Building Data That Grows With You

Presented at BrightonSEO San Diego 2023. Sam shared her top tips for how to build a scalable measurement program to get the right data you can trust without wading through the fluff.

Transcript

1. Building data that
   grows with you
   Sam Torres
   Gray Dot Company
   Speakerdeck.com/SamTorres
   @SamTorresATL
   

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2. About Me
   2
   Chief Digital Officer at
   Gray Dot Company
   SEO for 13 years, previously
   a front-end developer
   Atlanta-based
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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3. Data-driven decisions
   3
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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4. 4
   Access to digital
   The speed that we can access data due to
   digital properties has made data-driven
   decision making easier than ever.
   But at what cost?
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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5. 5
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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6. So what are we even
   doing here?
   6
   Scaling Data Scaling Platforms Scaling Insights
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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7. 7
   Scalability refers to the ability of a system to perform well
   under an increased or expanding workload.
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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8. What aren’t
   we doing?
   8
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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9. Scaling Data
   9
   #brightonSEO
   @SamTorresATL
   

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10. 10
    Your findings are only good if you
    can trust the data.
    Data must be VALID
    SCALING DATA
    Make friends with
    GA4’s debug mode.
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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11. Data must be COMPLIANT
    11
    SCALING DATA
    Find out if these apply to you:
    GDPR
    CCPA
    PIPEDA
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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12. Data must be COMPLIANT
    12
    SCALING DATA
    Technical implementation matters
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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13. 13
    Data should be PLANNED
    while also being FLEXIBLE
    SCALING DATA
    Create a measurement plan.
    Technical requirements
    and stakeholders
    Events and definitions Implementation
    documentation
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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14. Data should
    PLAN TO CHANGE
    14
    SCALING DATA
    Check and re-check your
    assumptions.
    Measurement plan
    how-to & template
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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15. Scaling Platforms
    15
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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16. What we mean by platform
    16
    SCALING PLATFORMS
    Dashboarding
    Looker Studio
    Tableau
    Databox
    Warehouses / Storage
    BigQuery
    Redshift
    Snowflake
    In-house server/IT team
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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17. Dashboards should be
    performative
    17
    SCALING PLATFORMS
    Stop trying to make a
    single dashboard be your
    end-all, be-all.
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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18. Getting more from your dashboards
    18
    SCALING PLATFORMS
    Dashboards should be themed
    around what questions the data
    can answer and the audience who
    cares
    Do the heavy lifting of
    calculations somewhere else
    Google Sheets / CSV
    BigQuery
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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19. 19
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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20. Platforms have limitations
    20
    SCALING PLATFORMS
    Google Sheets
    Too many rows and columns
    Specialize/focus your data
    BigQuery
    Repeatedly querying the data
    and calculating = $$$
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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21. 21
    Do NOT directly query BigQuery in Looker
    Studio, use preset (made by you) query
    results instead.
    Avoiding BigQuery sticker shock
    SCALING DATA
    Guide on cost
    & query build
    tools
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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22. Scaling Insights
    22
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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23. Use meaningful visualizations
    23
    SCALING INSIGHTS
    Focus on trends over element
    quantity
    Benefit from color psychology
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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24. Focus on trends
    24
    SCALING INSIGHTS
    MoM
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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25. Lean on the psychology of color
    25
    SCALING INSIGHTS
    Avoid red – it steals the show
    and is often not accessible
    Primer
    on color
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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26. 26
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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27. Customize your comms
    27
    SCALING INSIGHTS
    Right size reporting to your
    audience
    Consider business KPIs, and
    the KPIs for each team
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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28. Thank You!
    28
    #brightonSEO
    @SamTorresATL
    

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