Constructing data-based, actionable insights is key to successfully develop and sell products on ecommerce. Data can tell you what your consumers are like, what they’re searching for on ecommerce platforms, the efficacy of your advertising campaigns, which words to use in product listings, and so much more. Unfortunately, using data to drive ecommerce decisions is much easier said than done.

Several factors complicate the process of gathering and interpreting data, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, data can complicate instead of simplifying your job. Here, we’ll discuss some of these complications and how you can overcome them to turn data into your most important ecommerce partner.

Why it’s so difficult for brands to effectively gather and interpret data

The first roadblock that keeps brands from using data effectively is the difficulty of accessing relevant data in the first place. Amazon, for example, gives very little by way of customer personal information (and this information would likely be insignificant anyway since so many Amazon customers share accounts.)

In the cases that Amazon does provide raw data, it can be overwhelming and difficult to interpret. Seeing raw data without any context or insight can ultimately raise more questions than answers, making it challenging for brands to know where to start or what to focus on. It takes an expert to know which data should be focused on and which data can be largely ignored, and many brands just don’t have enough resources to dedicate someone to the mammoth task of data interpretation. So how can you remove these roadblocks to become more effective in your data analysis? Below are five tips:

1. Don’t focus on every piece of raw data; do focus on the most relevant data

Not all data is created equal. If you want to use data effectively, it’s essential to learn to sift through the noise and focus only on the reports that are most relevant to your brand’s goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to which data you should focus on and which you should ignore — that’s highly variable and depends on what your brand is trying to accomplish.

But in general, your best bet is to focus on the data points that tie directly to sales. Some examples of these data points include overall retail sales, sales by product, Buy Box numbers, compliance numbers across the marketplace, advertising data, keyword performance, traffic, and SEO. In addition to analyzing the data specific to your product, it’s also important to find insights into the marketplace as a whole.

Don’t just ask how your brand is doing in a given category; ask how competing brands are performing in that same category. What are their most successful products? What about their strategy can you copy? And what holes in the market can you fill? We’ve seen our partners experience some of their biggest ecommerce wins when they look at the marketplace as a whole and act on that data.

2. Don’t let your product be sold by multiple sellers; do fight for the Buy Box

When you allow multiple Amazon sellers to distribute your product, you put your brand at risk for price erosion, brand erosion, and an overall decline in control and quality. Worse yet, sellers must compete to win the Buy Box, the prominent box on Amazon product listings that lets shoppers add a product to their cart or list.

The Buy Box winner is determined by several factors, including price, seller performance, return rate, and shipping standards. When other sellers—including those who are unauthorized or go below MAP—advertise the cheapest prices for your product, you could temporarily lose the Buy Box. So, what does this mean for data? When you lose the Buy Box, Amazon won’t provide you with any traffic data because you didn’t win any sales over that period. That makes it near impossible to understand your product’s real-time standing in ecommerce.

3. Don’t rely on data from just one platform; do integrate data across several different platforms

Looking at Amazon, Walmart, or eBay data alone won’t give you a comprehensive understanding of how your brand is performing or which advertising messages are resonating with consumers. Take advantage of every platform’s data, including tools like social media, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console, to have a complete understanding of your audience, your product’s performance, and the marketplace as a whole.

It’s also helpful to compare ecommerce data with retail data from brick-and-mortar stores that carry your products. This comparison can give you a better understanding of overall marketplace trends, where to focus your advertising, and what features to include in future products.

4. Don’t just rely on data once your product is on the market; do focus all product development decisions on data

Data deserves a seat at the table in every step of the ecommerce process, including product development. If you’re not analyzing data until after your product has hit the market, you’re missing out on insights that could make the difference between a successful launch and a mediocre one. By analyzing data during product development, you can have a more clear understanding of trending products, feedback on your design, and whether your product could be successful in a certain category.

5. Don’t work with multiple different agencies; do work with one reliable partner.

It’s hard to paint a clear picture with data when you’re working with multiple different agencies that all use different platforms and methods. Comparing insights from different platforms and trying to combine that data into a cohesive strategy complicates the already complicated task of effective data analysis. Working with one qualified ecommerce partner across platforms simplifies your life, helps your brand be more consistent, and ensures that the data insights you receive tell your brand’s whole story.

How partnering with Pattern can help

At Pattern, we specialize in taking raw data and processing it to give your brand actionable, data-backed insights. Since we’re one of the top sellers on Amazon, we have access to far more data than brands can access alone. Additionally, our proprietary software, Predict, pulls data from over 4,000 ecommerce sites daily to give brands easy-to-read data on sales, traffic, advertising, Buy Box, and marketplace pricing.

Predict makes it easy for brands to see their best and worst performing products and why. It also features tools that track inventory, Buy Box ownership, and pricing compliance. It gives insights into which advertising campaigns are best received by consumers, making it easy for you to craft advertising campaigns that convert. We use Predict in conjunction with our latest software, Destiny, which creates a digital shelf of competitors to show you exactly how you’re competing when it comes to keywords and SEO.

Unlike other software of its kind, Destiny directly compares you with your competitors and gives you a realistic understanding of where you stand in ecommerce. Our brand managers are another critical aspect of our highly personalized data analysis process. Quarterly, our highly-qualified brand managers meet with our partners to craft specific plans they can execute based on their goals and data trends in their marketplaces. Working with Pattern eliminates the confusion of data analysis, grants you access to our game-changing software, and partners you with data experts, all at no cost to you. If you’re interested in learning more, request your demo today.