Analytics for eLearning and Sales Enablement: The Basics

The goal of analytics, of course, is to remove the guesswork from your business strategies and provide you with measurable insights to track and achieve your business goals.

It’s a very powerful tool that can create waves of positive change. But without the right approach, you could get lost in the vast sea that is data. Let’s talk about the four key steps to successful analytics that will help you get the most out of your data. 

 Step 1: Find Your Goal 

Remember “Where’s Waldo?” These children’s books features illustrations of dozens of characters and scenery with the title character, Waldo, hidden somewhere amongst them.  If the reader had no idea the purpose was to find Waldo, or if they didn’t know what Waldo looked like, they would be lost, staring at the illustrations with no idea what or why they are looking at it.

The same is true for analytics. If you don’t know what you are looking for, you will not find it. Ever. That’s why before beginning any analytics process, it's important to know exactly what kind of insights you're trying to find and how they will help your business. Having clear goals from the start will allow you to quickly filter out irrelevant data and focus on finding the information that is going to be most useful to you. Make sure that your goals are measurable so that you can track progress along the way and measure your success. 

Step 2: Gather Data 

Once you have clearly identified your goal, it's time to start gathering data. For this, you'll need to look at both internal and external sources – including learning and engagement stats, views, customer surveys, competitor analysis and more – depending on what kind of insights you're trying to uncover. Make sure that all your data is up-to-date and accurate so that your results are reliable. 

Step 3: Analyze Your Data 

You’ve identified your goals. You’ve collected the relevant information. Now analyze what you’ve found by identifying patterns and drawing conclusions. This could involve complex statistical analysis or simply visualizing key data using charts, graphs and other visual formats.

Shameless promotion: If you're uncertain where to begin, consider seeking help from Pulse. We have the experience and knowledge to successfully stand up any type of analytics project, large or small. Contact Pulse at connect@pulsellc.com  

Step 4: Take Action 

The final step is putting what you’ve learned into action. The action you take will depend on your initial goal. Almost always the action will be focused on improving your audience' or team’s performance —things that lead to increased sales, decreased costs and improved customer experiences.

And finally, remember, analytics are not a one and done endeavor. Expect it to be an ongoing process of collection, analysis and change. Don't forget to conduct regular reviews after implementing changes to make sure the actions you take are worthwhile and still align with your goals! 

But it doesn't have to be complicated! The more you put these steps into action, the easier it will become to extract valuable insights that you can purposefully use within your eLearning and sales enablement strategies.