An online natural health supplement business is really a numbers game. It actually does not matter what you’re selling, weather it’s health supplements, health information products, physical health products or devices such as knee braces or inversion tables, data is the key to driving decisions and a successful online health business.
But to maximize the insight and learnings from the data you first have to understand the different types of data you have available.
Most optimization agencies focus on just web analytics data, but… There are two types of data, hard data and soft data.
Hard data is made up of numbers.
Numbers that can be sorted and graphed. Wonderful lovely numbers that can provide insights into what happened and how profitable a particular web page version was. This is the type of data you’ll find in Google Analytics.
Hard data provides a great snapshot of the past. And it’s great for seeing where you are now and where you were. Think of hard data as answering the “What” question.
As in… What happened?
It’s just one tool in your data analysis tool box, and it’s great for when you need it.
But…
The Gold Is In The Soft Data
Soft data on the other hand is not made up of numbers, although it can be quantified for those hard data die-hards that need everything to be expressed as a percentage. I confess, I am one of them. But the really valuable soft data can’t be quantified.
Soft data is qualified data vs. quantified hard data. It’s the information that supports the hard data and provides context. It works more like a guide, that tells you where to explore. Rather than showing you what happened, it shows what might work.
Most people see soft data as answers to survey questions like these:
- On a scale of 1 to 10 rate the following dimensions: Product Quality, Satisfaction, Etc.
- How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend? Very Likely, Somewhat Likely, Not Likely
These types of questions are designed to translate soft data into graphs and spit out reports that are nice to look at, yet not really actionable enough for todays online health marketplace.
Quantifying soft data takes away the juicy middle of the true value, soft data can provide.
But Where Can You Find The Juicy Middle Of Value?
The golden nuggets found in soft data are largely made up of words.
Lot’s and lots of words…
Words that express how your prospects and customers feel through their own language, not some multiple choice survey speak.
The soft data that I’m talking about comes from open ended surveys that offer breathing room for people to express their fears and desires, not simply by checking a radio button, but sharing real feelings.
You can get to the root cause of motivations, fears and doubt, all things that are smothering your revenue, by asking questions as simple as:
Why didn’t you buy (insert your product name) today?
And…
What was your biggest fear or concern about buying (insert your product name) from us specifically?
There is one caveat… Open ended surveys are limited to people who are willing to express themselves and take the time to answer. Yes, that is true. Which is why they need to be bolstered with split-testing and one on one interviews where you have an opportunity to really listen to your customers and have a genuine conversation with them to dig deeper and truly get to the heart of their beliefs.
Soft Data From One-on-One Interviews Fill In The Gaps
Soft data wraps the hard data with meaning and insight that you just can’t get from looking at quantified numbers from multiple choice questions or web analytics.
The key is to Listening and talking to both sides of visitors, your buyers and non-buyers. The combination of both, provides a deeper level of insight into the visitor decision process, and how they think and buy.
Armed with this data you have a better understanding of the opportunity in front of you to optimize and improve your online buying process.
Interpreting soft data and pulling out the gold that the hard data can not tell you is where the true value is in doing this in-depth level of research. To get there though, you must first understand and tap into the motivations of your prospects.
The great copywriting legend Eugene Schwartz understood that you cannot increase or create desire in your prospect. That desire already exists within them. All you can do is intensify that desire. But if all you had was hard data, you can never understand what that desire is, in order to intensify it effectively.
This is where the soft data fills in the gaps of the hard data. Where your understanding of the audiences motivation and fears and anxiety that are holding them back from buying can be lifted. By listening to your audience you’ll be able to speak their language back to them in their own words. They will feel a connection so deep that it’s almost like you’re talking directly to them.
This is where all your soft data research pays off. You can use all of the knowledge you gained by asking, surveying and genuinely talking to AB test some of the ideas and hypothesis you’ll come up with from going in-depth with your visitors.
It is only through AB Testing that you’ll know what really works. Think of split-testing as a way to validate the soft data and translate it into hard data and more revenue.
But Don’t Get Me Wrong
I’m a hard data kind of guy at heart and hard data is important… Without it you won’t have an online health business for very long. Yes, you need to know your numbers. But the soft data, the data that you can only get from talking to your prospects and customers is the data that will take your business to the next level and beyond.
You need both the hard and soft data to build a health business that has an impact on the world for the better.
There Are Three Funnels Every Health Supplement Business Needs To Build A Multi-Million Dollar Empire…
The problem is most dietary supplement companies only have one funnel. Through our work in the online health space, we’ve had the opportunity to observe hundreds of health businesses. What we’ve uncovered are the three critical funnels that each work together that make the difference between the average supplement company just selling on Amazon and a multi-million dollar health empire and compiled our findings in the book below. Click here to get the ebook delivered right to your email for FREE.
