Four Big Data and Text Analytics Myths Debunked
[Visit Forbes.com for more detailed article]
There are a lot of myths out there surrounding next generation research techniques around data from small to big. Text analytics, if done correctly, can offer insights into problems from a new more encompassing and accurate perspective.
OdinText CEO, Tom H. C. Anderson, and CTO Chris Lehew recently spoke to Forbes Magazine about some of the common analytics and text analytics myths they frequently encounter, and gave real examples of how OdinText users are benefiting from superior insights provided by the Next Generation Text AnalyticsTM platform.
The four data myths covered today in Forbes were:
Myth 1: Big Data Survey Scores Reign Supreme
A myth propagated by Bain Consulting, without any evidence to justify the claims, is that a survey metric asking ‘likeliness to recommend’ is related to business growth. OdinText found absolutely no link between survey metrics like NPS and revenue when analyzing 800,000 customer surveys for Shell Oil/Jiffy Lube.
Actual customer text comments proved to be the single best predictor of real behavior from loyalty/returns to revenue.
Myth 2: Bigger Social Media Data Analysis Is Better
Many believe big data must have value simply because it’s big – but it’s more about smart data than big data. Using OdinText Coca-Cola’s Social Media Hub found that only smarter text analytics and data translate to better insights.
Myth 3: New Data Sources Are The Most Valuable
Many companies go looking for new data on social sites and elsewhere while failing to first look too what valuable data they may already be collecting . Campbell’s Soup for instance realized that they could get better insights by using OdinText to listen to the quarter of a million customers that contact their customer service department each year than relying on anything found on Twitter.
Myth 4: Keep Your Eye On The Ball By Focusing On How Customers View You
Sometimes online discussion boards and other consumer generated media is the best place to find insights. But companies often focus just on what is said about them. Starwood hotels among others have realized the benefit of doing comparative analysis VS. their competition, arguably the single best use of this type of data.
You can read more detail about the four data myths discussed above in Forbes Magazine article here.
Please visit our blog in the coming months as we roll out a new series of “Text Analytics Tips” with experts from OdinText discussing more myths and sharing tips and techniques on how to drive better more actionable insights through smarter Next Generation Text AnalyticsTM
0 Responses
I love the comment about getting more value from listening to customers who contact a customer service center. When I was at MasterCard I helped put together a program to track complaints about our Website and used those to help recommend changes. We then tracked customer service inquiries over time and watched them decline (or sometimes increase) after updating the site.
I’ve also found social media analysis on the other hand to be less reliable. I’m close with the VP of insights from a large food and beverage company who employed two different social media listening platforms to track the blogosphere impact of a competitor’s new launch. They both came back with conflicting findings.
Kudos to Odin Text for providing a pragmatic point of view on this topic!