The Downside of Marketing Dashboards

Like the data they display, dashboards alone do not provide value; it’s up to marketers to distill insights

Companies rely on dashboards to improve customer value—about 40% of the large U.S.-U.K. companies report efforts to build and use a dashboard. In some ways, dashboards are an evolution from the earlier practices of using control charts, scorecards, tracking studies and metrics-based snapshots. Fueled by advances in data analytics and visualization, marketing dashboards are becoming integral components of a company’s decision support system.

There are advantages to using a dashboard:

• A dashboard visually displays a consistent set of metrics that can be monitored at a given point in time (cross-sectional) and over time (longitudinal).
• This enables management to communicate trends in inputs, processes and outcomes with key stakeholders.
• A dashboard may also be used for planning purposes; key metrics that are part of the dashboard can represent goals to be achieved.
• Management can develop plans around measurable goals and further use a dashboard to monitor progress.

Don’t let dashboards make decisions tactical and reactive.