It may sound pretty boring, but collecting and analyzing data can be a real game changer for your business. Having accurate records about the ways in which your customers engage with you, as well as knowledge of what they think about you, where you excel, where you fail, and where you could expand to, sets you up to make smarter business decisions and constantly create more efficient processes.

Thankfully there are a huge number of products and services out there to make the job of collecting and analyzing your data as convenient as possible.

Here's a few tips on how to make the most out of the information you gather, and the best tools to help you gather it.

Embrace everyday processes

You can capture a huge amount of data simply by making more of everyday processes and interactions, especially if you have the right tools.

Online services such as Swipely will capture data for your business every time you process a credit card payment, while apps like Foxcard Pro make scanning and digitizing your client’s business cards quick and easy. Even just training your staff to engage your clients in conversation can help, especially if they are asking smart questions and keeping notes of their interactions.

Mine your website

Your website is likely one of the main ways people will interact with your business, making it an absolute goldmine of data.

Whether you want to know the age demographics of your website visitors, how and when they are interacting with you, or which sections of your website they like most, there are a wide variety of tools that can capture, sort, and analyze your website data for you.

Some of the best website analysis tools include Google Analytics, CrazyEgg, ClickTale and Alexa.

Use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool

Having a lead management system in place to collect your data is vital, and CRMs make it easy. You can track leads, monitor conversion rates and access detailed customer histories which include everything from purchases and complaints to tips, birthdays and compliments.

The data captured by your CRM will often shed light on how, why, and when customers are interacting with your business. This makes it easier to plan your business processes, make major decisions and target your marketing campaigns most effectively. Additionally, considering the sensitive nature of customer data, incorporating a proxy service can enhance the security and privacy of your CRM activities, ensuring a robust layer of protection against potential cyber threats and unauthorized access.

For nonprofits, using donor relationship management features within a CRM helps track donor interactions, manage fundraising efforts, and build stronger relationships with supporters.

Some of the most popular CRMs include NetSuite, Zoho, Salesforce and GetBase.

Harness your social intelligence

Your social channels can tell you a huge amount about your customers and what they think about your business; harnessing this information more effectively can mean deepening your brand engagement.

Tools such as Hootsuite and Google Alerts can tell you when and where your business is being mentioned online, while SocialMention and Sentiment140 can even measure the amount of positive and negative hype you are generating. You can also use Apify, with their over 2,000 ready-to-use scrapers and automation tools, to use for your social monitoring and data extraction efforts.

With some of these tools at your back, it'll be easy to track all the data you'll ever need to make your business the best it can be.

Want More?

Running a business is no piece of cake. Take a look at these articles if you feel you could use a few helpful tips:

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5 Tips for Incorporating Compelling Design Into Your Twitter Strategy

Written by Jane Murray on Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Jane Murray is a freelance copywriter based in Sydney. Apart from writing up a storm for the DesignCrowd blog on anything from logo design to Michael Jackson's shoes, she enjoys reading literary science fiction and hanging out with most animals except wasps. Get in touch via LinkedIn.