When AB&C kicks off new client relationships, we often hear the same request: “I need reporting.” Yes, we agree. Every marketing initiative should be able to provide insights into how it’s working. The tricky part isn’t doing the reports; it’s identifying what should be reported in the first place. This is where we must ask two of the most important questions: “What decision(s) are we trying to make?” and “When do we need to make it/them?”
I’ve had these types of conversations more times than I can count. And it’s usually because there is an erroneous school of thought that leads people to believe that more data inputs yield more insights. But at the end of the day, being data-driven isn’t about collecting more and more metrics. It’s about figuring out how the data we have can inform our decisions.
After years of watching organizations spin their wheels building reports that never get used and working with clients who have invested serious money into analytics platforms that collect more dust than insights, I’ve landed on a simple framework for what good reporting actually looks like. I call it S.T.A.T. reporting.
S.T.A.T. stands for Simple, Truthful, Actionable and Timely. Four words. But getting all four right at the same time? That’s where most organizations fall short.
Simple. The best reports are the ones that don’t need a manual. If your audience needs to ask what a number means, the report already failed. According to Gartner, 85% of big data projects fail to deliver on their objectives, and a big reason is that the outputs are built for the analyst, not the decision-maker.[1] Simple doesn’t mean incomplete. It means that whoever is reading the report can understand what’s happening in the business in thirty seconds or less. No lengthy explanation required.
Truthful. This one makes people uncomfortable, which is exactly why it’s on the list. Truthful means the data is accurate, the sources are clean and the numbers aren’t being cherry-picked to tell a comfortable story. A 2020 Harvard Business Review analysis noted that data of poor quality, or data used in the wrong context, can be worse than no data at all.[2] Truthful reporting also means you show the things that aren’t working, not just the wins. Leaders can’t make good decisions on a filtered version of reality.
Actionable. This is the one most reports completely miss. Actionable means that after someone reads your report, they know what to do. Not “Hm, interesting.” Not “Let’s schedule a meeting to discuss.” They know what lever to pull, what conversation to have, and what to keep doing or stop doing. Ask yourself: If someone reads this report at 7 a.m., will they make a better decision by noon? If the answer is no, keep working.
Timely. Data itself doesn’t expire, but the time to act on data does. A report about last quarter’s performance that is delivered in the middle of this quarter is archaeology… not intelligence. Timely means the data is current enough to act on and delivered when action is still possible. In talent acquisition and HR, which is where I spend most of my time, timing is everything. A report that tells you your time-to-hire spiked three months ago doesn’t help you fill the role that’s open today.
I’ve come to believe that most organizations aren’t suffering from a lack of data. They’re suffering from a lack of S.T.A.T. data. The volume is there. The intent is there. What’s missing is the discipline to deliver information that is simple enough to understand, truthful enough to trust, actionable enough to use and timely enough to matter.
With S.T.A.T., we can transform data into something more than just another report. We can turn it into a competitive advantage.
Sources:
1 Gartner via TechRepublic: “85% of Big Data Projects Fail” (2017)
2 Harvard Business Review, “Data-Driven Decisions Start with These 4 Questions,” Eric Haller and Greg Satell (February 2020)
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