4 ways to Align Marketing and IT Analytics Implementation Workflows
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This document outlines 4 ways to align marketing and IT analytics teams: 1) Align language, goals, and knowledge between teams; 2) Build a solid baseline for collaboration with the data layer; 3) Create a framework that facilitates ongoing collaboration; 4) Focus only on necessary data. Misalignment often stems from differing team goals, perspectives, and communication gaps. Aligning teams improves collaboration and customer experiences.
4 ways to Align Marketing and IT Analytics Implementation Workflows
- 1. MARKETING AND IT ANALYTICS 4 WAYS TO ALIGN IMPLEMENTATION WORKFLOWS
- 2. 22 Table of Contents Introduction What causes misalignment between marketing and IT analytics teams? Aligning Marketing and IT Analytics Teams Align language, goals, and knowledge between teams Build a solid baseline for collaboration with the data layer Create a framework that facilitates collaboration moving forward Focus on necessary data Use Team Alignment to Improve Customer Experiences About the Author 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 9 10
- 3. 3 Introduction In a perfect world, marketing and IT analytics teams would harmoniously collaborate to lift businesses to new levels of customer satisfaction and overall revenue. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and in reality the re- lationship between marketing and IT analytics is often anything but harmonious. In a recent webinar with Jim Cain, CEO and Founder of the analytics consultancy Napkyn Analytics, Cain in- dicated that nearly every one of Napkyn’s consulting clients struggles with creating synergy and alignment between marketing and IT analytics teams. Undoubtedly, this is a pervasive issue for many analyt- ics-driven businesses. But does it have to be that way? We don’t think so. There are solutions to the discord (we present 4 in this eBook). But first, let’s take a quick look at where the discord stems from.
- 4. 4 As marketing analytics becomes an increasingly important element in business, IT analytics and marketing teams have had to collaborate more than ever. However, several issues get in the way, such as: What causes misalignment between marketing and IT analytics teams? Siloed team goals Differing perspectives Major communication gaps Marketing and IT analytics teams differ in their individual KPIs, as marketing team goals are often focused on branding and lead generation elements of a website or app, while IT team goals are generally structured around functionality and security. Marketing and IT analytics teams tend to conceptualize elements of a business in dif- ferent ways. For example, the IT analytics side of a business tends to see time in terms of release dates, while marketing teams conceptualize time in terms of campaigns and seasons. Marketing and IT analytics teams interact with customers in different contexts, so each team has valuable customer insights that are unknown to other teams in the business. If these teams don’t actively encourage open communication, much of this valuable information can slip through the cracks. The challenges are there, so what is the solution? How can you improve the alignment of your marketing and IT analytics teams?
- 5. 5 Aligning Marketing and IT Analytics Teams Aligning your marketing and IT analytics teams may be a challenging task, but getting there is certainly possible. You can reach a point of more effective marketing and IT alignment through the following strategies: Leaders need to unite teams around KPIs, goals, and terminology. Aligning language, goals, and knowledge between teams Building a solid baseline for collaboration with the data layer Creating a framework that facilitates collaboration moving forward Focusing on necessary data Let’s take a look into each of these strategies. Align language, goals, and knowledge between teams One of the first steps to aligning your marketing and IT analytics teams should be synchronizing the language used by the different teams. Aligning this language requires leaders of each team to hold meetings specifically about language, and then work to unite each team on terminology around KPIs, goals, and terms for how each team conceptualizes different work elements, like what project completion looks like and which team owns specific tasks. When IT analytics and marketing teams get on the same page by uniting on common terminology around these KPIs, goals, and workflow items, the two teams close communication gaps and effectively improve collaboration. Increasing collaboration is one of the ultimate goals, as each team has valuable knowledge about the customer that may never get to other teams without collabora- tion. Failing to communicate this individual knowledge ends up negatively impacting the end user and the business’s bottom line. Without effective communication and collaboration, each team will likely end up serving its own team’s goals, which may conflict with other teams’ goals.
- 6. 6 Build a solid baseline for collaboration with the data layer The data layer is the foundation for continuous collaboration between marketing and IT analytics teams. Having an accurate and effective data layer allows teams to more easily collaborate on future tagging plans, while also helping marketing teams feel empow- ered to proficiently use their tag manager. As a result, a significant portion of resources should be spent on creating an accurate data layer. A significant portion of resources should be spent on creating an accurate data layer. Additionally, this baseline needs to involve creating space for each team to do their work properly. Market- ing needs to allow IT to complete their work without trying to enforce timelines that are unreasonable, and IT should work to have specific marketing-dependent IT projects completed on time. Articulating these clear expectations will allow for improved communication while eliminating excess conflict.
- 7. 7 Create a framework that facilitates collaboration moving forward Creating a framework that ensures ongoing collabo- ration is essential to maintaining alignment and can only be done by implementing processes that support collaboration. Collaborative processes need to involve rigorous tracking of each team’s tasks and accomplishments in relation to one another, so the teams can ensure accurate communication into the future. Track each team’s tasks and accomplishments in relation to one another for greater visibility and communication. The processes should also require teams to review work and ensure quality, leading to the website breaking less often, which can have a negative effect on relationships. According to Jim Cain from Napkyn Analytics, “Things breaking on the site lead to relationships breaking down in the office.” One great way to ensure quality between IT analytics and marketing teams is through site audits with au- tomated testing software. Running automated audits will allow you to obtain a clear, third-party view of your analytics implementation and ensure communication about your implementation remains intact. ObservePoint provides you with automated software that allows you to thoroughly audit your site and mon- itor your analytics implementation over time. These site audits are profoundly helpful when ensuring the quality of your analytics implementation and when communicating site expectations with other teams. Building a Framework on the Foundation of Analytics Test Automation
- 8. 8 Focus on necessary data One crucial element to getting marketing and IT ana- lytics teams aligned is focusing only on necessary data, as there is often an unhealthy tendency for marketing teams to collect excess amounts of data in an effort to not miss any data. Why is excess data a problem? Collecting excess data bogs you down. Having too much data can slow down decision-making, frustrate IT analytics teams with useless data, and create bottlenecks for digital release cycles. Having too much data can: As a result, both marketing and IT analytics teams need to move their focus to only collecting data that is directly related to improving customer experiences, because that’s the data that will ultimately impact the company’s bottom line. • Slow down decision-making • Frustrate IT analytics teams • Create bottlenecks for digital release cycles
- 9. 9 Use Team Alignment to Improve Customer Experiences At the end of the day, your efforts to align teams should be about delivering amazing experiences to your customers. Increasing alignment between marketing and IT analytics teams will allow you to remain customer-obsessed and deliver customized experiences based on accurate data and insights. These improved customer experiences will continuously increase loyalty and steer your bottom line upwards. ObservePoint is here to help. To see how ObservePoint can help you align your marketing and IT analytics teams via automated analytics validation, schedule a demo. Schedule Demo
- 10. 10 CHRIS BAIRD As Vice President of Marketing, Chris Baird is responsible for pro- viding strategic direction for ObservePoint products, solutions and services, and for presenting the ObservePoint brand world- wide. He previously held various marketing positions at Mrs. Fields Brands, Omniture, and Adobe. About the Author