Changing a business culture from one that is based on gut instincts to one that is data driven is not easy, but with hard work and perseverance it can be accomplished. This is the first in a two part series that gives a basic framework for how it can be accomplished. Each company is unique and the internal politics will play a large role in how a process like this can be accomplished, but if you follow the basic principles in these posts you should be well on your way.

In order to entrench web analytics into the decision making process and transform a company into a data driven company you will need to be careful in the steps that you take. It is vital to have complete buy in from senior executives down through each department and the stakeholders that will learn to incorporate web analytics data into their decision making process. Because of that, you will need to take a three tiered approach in beginning to educate employees and gather the necessary information to help each stakeholder. It would begin with the executive team, then move down to each of the department heads, and finally each stakeholder within each department.

The process should begin by bringing the executive team together since they are the ones who guide the direction of the company. If they do not currently understand web analytics, you will need to explain to them how it will empower the company to move from a company that has relied on gut instincts to one that relies on actual data to make informed decisions. It should be more of an overview and educational meeting since they are likely to not care about all the fine details, but instead will be interested in understanding how moving to a data driven business culture will help the company grow and become more profitable.

The next step should be to get each department head together in a meeting. It is probably best to first meet with all of them at once to give them an overview of web analytics that was similar to what was done with the executive team. With the department heads, however, you should also go into more details of what you will need from them in order to make the transformation as seamless as possible and how you are there to help them make their departments more efficient and improve their departments’ contributions to the success of the company as a whole. You should make sure they understood that you are not there to make any department look bad, but instead to help them all work together to make their departments and the company as a whole as profitable as possible by incorporating hard data into their decision making process. Once you met with them as a whole you should then go and meet with each department head individually.

During the individual meetings you should discuss any reservations or issues that they have regarding web analytics and the data it will provide them. You should be sure to fully answer each issue that was brought up and make sure that they are reassured that changing their departments culture to one that is driven by data will help and not hinder their department in the long run. Another critical aspect to help the department heads engrain within each employee is a willingness to embrace change and not fear it. Mistakes will occur in the process, but as long as everyone learns from them you will all come out ahead of the game and continue to grow the company. This is especially true when testing various tactics on the site. They need to understand that it is ok to scrap a test that required lots of resources and go back to the original if the data shows that it is not working.

After each department head fully understands and has bought into the new culture that will be developed you should then find out from each of them who the stakeholders are within their department.  The next step is to go and meet with each stakeholder. That will be discussed in the second part of this post.

Filed under: Analytics, Education and Training on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 by Nate Linnell | 3 Comments
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