According to research, there are more than 25 million cars on the road in the UK. The automotive industry is huge, and its major players all have something in common: they're old.
Volkswagen was founded in 1937, Peugeot in 1926. Ford was founded in 1903, while Vauxhall can trace its roots (wires?) back to 1857.
That’s often how it is: a handful of well-established companies dominating the marketplace. However, that’s not to say other companies haven’t tried to infiltrate the market. Notably, in 2003 a new company was set up. That company was Tesla Motors. And they had a data-driven plan that allowed the to successfully break into this market.
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The key here is data-driven. When designing their cars, Tesla builds in the technology to track user data such as fuel efficiency and tire balance. This information is automatically sent to the company, which collates and analyses it.
This is a huge game changer. Being able to analyse this data allows Tesla to target resources towards improving customer satisfaction, in turn keeping their customers happy. Not only that, their analytics can actually anticipate problems and fix them before the customer notices.
This is a major reason why Tesla has succeeded where so many other new players have failed. Unlike most other car companies, Tesla customers are not an annoyance. They are a key part of the decision-making process, and as a result they've learned how to increase customer satisfaction and generate more business.
92% of Tesla customers say they will buy again
This is exactly what your company should be doing too: using data to make customers a key part of your decision-making process.
Why you should make your customers a key part of the decision-making process
I know what you’re thinking: that’s all well and good for a billion-dollar company, with millions of pieces of data to analyse. But what about my business? And how does this relate to our marketing?
The answer is that using analytics — specifically, many of the features in HubSpot — allows you to dominate your market, see into the future, and reach those growth targets you’ve had for the past six months. Excited? You should be.
HubSpot Analytics allows you to:
1. Anticipate, control and manage trends
Patterns and trends within your business can be a lifesaver. The ability to know what your customers are doing (and more importantly why they are doing it) gives you invaluable insight into their lives.
Tesla have used their data to find out what the optimum driving speed is for their cars in order to save fuel. They also know after how many miles the average car tire will blow. Through using their data to see trends, they are able to give their customers valuable tips which improve their overall experience with the product.
Now, transfer this to your website. Say that your data shows that most of your visitors visit your ‘about us’ page, but that the traffic drops off from this page. That is a hugely valuable insight. You now have the empirical, obvious truth that improving the retention and improving conversion points or next steps on your ‘about us’ page is a massive priority.
As you can see, by making your customers a key part of the decision-making process, through using analytics, you can easily influence the bottom line of your company.
2. Quantify your business
Have you ever wondered how some new companies manage their incredibly rapid growth, and do it well enough to end up becoming leaders in their industry?
Here’s an example directly related to marketing: you have been given the target of generating 1,000 new leads for sales this year. A scary big number like that can initially be daunting, but not if you think about it schematically. For instance, you can break this down and re-set the goal as 100 new leads per month. If you hit this every month, over 12 months you would surpass your target with ease, and this more achievable monthly goal will keep you motivated.
Furthermore, by tracking your data you are giving yourself the valuable opportunity of being able to iterate your goals. If, six months down the line, you have been generating an average of 250 new leads per month, then you need to re-evaluate your goal of 1,000 new leads in a year. By assessing and iterating your numbers, you can keep everyone on the same page — and keep your boss happy.
3. Justify your role
Unfortunately those of us in marketing are sometimes given a hard time for being just ‘a colouring-in machine’. While we all know that isn’t the case, we’ve often been left without a come back — until now. Using HubSpot analytics, you can track the ROI on the work you’ve undertaken.
You now have the power to see what happened to the leads you sent over to sales. How many ended up as customers? Did they churn? If so, why?
Using and analysing data in this way solves a huge problem between sales and marketing, which is a lack of accountability on each side. It helps everyone pull in the right direction.
4. Make it easy to find the data you need
Contrary to popular belief, the data you need isn’t hard to find. It’s already there. It’s waiting for you to harness it and utilise it to improve the future of your business. And if you set up HubSpot, it automatically tracks your customers data so you can make them a key part of your decision-making process, as Tesla does.
HubSpot also makes it fairly simple to analyse your data, and the reports tool allows you to drill deeper into what that data means, giving you the key insights you need to succeed.
5. Keep your business plan rational
How much is your business plan backed up with rationality? Do you have a process for keeping the plan amendable while ensuring that it can still keep you on target for your goals?
That is the power of performance analysis. You only do things that are rationally proven. Do your numbers show that you need a CTA at the bottom of your articles? Put one on there. Do your numbers show that your home page isn’t converting? Amend it, and trust in the process.
This infers that you need to have a culture of iteration and constant improvement, a growth mindset that can set you apart from your competitors. If something isn’t working, change it up. Have the numbers improved? Yes? Great, you’ve fixed the problem. If not, keep going, until you’ve found a solution.
Clearly, data has the power to transform your business. Here are three key data reports in HubSpot that you should be running to make you a winner.
Three key data reports you should be running to make you a winner
1. Daily sources reporting
Firstly, daily sources reporting allows you to identify which channels are driving visits to your website. The power of this report is undeniable. For example, if it shows that you always get more website visitors on Tuesdays, then you should look at what are you doing differently with your social media on that day of the week. What can you learn about your social strategy from this?
Secondly, daily sources allows you to check and therefore increase form conversions across all sources. For instance, is your conversion rate great on email marketing but poor on your website? That insight suggests that it might be time for a web redesign. Also, the numbers back up your point, making it not just your opinion but pure fact.
2. Monthly contacts lifecycle funnel
One of the biggest impacts of an inbound marketing strategy is the ability to track your leads all the way through the sales process. The monthly lifecycle funnel enables you to see if you have a log jam at any point of the sales process. Imagine if 30% of your leads are dropping out at a landing page; that information is vital for your company's bottom line. Do you have 100 opportunities waiting to be picked up by sales? That is a big hint that you may need more salespeople.
3. Average days to close by source
The breakdown of sources this report gives you enhances your data by pealing back the layers of your sales process. For example, if you are taking eight weeks to convert someone from email marketing but only three weeks from direct traffic, you probably need to improve your newsletter.
This kind of data analysis is what can set your business out from the rest. It allows you to iterate and dominate your market through cold hard facts. I hope that helps you realise the opportunities for future growth from learning how to use HubSpot analytics. Don’t get left behind, use data, and if in doubt, just ask yourself — what would Elon do?
Discover how to use HubSpot Analytics to drive repeatable, scalable business growth across your business by downloading our free, 80-page marketing ebook below.
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Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the famous Semantics, large language ocean and many more stuff and more more more
Gem is an inbound enthusiast and HubSpot Platform Consultant at BabelQuest, an Elite-tier HubSpot Solutions Partner based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.