Hai Tech Eric

So if someone is proposing a design
and they have to have a business case,
there should be a question that we can answer
with a simple change in conversion rate
or click-through rate or something.
So the way I think about that is
they are coming through and saying,
we want to make this change.
Asking the question, awesome,
what do we expect that change to do
and how will we prove that with numbers
is the basic question to ask there.
Once they’ve got that, I think that’s helpful just basically
because then in that case it clarifies their thinking
about why the change is necessary
and why they’re willing to prioritize it.
But it also does help to put numbers on it.
Data sometimes is ambiguous and that’s frustrating.
As I said, if I run a test and I get no static difference,
that’s the most frustrating thing in the world for me.
About the best thing I can say is that the change will do no harm.
In that case, if there’s a brand reason or something like that,
we can say go ahead.
So if we’re in a situation where the business case is not well developed,
that’s a really awesome opportunity for you to step in and say,
well, cool, why?
And say, this is what we’ve seen,
how do we expect the numbers to change when this happens?
How would we prove that this change is working the way that you intended?
I think that’s a really good question to ask.
I think that they’ll appreciate that.
Well, I think most of them will appreciate that.
Some won’t, but provided you go in with an attitude of collaboration,
it’s better received.
But I think that that’s a really good question to ask to sharpen the business case
and then also to put some stakes on the table to say,
if this happens, we know you were correct.
If it doesn’t, we can roll this back.
Great.
Thank you for that.
And I know we have a lot of questions in the Q&A,
and unfortunately only time for a few more.
So we will see how many we can get in.
But what would you do if an analyst believes a can report or dashboard
is enough like a silver bullet where it can help and provide a full story
and or insight to the marketers?
Oh, prove it.
Take that dashboard and prove it every single time.
I’ve got a dashboard in there.
I’ve got those dashboards.
Those dashboards are great.
I’m good at making dashboards and my dashboards are pretty.
Yeah.
So take it to the marketer and show them exactly how you are using that,
how that is a silver bullet.
Data storytelling is a skill.
And a lot of people with really strong analytical skills also have to build
those storytelling skills because a lot of times the answer is glaringly
obvious to us.
I don’t even need to make a chart half the time.
I just look at it and I know what the answer is because the data is in my
bones.
That’s not always the case with everyone else because that’s not their job.
So use your data storytelling skills that you have developed and show them
exactly how this dashboard works.
Show them that this is the silver bullet.
Here is exactly how we are going to prove out everything that I’m saying
using this dashboard.
Once you show them the value of that, that’s really all it takes.
But again, that is us as analysts having to fight our own confirmation bias
because, again, a dashboard that is stunningly obvious to me.
I’ve had enough times in my career where I go, well, this is the answer.
And someone goes, why?
And I go, look, look, it’s right there.
And then I have to back up through five different steps of reasoning to show
them that that really is the answer and show them the five other pieces of
data that back it up because that sort of intuitive just pops into my mind
thing is not inherently obvious to everyone else.
So use your data storytelling.
Prove it out to them.
That’s great.
And that ties well to the example you shared during your presentation with
the very overwhelming free form table and then the much prettier, as you
mentioned, version of it.
So we have time for one more question, and we will share from Rose.
How do you prevent people from sharing out information they interpret
incorrectly and people starting to freak out?
That is where the source of truth dashboards are really, really, really
important.
So, yes, you want everyone to have access to that information.
But if it’s not coming from the source of truth dashboards, you don’t really
want that broadly disseminated.
These are the ones that we’ve agreed to.
These are the ones that have that.
I’ve certainly done that and had to explain many times, well, yes, your data
is correct with the following 16 caveats.
Here’s the filter you put on.
Here’s the date range you put on.
You’re in the wrong report suite.
Also, that’s an old metric that’s been deprecated.
And by the way, you are also looking at the wrong geography.
So I hate having that moment because it’s not a collaborative moment or a
cooperative moment.
It’s a corrective moment.
And it doesn’t feel good.
And it’s not a great moment to have.
But sometimes you need to have it to stop the freak out.
When instead you say, well, hey, I see how you’ve got that data.
Let’s take a look at the source of truth dashboards.
And we call them source of truth for a reason, because that’s the source of
truth.
And you say, look, this is actually the situation.
Let’s calm down a little bit.
I see the points you’ve brought up.
Let me look into those.
And then you sort of tease it out in a more cooperative, collaborative way.
I think that that helps the freak out.
There’s always that opportunity.
I’m not going to lie.
You’re going to have to put out those spires occasionally.
That’s one of the downsides of everybody using data.
But it’s also an opportunity to teach them, again, why the data is that way.
And it’s a learning opportunity for them as well.
You go, oh, it’s fantastic.
You use that data.
Let me show you how to take that data to the next level instead of saying, this
is terrible.
Let’s talk.
You take the opportunity to talk about, oh, let’s look at it this way.
Let’s enhance that perspective.
That was great.
And I just want to say thank you again for such a great webinar.
I know there were tons of bits of knowledge that I can take away from this immediately
and from the looks of the chat.
A lot of people agree with me as well.
So before we go, I just wanted to remind everyone that this webinar was recorded.
And we will be sending out a link to the on-demand recording tomorrow.
We also wanted to share about a few upcoming events.
The Experience Makers the Skill Exchange is now going to be at this year’s Adobe
Summit.
So join our team on March 23rd for the Skill Exchange customer learning event with
sessions focused on sharing best practices and advanced tips and tricks like today for
more of your fellow expert users.
We’ve shared the registration link in the related content section of your council.
So feel free to check it out.
And as always, for more information about upcoming Adobe webinars, similar to this
one, you can check that out on the events page in Experience League.
I want to say thank you again to our host as well as all of you for joining today.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
Thank you.