Structured data offer businesses quick and attainable insights in numerical form. These data are captured easily and quickly with algorithms, instantaneously turned into stunning data visualizations, and can even provide smart predictive insights to help guide your business decisions.
However, even though structured data is traditionally easier to capture than unstructured data, solely capturing and analyzing structured data can only provide you with a small glimpse into the world of data. In fact, unstructured data account for 80% of stored information.
This post will cover the top benefits of of analyzing unstructured data and how including unstructured data in your research methodology will help your business grow.
1. Unstructured data provides a comprehensive data story
Unstructured data include text files, email content, social media data, website information, mobile data, communications, media, information from business apps and so much more.
This article already addressed how 80% of stored information is unstructured data, but it’s also important to note it’s growing at a rate of 55% to 65% a year.
Unstructured data might not be well-organized
or easy to access, but they provide they key to getting a comprehensive answer
to your most pressing business questions.
This can include anything from who your customers are, what customer
preferences are, what goals and successes your competitors are experiencing,
attitudes of top industry participants, and so much more.
Without this data, it’s difficult to ask the right business questions and
nearly impossible to find the right answers.
2. Unstructured data helps you improve customer experience
Structured data may give you information about customer age, birthdays, gender, total sales, etc. But, you need unstructured data to learn what your customers are saying on social media, how customers are responding to your email marketing campaigns, and what the overall opinions are of your customers.
In other words, how much easier would it be to understand what your customers want than by hearing it straight from the source rather than trying to make sense of raw numbers on a sales report?
Unstructured data offer the key to helping you really get to know your customers. You can come to understand things like what trends they value on social media, what opinions they have, and, ultimately, what they want from your brand.
When your brand is armed with this information, you’ll start to see your customer satisfaction rates and ROI improve.
3. Unstructured data forges the path for advanced business innovation
Another benefit companies experience by capturing and analyzing unstructured data is the ability to see gaps in the industry.
When companies understand what customers want and how current products, services or technologies are not delivering, it’s easier to innovate with new features that meet those cusotmer and industry needs.
Unstructured data provide valuable insights that lead the way for your business to fill gaps and provide services that meet new customer needs.
Wrap Up
While it’s true that capturing and analyzing unstructured data is more difficult than sticking to structured data, it’s also true that machine learning and data technology are rapidly improving.
With tools like Fuel Cycle, it’s easier more than it ever has been before to capture insights from unstructured data. You can then use these insights to form better questions, understand customer preferences, and get that competitive advantage your business craves to stay ahead of the game.
