BI Revolution

Marty Note
Great points by Os

Os Note

Here's a fascinating article about the problems with virtual reality storytelling and empathy.

Virtual Reality (VR) is all the rage and very popular at SXSW. We know storytelling is a powerhouse for building our empathy muscles. But what is the impact of VR on empathy?

Turns out, it's not what you think. 

The aim of VR is to encourage a human connection and understanding between those wearing a headset and the characters in the story.

Problems around empathy rise when certain stories simply generate a feeling of helplessness in the participant that leads to greater detachment -- not greater human connection.

I love what one of those interviewed for the article says near the end: "But the empathy idea presents another problem for me – the notion that the world's problems arise from a scarcity of feeling rather than from issues of power, inequality and exploitation of people and planetary resources." Hear hear.

There are more details and insights to read in this long-very-long post, and it will make you go, "huh".

What do you think about VR, empathy, and this storytelling trend?

BI and SEO
Search Engine Optimization is wound like a golf ball. The tighter your wind the rubber bands of business intelligence the more valuable the data you draw from the well. It is EASY to make business intelligence mistakes. Here are several common BI mistakes.

Top 5 BI SEO Mistakes
1. Poor tagging.
2. No A/B Testing.
3. No "Read The Cookie" Fire The Site.

4. No or poorly located email subscription.

5. No Social Media Reports or only GA.

Tagging is both art and science. How you "tag" or identify pages or pieces of your template make a dramatic impact on your ability to report critical data such as how many clicks a Call-To-Action (CTA) receives, the importance of a link or graphic and what your visitors care about and could care less about.

When YOU create a web page MOST of what you think will be important won't resonate. I've conducted hundreds of studies of links on web pages and a tiny % get all the traffic (sometimes as high as 10% of the links command 90% of the clicks).

This is why #2 is so important. You MUST, MUST, MUST test. There is no excuse to test these days. Even if your IT team can't split traffic for you there are services that will help (Optimizely is my favorite https://www.optimizely.com/).

#3 "Read the Cookie, Fire The Site" creates a relevant website based on data your programmers can pluck from a visitor's "cookie". A cookie is an identifiable piece of code that informs where a visitor's computer is located (GPS-like), where they came from such as Google and whether they are NEW or a return visitor.

Relevance is SO important every website should read the cookie and fire relevant information into a zone on their website. Read the cookie fire the site isn't technically complicated, but few web design teams think about it because it is a marketing or BI function to think about engagement and relevance.

The highest converting websites understand their site is NOT an end unto itself but a MEANS to an end. One of those important ends is to have the ability to communicate directly with your customers without paying Google or anyone else. Email marketing subscriptions is one of the most important and often overlooked functions of any website. Don't overlook where you place email subscription forms EVER. Above the fold and high contrast. Also make sure to note, "Privacy protected".

Finally Google Analytics under reports Social Media Marketing by 30%, so you must have another way to understand your conversion funnels. Without a tool like Coremetrics or Topsy you will undervalue Social Media and make poor BI decisions.