other online metrics. Marketing analytics, on the other hand, is a broader field that encompasses web analytics, as well as data from other marketing channels, such as email, social media, and paid advertising.

Marketing analytics provides a more holistic view of a company’s marketing performance and helps marketers make data-driven decisions about their marketing strategy and budget. Digital analytics, by contrast, is more focused on website-specific data, and is typically used to optimize website performance and user experience.

In summary, digital analytics is a subset of marketing analytics, and marketing analytics is a more comprehensive approach to measuring and analyzing marketing performance.

web analytics graphic

Leading Web Analytics Companies:

Note: The ranking can vary depending on the specific use case and the size of the organization.

Email Analytics

Email analytics, on the other hand, refers to the measurement and analysis of data related to email marketing campaigns. This includes metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and subscriber engagement. The goal is to understand the effectiveness of email marketing efforts and make informed decisions about future campaigns.

graphic depicting email analytics

In summary, web analytics focuses on website performance and visitor behavior, while email analytics focuses on the performance of email marketing campaigns.

Leading Email Analytics Companies:

  • Google Analytics
  • Adobe Analytics
  • Mailchimp
  • Klaviyo
  • Pardot
  • Campaign Monitor

Note: The ranking can vary depending on the specific use case and the size of the organization.

 

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Promises from a Manager

11 Promises From A Manager to Employees

Outlined below is the kind of relationship managers should try to forge with employees who report to them directly. As I see it, the manager-employee relationship should emphasize clarity and trust while also prioritizing the individual worker’s needs.

I’ve managed some great people since I first started. At some point I discovered the idea of servant leadership, which for me means that leaders should center the needs of their people rather than themselves.

  1. We’ll have a weekly 1:1. I’ll never cancel this meeting, but you can cancel it whenever you like. It’s your time.
  2. Our 1:1 agenda will be in the meeting invite so we remember important topics. But you’re always free to use the time for whatever’s on your mind.
  3. When I schedule a meeting with you, I’ll always say *when I schedule it* what it’s meant to be about. I will not schedule meetings without an agenda.
  4. When I drop into your DM’s, I’ll always say “hi and why.” No suspense, no small talk while you are wondering what I want.
  5. News or announcements that significantly impact you, your work, or your team will come from me directly in a 1:1, not revealed in a big meeting.
  6. You’ll get feedback from me when it’s fresh. There will be no feedback in your performance review that you’re hearing for the first time.
  7. I trust you to manage your own time. You don’t need to clear with me in advance your time AFK or OOO.
  8. Your work gets done your way. My focus is on outcomes, not output. Once we’re clear on where we need to go, how to get there is up to you. If I ever find it necessary to suggest a specific approach, I will supply an example.
  9. A team is strongest when it’s working together, looking after one another, and taking care of each other. Please look to your left and to your right for opportunities to help your colleagues. Please ask for help when you need it. Nobody works alone.
  10. I trust you to skip level and talk to my manager or other senior management about anything you feel is relevant. You don’t need to clear it with me, and I’m not going to get weird about it when you do.
  11. I will attribute credit appropriately to you and your team. I will never exaggerate my own role or minimize your contribution. I’ll be especially certain to nail down attribution when senior management are hearing of our accomplishments.

I ask only that my direct reports reciprocate by giving me in return what I need most: The truth.

I want them to give me their feedback, tell me when I’m wrong, and tell me their ideas for how we can do better. If we trust each other, we can learn and grow together. That’s how I want to work with my direct reports.

This is what good leadership can look like. Read the full article here. Follow Matthew Rechs @MrEchs

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Science of Persuasion Video

Robert Cialdini, considered the leading social scientist in the field of influence, was initially drawn to the topic because he saw how easily people could step over an ethical line into manipulation or even abuse. His 2001 book Influence, which laid out six principles of persuasion, was eloquent about the dangers of persuasive techniques in the wrong hands. A best-selling article he wrote for HBR the same year, “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion,” looked at the positive side of persuasion: how managers could use those principles to run their organizations more effectively.

Extensive scholarly training in the psychology of influence, together with over 30 years of research into the subject, has earned Dr. Cialdini an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation.

His books including, Influence: Science & Practice and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion are the results of more than 30 years of study into the reasons why people comply with requests in business settings. Worldwide, Influence has sold over 3 million copies and has been published in thirty languages. Additionally, USA Today lists Influence in their 12 Best Business Books of All Time.

Cialdini is the Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University and the president of the consulting firm Influence at Work.

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Succeeding as a Virtual Team

graphic representing a virtual team with a person at a computer and virtual team members encircling him

The earliest virtual teams were formed to facilitate innovation among top experts around the world who didn’t have time to travel. Today teams of physically dispersed employees are more often just a necessity of doing business.

Creating and Leading an Effective Virtual Team

There’s a lot of advice out there, but research concludes that there are four must-haves: the right team, the right leadership, the right touchpoints, and the right technology.

The Right Team

  • People – Hire the right people who are suited for remote work. Good communication skills, high emotional intelligence (EQ), the ability to work independently and the resilience to recover from negative situations are all important things to possess. Also important is awareness and sensitivity to other cultures.
  • Size – The most effective virtual teams are small ones…fewer than 10 people. Beware of “social loafing” which is when team members reduce effort when they feel less responsible for output. It takes only 10 conversations for every person on a team of five to touch base with everyone else, but that number rises to 78 for a team of 13.
  • Roles – When projects require the efforts of multiple people from various departments, create relevant and appropriate sub-teams. Our approach is similar to the MIT professor Deborah Ancona advocates an X-team strategy which defines three tiers of team members: core, operational, and outer. The core consists of executives responsible for strategy. The operational group leads and makes decisions about day-to-day work but doesn’t tackle the larger issues handled by the core. And the outer network consists of temporary or part-time members who are brought in for a particular stage of the project because of their specialized expertise.

The Right Leadership

The best predictor of success for managers leading dispersed teams is experience doing it before. Novices can excel by practicing some key behaviors that, while also critical in face-to-face settings, must be amplified in virtual ones: Fostering trust, Encouraging open dialogue, Clarifying goals and guidelines.

  • Observable Candor = Push members to be frank with one another. Model “caring criticism”
  • Official Advocate for Candor-Noticing = A tactic for conference calls is to designate one team member to act as the official advocate for candor-noticing and speaking up when something is being left unsaid and calling out criticism that’s not constructive. On the flip side, you should also occasionally recognize people for practices that improve team communication and collaboration.
  • Establish a Common Purpose or Vision = The importance of establishing a common purpose or vision is paramount, while also framing the work in terms of team members’ individual needs and ambitions. Explain to everyone why you are coming together and what benefits will result, and then keep reiterating the message.
  • Establish a few Rules = Rules reduce uncertainty and enhance trust in social groups, thereby improving productivity. Agree on how quickly team members should respond to queries and requests from one another, and outline follow-up steps if someone is slow to act. Insist that requests be specific. Make it clear that multitasking is NOT OK.

The Right Touchpoints

Virtual teams should come together in person at certain times. The stages at which it’s most critical are Kickoff, Onboarding, Milestones.

  • Kickoff = An initial meeting, face-to-face if possible and using video if not, will go a long way toward introducing teammates, setting expectations for trust and candor, and clarifying team goals and behavioral guidelines.
  • Onboarding = Fly new team members into headquarters. Pair newcomers with a mentor.
  • Milestones = Get people together to celebrate the achievement of short-term goals or to crack tough problems.

The Right Technology

Even top-notch virtual teams—those with the most- talented workers, the finest leadership, and frequent touchpoints—can be felled by poor technology. We recommend using team communication platforms that integrate all types of key components such as: Conference calling, Direct calling, Discussion forums, Easy recording, etc.

Virtual teams are hard to get right but the appeal of forming virtual teams is clear. Employees can manage their work and personal lives more flexibly, and they have the opportunity to interact with colleagues around the world. Companies can use the best and lowest-cost global talent and significantly reduce their real estate costs.

The good news is that research now indicates that well-managed dispersed teams can actually outperform those that share office space. So if you lead a virtual team or are a member of one, realize there are methods and tactics you can use to give your team the best chance of success.

Additional Resource:

From McKinsey.com: Revisiting Agile Teams after an Abrupt Shift to Remote
Agile teams traditionally excel when their members are co-located. Here’s a great article by McKinsey on how to ensure they’re effective after COVID-19 forced them to work remotely.

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Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics Terminologies [Repost]

Great resource for Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics terminologies for mapping GA variables to AA variables and vice versa.

Original Post: https://yuhuisdatascienceblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/adobe-analytics-and-google-analytics.html

When going from an Adobe Analytics world to a Google Analytics world or vice versa, you’re bound to face terminologies that you’re unfamiliar with, mainly because of how both products have evolved in their functionality over time.

But never fear! Here’s a handy cheat sheet to help you know what something in Adobe Analytics is similar (but not always equivalent!) to in Google Analytics, or the other way around.


Base Terminologies

Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Remarks
Report Suite Property Besides data storage, an Adobe Analytics Report Suite provides the primary reporting interface.

A Google Analytics Property does not have a reporting interface. Instead, its reporting interface is a View.

Virtual Report Suite View An Adobe Analytics Virtual Report Suite is based on applying a segment to a Report Suite.

A Google Analytics View is based on applying many filters to a Property.

Visitor ID Client ID Modern implementations of Adobe Analytics rely on the Adobe Experience Cloud ID Service to provide the Visitor ID, which is a common visitor ID across all Adobe Experience Platform products.
Unique Visitor User
Visit Session Learn more about the measurement differences.

 

Traffic Source

Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Remarks
Referrer Source when Medium is “referrer”
Tracking Code (Campaign) Source / Medium / Campaign / Ad Content / Keyword Strictly speaking, this is not comparing like-for-like.

In Adobe Analytics, Tracking Code is a special kind of Conversion Variable. It does not replace the Traffic Source.

In Google Analytics, Source / Medium / Campaign / Ad Content / Keyword are synonymous with Traffic Source.

Marketing Channel Channel Group

 

Site Content Pages

Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Remarks
Page Page
Entry Page Landing Page
Exit Page Exit Page
Page Not Found N/A
Server Hostname
Site Section (Channel) N/A
Hierarchy N/A Google Analytics derives a hierarchy (Content Drilldown) from Page.
N/A Content Group In Adobe Analytics, a Traffic Variable can be setup to record this.
Page View Pageview
N/A Unique Pageview In Adobe Analytics, “Visit” can be used in place of this.
Bounce Rate Bounce Rate

 

Site Content Links/Events

Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Remarks
Custom Link Event Category/Action/Label Adobe Analytics provides one field name, whereas Google Analytics provides three field names.
Download Link Event Category/Action/Label when used to track a download link Adobe Analytics provides one field name, whereas Google Analytics provides three field names.
Exit Link Event Category/Action/Label when used to track an exit/outbound link Adobe Analytics provides one field name, whereas Google Analytics provides three field names.
Custom/Download/Exit Link Instance Event
N/A Unique Event In Adobe Analytics, “Visit” can be used in place of this.
N/A Event Value In Adobe Analytics, a “Numeric” Success Event can be setup to record this.

 

Custom Dimensions and Metrics

Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Remarks
Traffic Variable (prop) Custom Dimension (hit-scoped)
Traffic Variable (prop) Custom Dimension (hit-scoped)
Traffic List Variable N/A
Conversion Variable (eVar) with “Most Recent” allocation and “Hit” expiry Custom Dimension (hit-scoped)
Conversion Variable (eVar) with “Most Recent” allocation and “Visit” expiry Custom Dimension (session-scoped)
Conversion Variable (eVar) with “Most Recent” allocation and “Never” expiry Custom Dimension (user-scoped)
Conversion Variable (eVar) with other allocations and/or other expiries N/A
Merchandising Conversion Variable (eVar) with “Most Recent” allocation and “Hit” expiry Custom Dimension (product-scoped)
Merchandising Conversion Variable (eVar) with other allocations and/or other expiries N/A
Success Event of “Counter” type and “Record Once Per Visit” Goal Conversion The Adobe Analytics Success Event must be set in the tracking code.

Google Analytics’ Goals are configured in the Admin interface based on Pages, Events, Page Views per Visit or Time on Site.

Success Event of “Counter” type Custom Metric (hit-scoped) of “Integer” type with value “1”
Success Event of “Counter” type set with Products Custom Metric (product-scoped) of “Integer” type with value “1”
Success Event of “Numeric” type Custom Metric (hit-scoped) of “Integer” type with any value
Success Event of “Numeric” type set with Products Custom Metric (product-scoped) of “Integer” type with any value
Success Event of “Currency” type Custom Metric (hit-scoped) of “Currency” type
Success Event of “Currency” type set with Products Custom Metric (product-scoped) of “Currency” type
N/A Custom Metric (hit-scoped) of “Time” type In Adobe Analytics, a “Counter” Success Event can be used in a Calculated Metric with a “Time” format to report this.
N/A Custom Metric (product-scoped) of “Time” type In Adobe Analytics, a “Numeric” Success Event can be used in a Calculated Metric with a “Time” format to report this.

 

E-commerce

Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Remarks
Category Product Category Google Analytics allows for drilldowns in Product Category (with Enhanced E-commerce only).
Product, if product name is set Product Adobe Analytics does not dictate if the “Product” field should be the product’s name or SKU.

If “Product” is used to record the product name, then a Merchandising Conversion Variable can be setup to record the product SKU.

Product, if product SKU is set Product SKU Adobe Analytics does not dictate if the “Product” field should be the product’s name or SKU.

If “Product” is used to record the product SKU, then a Merchandising Conversion Variable can be setup to record the product name.

N/A Product Brand In Adobe Analytics, a Merchandising Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Product Variant In Adobe Analytics, a Merchandising Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Product Coupon Code In Adobe Analytics, a Merchandising Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Product List View (Product Impression) In Adobe Analytics, a “Counter” Success Event can be setup to record this.
N/A Product List Click (Product Click) In Adobe Analytics, a “Counter” Success Event can be setup to record this.
Product View Product Detail View
Cart N/A In Google Analytics, a hit-scoped “Integer” Custom Metric can be setup to track this.
Cart Addition Product Add
Cart Removal Product Remove
Cart View N/A In Google Analytics, a hit-scoped “Integer” Custom Metric can be setup to track this.
Checkout Product Checkout
Order Transaction
Unit (when reported with Order) Quantity
Unit (when reported with Product) Product Quantity
Revenue (when reported with Order) Revenue
Revenue (when reported with Product) Product Revenue
N/A Average Price In Adobe Analytics, a Calculated Metric (based on Revenue / Unit) can be setup to report this.
N/A Tax In Adobe Analytics, a “Currency” Success Event can be setup to record this.
N/A Shipping In Adobe Analytics, a “Currency” Success Event can be setup to record this.
N/A Transaction ID In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Affiliation In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Order Coupon Code In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Internal Promotion Name In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Internal Promotion ID In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Internal Promotion Creative In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Internal Promotion Position In Adobe Analytics, a Conversion Variable can be setup to record this.
N/A Internal Promotion View (Internal Promotion Impression) In Adobe Analytics, a “Counter” Success Event can be setup to record this.
N/A Internal Promotion Click In Adobe Analytics, a “Counter” Success Event can be setup to record this.

Is this list missing something in Adobe Analytics or Google Analytics? Leave a comment to let me know, and I’ll do my best to update this list with your suggestion(s).

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Adobe Customer Journey Analytics Resources

As Adobe continues to roll out Customer Journey Analytics (CJA), like any diligent practitioner I’ve been constantly searching online for CJA resources, CJA documentation, CJA blogs, etc. This list will be updated as I come across more resources but for now, here you go:

Documentation


Blogs


Videos


Related

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Event-Driven Data Layer for Super Sweet Data Slayers

Data My Layer Please

Pedro Mondo Laid it Down like Gonzo

…While I cannot be 100% certain, this concept started with this blog post from Jim Gordon. What I can say for certain is that I first knew about this concept through Jan’s blog post on that topic. However, as I said at the beginning, I did not initially pay too much attention to this proposal. Now I think I am in a position to say that I understand it.

I am not going to explain it in full. My goal is to provide a quick summary of it. I would describe the EDDL as a JavaScript object that has only one function, push(), used to add more data to the data layer. This function has the following benefits:

  • You do not need any more to get all the data at the top of the page. As you get more information about the web page, you push it into the data layer. In the example above about the cart, once the cart information is retrieved, it is added to the data layer.
  • You can add listeners to the data layer and, for every push(), evaluate whether you need to do something about it. For example, once you get all the information about the page, you can send it to Adobe Analytics.

But not only this, I am seeing a clear trend regarding EDDL:

  • My Adobe Analytics colleagues are actively recommending it to our clients, in place of CEDDL.
  • I sponsored a few years ago a hackathon to build the Adobe Client Data Layer extension (ACDL), which is Adobe’s version of the EDDL concept.
  • Our clients are showing more interest in it and, in some cases, implementing it.

With all of these in mind, I can finally say that I recommend you to move to this new data layer. I know it is not a simple task, but you should start planning for it.

Data Layers are Polyamorous
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Marketing Mix Modeling takes the Sexy out of Modeling

marketing mix modeling graphicCross-Channel Marketing Mix Modeling, or Media Mix Modeling, is the channel analytics process that utilizes historical info to determine the value of varying marketing strategies on the impact of sales. Historical information like a corporation’s internal data and third-party point of sale information is reviewed and analyzed in this effort. The end result is to produce a quantifiable and comparable relationship between the different marketing endeavors to show which media channels are more useful and productive for the sales of a given product or various products. These relationships are quantified by their effectiveness of sales volume that is generated, by the volume produced per unit of input, by the efficiency in terms of cost divided into sales volume, and by the return on investment. The final product uses predictive analytics to produce a list of recommendations on which marketing strategies will be most productive so that the actual marketing and promotion can be adjusted and finally optimized.

 

Where Did Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) Come from and When Did it Achieve Marketplace Dominance?

In light of how successful Marketing Mix Modeling, or MMM, has become, it is hard to imagine that it is a fairly new field of study. Only during the past decade did a number of Consumer Packaged Goods companies fully accept MMM. Nowadays, a great number of the important Fortune 500 firms including Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Proctor & Gamble have integrated MMM into the heart of their marketing strategies. The success of MMM in achieving world dominance stems in part from the availability of well-regarded marketing firms that specialize in the MMM services.

From the CPG segment, marketing mix models migrated successfully into Pharmaceutical and Retail businesses. These were natural fits with MMM because of the third party data that is available to them through Symphony IRI Group, Nielsen Company, and the NPD Group. This time sensitive information is necessary for MMM efforts to be successful. Thanks to CRM systems customer data availability, auto, hospitality, and financial services industries also picked up the MMM strategy in recent years. Financial services companies were able to rely on the third party data provided by Forrester Research’s Ultimate Consumer Panel in order to make efficient MMM possible in their field.

What Were the Problems Financial Services Companies Faced before Using Marketing Mix Modeling?

Numerous problems plagued the financial services industry’s marketing and advertising efforts before the advent of Marketing Mix Modeling. There were disparate data sources that could not always be quantified or objectively compared against one another. The metrics to measure one marketing effort against another were often totally incompatible and not translatable. Financial companies were desperately in need of some effective form of cross-channel media mix modeling. They were attempting to optimize their marketing media mix from a misinformed understanding of what strategies were working and what were not. They also did not have any intelligence from their end user client audience. Further, these companies could not at all predict the results of any given campaign effort. All of these complex problems ultimately led to a sub-optimal mix of marketing channels.

How Do Marketing Mix Models Solve These Problems?

Market mix models solve these problems effectively and efficiently with several inventive solutions. It breaks down all channel analytics and determines their contribution on a channel by channel basis. Next, it crunches the costs associated with these channels to determine their individual activity’s Return on Investment. MMM evaluates the marketing activity’s overall effectiveness. With all of this information in hand, it is able to engage in predictive analytics in order to ensure that the marketing spending distribution is optimal.

How Does Marketing Mix Modeling Specifically Support Financial Services Companies?

Such MMM activities have specific helpful applications for Financial Service Companies. They provide bankers with a superior capital and credit risk management strategy, better operating efficiency, higher profit margins, and stronger relationships with customers. They retool the various promotions to reflect the most appropriate products for interest rate discounts. In financial services, these are the main promotional tools in this highly competitive industry.


How Does Marketing Mix Modeling work?

The main function of Market Mix Modeling is to translate the value of marketing efforts into a direct and demonstrable connection to something happening in sales, market share, and return on investment. To do so, the practice focuses on comparing aggregate historical data between marketing and sales metrics.

  • The MMM approach is based on a popular marketing theory known as the 4Ps of the Marketing Mix, which are: product, price, place, and promotion. This theory states that these are the four fundamental elements of any successful business. The purpose of MMM, then, is to measure how much success came from each of these elements, and create projections for maximizing success through optimization of the mix.
  • In order to do so, MMM compares aggregate data to understand, identify, and differentiate which factors led to the specific success. Was it marketing efforts and promotions? Or was there some external factor at play?

Throughout the process, marketing mix examples rely on the use of multi-linear regression to identify a correlation between an independent variable x and a dependent variable y, where the value of y can be predicted by measuring x.

Dependent variables represent the hard, financial data that illustrates success. This might mean sales, market share, or stock price.

The independent variable represents the marketing efforts. These are broken into two categories; Above the line (ATL) and Below the line (BTL). ATL activities would include print, radio, TV, and digital ads. BTL activities are temporary promotions, sales, coupons, contests, and direct mail marketing.

  • From here, marketers form an equation between two variables. The line drawn from this equation could be linear or nonlinear, i.e. connected or not connected.
  • For example, a TV or digital advertisement may have an effect on brand awareness, but it can’t have a linear relationship to an increase in sales; rather, we need to look to non-marketing factors. These are known as base drivers, and can include price, distribution trends, seasonality factors, and other macroeconomic influences.

The Benefits of Marketing Mix Modeling

By identifying and measuring the discrete factors that led to a specific instance of success, marketers can draw educated and informed conclusions. This makes it much easier to create blueprints for future growth, specifically by:

  • Analyzing marketing spend and budgets to get the most out of every dollar. Consider the non-linear relationship between advertising and sales; most models show that while ad spend can increase awareness, there’s a limit to its efficacy. After a certain point, spending any more on ads could be a total waste of money; in another scenario, the push from ads may not come until after a certain dollar threshold. MMM helps to establish those price points
  • Establish accurate forecasting for future marketing strategies. With a handle on which marketing efforts work best, as well as which ones are trending up (or down) teams can plan out their strategies further into the future.
  • Uncovers hidden or ignored correlations that the company could lean into. For example, it may be hard to explain, but maybe people in Minnesota just like a car more than people in Detroit. You can’t change instinct, so why not create more marketing around those correlations?

In general, MMM provides high-level insights into marketing campaigns and strategy, as well as shedding light on the trends that could be most impactful.

How to Use Marketing Mixed Modeling

While these techniques are mathematically sound, there have also been claims that the MMM is a kind of dead marketing language, done away by time and more advanced tech tools. For instance, there’s the concern that MMM doesn’t provide enough insights on the consumer level, or help marketers to create customized messaging. Additionally, the use of historical data over the course of two or three years means infrequent reporting.

However, MMM can be greatly beneficial when it’s performed once or twice a year as part of a larger marketing strategy. This allows marketers to still benefit from those high-level insights, and then keep those in mind when using more granular data analysis techniques like data-driven or multi-touch attribution. MMM also provides insights into the kind of offline conversions that occur in-person with a sales team.

 

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Develop Strong Relationships as a Project Manager

Project Managers know that one of the most important elements in successfully delivering their project is their relationship with your team. Project methodologies, best practices and planning tools are certainly important and are needed for the delivery of successful projects. But they are only two pieces of the total puzzle. The third piece is your relationship with people – and the most important people on your project is your team.

Project Managers are Project Leaders

Strong team relationships are important project manager skills because project managers are project leaders and need the cooperation of their team in order to successfully deliver the project. Without your team and their expertise, you truly will get nowhere. So get your team “on board” through displaying totally commitment and dedication to the project’s goal.

The challenge project managers face is that they often have to share team members with other projects or commitments. For example, I normally have team members that are assigned to my projects for 25% or 50% of their available time. The other 50% or 75% has been assigned to other tasks, like production support (sound familiar?). This puts a lot of strain on the team members as they must constantly multitask in order to get all their assigned tasks completed. Will your project tasks be at the top of their lists of “to dos” today? Well, it depends, doesn’t it? In most cases, if you have built a strong relationship with your team, and received their individual commitments to complete their project tasks, nothing will prevent them from meeting those commitments.

Project Managers Need to Build Strong Team Relationships

It’s very simple. It’s all about Trust, Honesty and Fun. Strong team relationships are built on a foundation of trust:

  • The team needs to know that you, as a Project Manager will support them, will do what you say you will…when you will (i.e. you have Integrity). This is a great confidence builder. The team needs to have the confidence that their team members will complete the tasks they have been assigned – on time.
  • The team members must understand that you trust them as well. Think about it – you did pick the right people for the tasks, didn’t you? Well, let them do their jobs. If they feel that you have no confidence in them, then they will perform accordingly.
  • The team must understand each other to the point where they believe that it is okay to be honest about anything. You as a Project Manager must be the driving force in nurturing this environment. Think of ways in which you can foster an honest, open environment and watch your level of team productivity rise.

And finally, getting to know your team on a social level could be the most powerful and quickest way of breaking down barriers and build strong and productive relationship as project managers.

Try These Best Practice Steps to Build Relationships

It doesn’t take much effort to build strong relationships with others – try these best practice steps to build relationships with people within your own organization:

  • Spend time in the morning at the (virtual) coffee machine or in the cafeteria catching up with people
  • Don’t stay glued to your desk all day, leave your workplace and take a walk with a colleague at a safe distance
  • In addition to the regular project communication channels, create a channel for off-topic/informal messages
  • Talk to others about projects you are currently working on, or projects you would like to see launched – ask for their support
  • Contribute to the company newsletter or blog, this will create brand awareness and trigger internal communication
  • Have you read an interesting article? Share it with someone in the office who may find it valuable.
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Control Scope Creep for a Business Analyst

control scope creek graphic of monster personified as scope creepPicture the scenario: You’re the BA on an implementation project. Everything is going well and milestones are being met. All stakeholders are happy.

Then a stakeholder tells you the system HAS to do something that was never planned in the Requirements. As a result, the system HAS to have a field to track a customer’s credit status; HAS to have a maker-checker approval workflow for modifying transactions, etc.

The list goes on…you’re flooded with numerous change requests and you realize you have serious scope creep issues. Scope creep is common in projects and to be honest, I did not realize how detrimental it was at first. Scope creep distracts everyone from delivering the base project outcomes, takes away hours of our time as BAs and drives your PM and Program Director insane.

I am breaking this post into two parts to open up discussion on my strategies for controlling scope creep. My point of view is that of a Business Analyst but you can apply these ideas to any sort of project regardless of your role with the project.

Over-Communicate Scope Creep to Users

THE most effective and undeniable ways to control scope creep is through over-communication with your stakeholders and users. I find that when people are continuously involved and updated on the project status, they will be more amenable to ideas and will provide necessary buy-in when you need it.

Just picture yourself entrenched in a project that you’ve been updating a user regularly every two days about the project’s status, issues you are facing and the progression of the timeline. If, out of the blue, there is an unexpected “enhancement item” requested/required by this user, it is going to be a great deal easier for you to negotiate and request, for example, a rescheduling of said enhancement.

Compare this scenario to a situation in which you have not communicated with the user, at all, during the project. That user, mark my words, is going to be unyielding when pushing their enhancement through.

Documentation, Documentation, Documentation

I suggest documenting EVERYTHING to help control scope creep. Countless discussions and agreements that occur outside of official meetings for project managers.

I NEVER agree to anything outside of an official meeting. That is to say, I always confirm and document agreements and decision points during a formal meeting. Therefore, if a user disputes something was signed off and agreed, you can refer to the meeting minutes as evidence.

I forget about things. Above all, you have to have documentary evidence that things were agreed on knowing that people forget things.

Additional Reading

Infographic Showing 10 Common Causes Of Scope Creep And How To Eliminate Them

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