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Using data to improve business efficiency

Learners are introduced to the methods in which businesses can use data to improve their marketing communication.
What data do we get What information does it give us? Marketing benefits of this information
Count when customers shop We can start to see if there are any trends.

Are we busier in the afternoon than in the morning?

What day of the week is the busiest and quietest?

When to send out our marketing communications
What products are selling What is selling the most?

What is not selling?

Which products to discount.

Which products should be featured in our marketing.

What products are being bought together Start to look at the total customer basket. Positioning products together in marketing.

Upselling additional products based on what others have bought.

This table gives you an idea of how you can structure data to improve business efficiency.

Understanding your business’s data will reveal where you should concentrate your resources and where you could reduce waste.

To understand this, let’s look at an example of a shoe mail-order company. As you can see, using just a small amount of data, you can improve your business efficiently week-by-week. Greater efficiency means more sales, less wastage, and in turn, more money.

Without this data, you wouldn’t be able to make informed decisions about how you could improve the business. You would be left guessing. Sure, sometimes you could get it right but more often than not, you wouldn’t.

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Introduction to Marketing: Understanding your Customers

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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