Nowadays, almost every business worldwide strives to collect as much information as possible. From customer feedback to proposals and more, more than 96% of businesses rely on data to make informed decisions, says the S&P Global Market Intelligence Study.
However, it’s important to note that raw data alone won’t drive any success. You need to extract the most helpful information from it by identifying the relevant patterns.
In simple words, you have to turn scattered data into a meaningful report to make well-informed decisions and craft result-driven marketing campaigns.
Numerous strategies can be adapted in this regard. Let’s discuss some of the most effective ones in this post.
How to transform raw information into meaningful reports: 5 strategies
1. Define the objectives
Instead of immediately skimming through the raw information, start by defining the report’s primary objective:
- Will you use the report to determine customer behavior?
- Highlight the operational inefficiencies?
- Monitoring customer feedback/comments about the brand?
And many more objectives like this.
By doing this, you can easily filter out the necessary details upfront, resulting in a 100% focused report.
Additionally, understanding the objectives makes it easier for team members to ask the right questions and rely on the most relevant data sources to ensure the creation of a report that delivers real value to the decision-makers.
2. Collect data at scale
Now, it’s time to gather the right kind of data. Here, you have to keep in mind that data collection without a proper strategy can result in confusion and waste of resources.
Therefore, it is recommended to be selective about where and how the required information will be sourced. You can extract information from such data sources as social media networks, customer review platforms, e-commerce stores, and many more.
To simplify the process, consider utilizing automated data integration solutions like Windsor.ai. Our no-code ELT (extract, load, transform) platform lets you sync data from 325+ data sources, including the most popular marketing platforms, CRM systems, business apps, and other sources, with minimal effort, saving you valuable time and effort.
3. Organize and structure the information
When you collect raw information, it’s usually inconsistent, unorganized, and filled with lots of gaps and errors, making it not ready for effective reporting.
That’s why organizing and structuring information is one of the most efficient strategies for creating an insightful report.
Both of these processes act as a foundation, helping you efficiently analyze and interpret the raw information. Follow these simple tips to make the most out of your data at this stage:
- First of all, find and eliminate all the duplicate and unnecessary information. In parallel, keep fixing the potential errors.
- Ensure consistency in formatting. For example, use the same attributes/names throughout the record. Doing so will help avoid confusion.
- Don’t forget to categorize the relevant information. For instance, organize customer reviews by product, rating, platform, etc.
When you perform proper organization and structuring of raw information, it will significantly reduce the chances of errors while laying down a strong foundation for meaningful reporting.
4. Visualize data
Data visualization is an actionable strategy that helps reveal important patterns and provides information in a convenient format for in-depth analytics.
Exploring information in data visualization and BI tools like Looker Studio or Power BI allows you to determine what exactly is happening behind the numbers so you can transform those discoveries into actionable insights. Additionally, explaining something in the form of visuals is way quicker and more efficient as compared to plain text.
Now, the question is, how can you perform both these tasks? First, you should ask open-ended questions like, ‘What are the highs and lows in the gathered information? Are there any anomalies present or not?’
When it comes to visualizing the information, there are a number of techniques you can apply:
- Line graphs for showing trends over time
- Bar charts for comparing quantities
- Pie charts to showcase distribution
To name a few.
Exploring and visualizing the raw information ensures efficient understanding and helps you engage business leaders or stakeholders.
5. Summarize everything to craft a concise report
Last but not least, summarizing is an effective writing strategy that helps transform a large portion of text into a concise report by only using the main points. Since the report will be read by business individuals, it’s essential to keep it precise and yet to the point.
For this, adapting the summarizing strategy is the most suitable solution. The process is simple: carefully review all the findings or key details. Then, state them in a readable manner by avoiding the fluffy or unnecessary words and phrases. Keep the sentences short and direct.
Obviously, summarizing all the information manually to craft a sweet and concise report requires a robust skill set and time. That’s why many data analysts and marketers prefer relying on tools like the AI summarizer to get the job done with a few clicks.
Remember, such tools work with plain text only. So, in case (most of the time) your information contains numbers, statistical data, or visuals, then you will have to add them manually while ensuring overall accuracy. The best approach is combining a text report with a well-designed report in a data visualization tool.
Conclusion
By applying the listed strategies, you can make the most out of your raw information quickly and with no hassle.
Extracting the most useful insights and transforming them into an actionable report is essential for effective decision-making.
Get started with Windsor.ai to automatically collect data from any platform and create comprehensive reports based on it—all with no code and technical skills required.