What BI is, for a small business
Business intelligence is turning what happened in your shop into decisions about what to do next. Descriptive (what happened), diagnostic (why), and, later, predictive (what will happen).
Get one trustworthy source
Most small businesses have scattered data: till totals, a notebook, a spreadsheet, chat messages. Pick one source of truth. A loyalty system is a good one because every record carries who, when, where and how much.
The core metrics
| Area | Metric | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | Revenue, purchases, average ticket | The basics |
| Customers | Customers served, new, repeat | Where sales come from |
| Retention | Repeat rate, cohort retention | Will they come back |
| Value | CLV, top customers | Who to protect |
| Operations | Busy hours, branch comparison | Staff and stock |
| Loyalty | Redemptions, unspent value | Is the program healthy |
| Marketing | Messages delivered, came in within 7 days | Did it work |
Definitions: business analytics glossary.
The weekly review
Ten minutes, same time every week:
- Revenue and customers vs last week and the same week last month
- Repeat customers
- The quietest hours
- One thing that changed, and why
- One action
Start with the 5 numbers.
Reading trends without fooling yourself
- Small numbers bounce. 12 customers vs 9 is not a trend.
- Compare like with like. A Monday vs a Saturday tells you nothing.
- Check seasonality. December is not a fair comparison for January.
- Correlation isn't cause. Members spending more doesn't prove membership made them spend.
Honest data
Know what your numbers include. If your data comes from loyalty scans, it covers cardholders' purchases, not every walk-in. Label estimates as estimates.
From descriptive to predictive
Once you have a few months of data, you can start to forecast: if month-1 retention holds at 40% and you get 150 new customers, expect about 60 of them back next month. Keep it simple and check your forecasts against what happens.
With Selyo
Selyo's Insights cover sales, customers, busy times, loyalty and marketing, refreshed hourly, for any period and branch. See business intelligence.