Recently published in DMFA Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association, January 6, 2023
https://dmfa.org/resources/uncategorized/beyond-big-data/

As the term “Big Data” has faded into the past and has supposedly become the new normal in analytical tracking, it’s important to remember the key components that got us to that term. The commercial world and our industry now have the tools, platforms, and ability to really sink your teeth into all things analysis. But, it’s extremely important to understand the process of how to set these tools up. To not only give you great buzzwords and one-line analytical zingers in the boardroom but to also make your organization efficient, cost-effective and on the path
to making strong strategic choices. You’re not going to make a good cake without the proper ingredients, and the same goes for analytical tracking, which relies on an appropriate data or migration setup for your organization. Here are a few key components to remember while brainstorming and initially road mapping data hygiene and tracking:

• Establishing New Tracking Parameters. It’s important when setting up your tracking structure (source codes) that you’re considering cross-program analysis. KPIs are different for every organization and it’s important to take that into consideration when establishing tracking mechanisms across all channels. The way offline mail segments are tracked (HPC, Frequency, Recency, etc.) are upfront coding items that are not always easily established in the online segmentation plan. This should be considered to have universal control over a donor’s experience with your organization. By establishing rules and structures for upfront tracking and donor interactions with your organization (gifts, engagement completions or even just picking up the phone), one can use these key indicators in the back end for analysis. This is one of the best ways to optimize your prospect and donor file. It’s just going to make items that much easier for you in the long run!
• Keeping the Old while Bringing in the New. While it’s incredibly important to set up your new structure and systems properly, it’s also extremely important to spend the time necessary to make sure your historical data isn’t lost and is easy to understand when looking at the history of a program. Don’t cut ties with this information as it is still GOLD!
• Gift Coding. Before anything goes out in the mail or online, check with your gift processing teams to make sure codes are being registered in the correct locations and within the proper tracking parameters your organization wishes to receive per solicitation . . . and of course going to the right campaign!
• Don’t Forget Constituent Tracking. While gifts and actions are key, setting up a process for tracking who has received what from your organization is extremely important. Just as important as it is to get revenue in the door, it’s just as important to see the number of touchpoints it took to receive that gift. This is key when establishing ROI and making sure you’re running a well-oiled machine.
• Reporting. Don’t wait until things are out the door to set up your reporting mechanism from a data migration or new coding structure. It’s imperative to test this beforehand as you’ll uncover tracking items you may not have even thought about in the segmentation. A good way to check this is by doing #2 on this list with your old data and converting it to the new system with a new structure or tracking. We constantly want to add more analytical points, so this can help you establish what is key and what can be added.

Finally, migrations and data setups are fun! This is the time to have fun with data, be your own Einstein in your organization, set up what you think will be most effective, and help your teams achieve your goals. It should also help the donor feel a better connection to the organization without them even knowing it, because you have become that much more efficient internally. Good luck!