Delivering a data analysis that both motivates and enables marketers to take action is where the rubber meets the road in analytics.

It’s where analysts deliver marketing analytics value to our teams, clients or executives. It’s where we help them make informed marketing decisions that can lead to exponential growth. It’s a data-centered hero’s journey.

Let’s consider two different analysts. Rupert and Anna-Lisa.

Rupert’s team wants to know how a campaign or website performed.

To provide that data, Rupert must put long hours into measurement setup. Then, when asked, he’ll pull numbers, translate them into charts, and eventually send his lengthy report.

Throughout the process, he’s married to his laptop, putting long hours into busting out charts while skipping family dinners, an entire season of Game of Thrones, and once, a ski vacation.

Despite all that sweat and tears, Rupert’s team members aren’t his biggest fans. His answers to their questions, despite his Excel wizardry, fail to inspire action. At best they take a look at one or two numbers. At worst, they’re annoyed with Rupert for sending so much stuff to process.

If only Rupert knew to read this article, he would realize that what marketers could really use are analyses tailored to drive action — not overwhelming reports.

So, you may be asking, what is the difference between a poor (though thorough) report and a great analysis?

A dead-end report doesn’t lead to or highlight recommended action. It describes what already happened, without adding value with suggestions about what will happen next.

A great analysis, on the contrary, avoids data puke and creates a file with a human touch that helps the viewer act on the data presented. It enables growth and improvement via informed action.

Consider Anna-Lisa. She knows that acting on data is how marketers get their analytics money’s worth. When she’s asked a question, she thinks about how her answer could help her team to make a decision.

Then, she uses automated reports to get a head start on creating analyses that convey her unique way of seeing the numbers. Per Aaron Mass’ tip on critical questions analysts need to ask, she tries to answer the progression of:

• What’s going on?
• Why is it going on?
• What can we do about it?
• What can we expect?

Anna-Lisa adds heaps of value to her teams, and they respect her highly for it.

To let you get her level of pay (along with vacation time only common in Nordic countries) here are three main things you can do to make bland reports into actionable analyses.