Building Data That Grows With You

Presented at BrightonSEO San Diego 2023. Sam shared her top tips for how to build a scalable measurement program to get the right data you can trust without wading through the fluff.

Transcript

1. Building data that grows with you Sam Torres Gray Dot Company Speakerdeck.com/SamTorres @SamTorresATL
2. About Me 2 Chief Digital Officer at Gray Dot Company SEO for 13 years, previously a front-end developer Atlanta-based #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
3. Data-driven decisions 3 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
4. 4 Access to digital The speed that we can access data due to digital properties has made data-driven decision making easier than ever. But at what cost? #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
5. 5 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
6. So what are we even doing here? 6 Scaling Data Scaling Platforms Scaling Insights #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
7. 7 Scalability refers to the ability of a system to perform well under an increased or expanding workload. #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
8. What aren’t we doing? 8 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
9. Scaling Data 9 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
10. 10 Your findings are only good if you can trust the data. Data must be VALID SCALING DATA Make friends with GA4’s debug mode. #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
11. Data must be COMPLIANT 11 SCALING DATA Find out if these apply to you: GDPR CCPA PIPEDA #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
12. Data must be COMPLIANT 12 SCALING DATA Technical implementation matters #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
13. 13 Data should be PLANNED while also being FLEXIBLE SCALING DATA Create a measurement plan. Technical requirements and stakeholders Events and definitions Implementation documentation #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
14. Data should PLAN TO CHANGE 14 SCALING DATA Check and re-check your assumptions. Measurement plan how-to & template #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
15. Scaling Platforms 15 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
16. What we mean by platform 16 SCALING PLATFORMS Dashboarding Looker Studio Tableau Databox Warehouses / Storage BigQuery Redshift Snowflake In-house server/IT team #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
17. Dashboards should be performative 17 SCALING PLATFORMS Stop trying to make a single dashboard be your end-all, be-all. #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
18. Getting more from your dashboards 18 SCALING PLATFORMS Dashboards should be themed around what questions the data can answer and the audience who cares Do the heavy lifting of calculations somewhere else Google Sheets / CSV BigQuery #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
19. 19 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
20. Platforms have limitations 20 SCALING PLATFORMS Google Sheets Too many rows and columns Specialize/focus your data BigQuery Repeatedly querying the data and calculating = $$$ #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
21. 21 Do NOT directly query BigQuery in Looker Studio, use preset (made by you) query results instead. Avoiding BigQuery sticker shock SCALING DATA Guide on cost & query build tools #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
22. Scaling Insights 22 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
23. Use meaningful visualizations 23 SCALING INSIGHTS Focus on trends over element quantity Benefit from color psychology #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
24. Focus on trends 24 SCALING INSIGHTS MoM #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
25. Lean on the psychology of color 25 SCALING INSIGHTS Avoid red – it steals the show and is often not accessible Primer on color #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
26. 26 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
27. Customize your comms 27 SCALING INSIGHTS Right size reporting to your audience Consider business KPIs, and the KPIs for each team #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL
28. Thank You! 28 #brightonSEO @SamTorresATL