Useful data is indispensable when it comes to successfully running your business. It can be used every step of the way to inform your policies and best practice, telling you what are the most successful sales channels and where your processes can be improved. However, how do you go about obtaining reliable data that you can be sure will best inform your business practices? The trick is to consider each part of your business, and the data it produces, separately, whether that is the technology you use, your social media channels, and even your customers as individuals. Here are three ways you can obtain valuable data to help you grow your business.

1. Business phone service 

A business phone service can help to massively increase your call efficiency and provide you with the data and analytics you need to assess and improve your phone services. For example, recorded calls allows you to play back real-life calls customers have had with your team, which can then be used to inform staff call handling training to ensure that they are dealing with phone calls with maximum courtesy and efficiency. A business phone service can be customized to suit the exact needs of your business, such as 1800 numbers for your business to provide customers with a new number that they won’t forget. The service will boost your analytics capabilities by providing solutions such as call tracking and reporting tools so that you are provided with even more data and ways of reaching potential customers.

2. Social media analytics

Social media is a massively important part of any online marketing campaign – with many people from all over the world having at least one account on a social media platform, you can potentially reach a huge number of new customers. Social media analytics tools, such as Sprout Social, can help you to track your social presence and develop more effective campaigns to reach the most customers. For example, you will be able to identify which of your social media posts are the most successful with the most views, and repost these or try to replicate them with subsequent posts of similar content. With social media analytics, you can also see exactly who your customer base is – where they are from, how old they are, what other content they are looking at – so that you can tweak your content to further draw them in. 

3. Customer questionnaires

Some of the most valuable business data you can get can be obtained directly from your customers. Questionnaires and customer feedback forms enable you to ask your customers specific questions about your business which you may not otherwise be able to obtain through other forms of data. For example, how satisfied are they with your products and services. You should also welcome direct customer interaction and feedback on platforms such as Twitter, on which you can engage directly with your customer base to answer their questions about your business.