Repost from Louise Garnett (Twitter, LinkedIn)

I got reminded this last week that data is not created equal. Depending on what kind of data in the timing of the responders’ own lifecycle makes an impact on what can be viewed as the “greater” truth. It has been long known in the research business that what people say they are going to do is not actually what they typically end up doing in the heat of the moment. It has long been known by research companies who do buying surveys that if you ask people what they are going to buy they say one thing. When you follow up with them to find out what they actually bought they say they bought something different. Life happened in between their intentions and the actual behavior of what they did. Survey data is a great indicator of what people intend to do, what has impressed them like an ad, and general thinking about a subject or product. It is really a better tool to look in the review mirror of what was done not looking forward to what will happen. It provides the greater truth on intentions which helps vendors put a stake in the ground prior to the battlefield.

One of my favorite jokes is want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans. I remind myself of this joke when I work with data since intentions and actual behaviors are often different. Web analytics and social media monitoring data sources are actually often showing companies the greater truth of it – what people are actually doing and saying about their products. It has been and will continue to put pressure on traditional survey techniques. Although surveys still have their place new data sources like web analytics may provide the “greater” truth depending on the goals.

What we find is most publishers and information providers are swimming in data (like the rest of the companies regardless of industry) but how and what to do with the data or to make it usable is the issue. We love some of the comments we have heard like “it takes a secret decoder ring to make sense of web analytics data”. It isn’t the data that is the issue it is typically the framework that the data is poured into either surfaces relevant and actionable answers or creates more questions. So what is important is the framework is designed to surface the answers you are looking for like conversion rates or where additional revenue can be found. And of course the willingness, and tough enough skin, to not only be open to the message but also the guts to make the necessary changes.

The new data revolution is exciting but the real crux is turning data into information in a way that the greater truth is revealed and the guts to implement the changes.

Photo by Flickr user SEPBlog