The most common examples of unstructured data are survey responses, social media comments, blog comments, email responses, and phone call ... Marketing|3minread UnstructuredDataVs.StructuredData:A3-MinuteRundown WrittenbyCliffordChi @BigRedDawg16 Mostmarketersthinkbeingdata-drivenmeansusingwebmetricstoinformeverydecisiontheymake.Butthat'snotactuallybeingdata-driven.That'sbeingGoogleAnalytics-driven.Totrulybedata-driven,wemustremindourselvesoftheactualdefinitionofdata--alltypesofinformation. Oneofthemostinsightfultypesofinformationisqualitativedataorunstructureddata.Itcanrevealyourcustomers'trueopinionsandfeelingstowardyourbrand,whichischallengingtoextractfromquantitativedataorstructureddata. EvenJeffBezos,theCEOofAmazon,isapassionateproponentofusingqualitativedatatodrivestrategy."ThethingIhavenoticediswhentheanecdotesandthedatadisagree,theanecdotesareusuallyright.Andthere'ssomethingwrongwiththewayyouaremeasuring(yourdata),"heexplainedduringanonstageinterviewatGeorgeBushPresidentialCenter. Bezos'loveforcustomerfeedbackshouldn'tcompelyoutosupplantquantitativedatawithqualitativedatawhenstrategizingyournextmarketingcampaign,though.Itshouldcompelyoutoinformyourstrategywithbothsourcesofdata.Bycombiningtheinsightspulledfromwebmetricsandcustomerfeedback,youcangetafullunderstandingofyourmarketingprogram'seffectiveness. Ifyouwantadeeperexplanationofwhatqualitativeorunstructureddataandquantitativeorstructureddatais,checkoutthisquickrundownofwhatbothdatasourcesexactlyareandwhichtoolsyoucanusetostoreandanalyzethem. UnstructuredData Mostoftenreferredtoasqualitativedata,unstructureddataisusuallysubjectiveopinionsandjudgmentsofyourbrandintheformoftext,whichmostanalyticssoftwarecan'tcollect.Thismakesunstructureddatadifficulttogather,store,andorganizeintypicaldatabaseslikeExcelandSQL. It'salsodifficulttoexamineunstructureddatawithstandarddataanalysismethodsandtoolslikeregressionanalysisandpivottables. Sinceyoucan'tstoreandorganizeunstructureddataintypicaldatabases,youneedtostoretheminWorddocumentsornon-relational(NoSQL)databases,likeElasticsearchorSolr,whichcanperformsearchqueriesforwordsandphrases. Additionally,sinceyoucan'tusestandarddataanalysismethodsandtoolstopullinsightsfromunstructureddata,youcaneithermanuallyanalyzeorusetheanalysistoolsinaNoSQLdatabasetoexamineunstructureddata.However,tousethesetoolseffectively,youneedahighleveloftechnicalexpertise. Ifyoucansuccessfullyextractinsightsfromunstructureddata,though,youcandevelopadeepunderstandingofyourcustomer'spreferencesandtheirsentimenttowardyourbrand. UnstructuredDataExamples Themostcommonexamplesofunstructureddataaresurveyresponses,socialmediacomments,blogcomments,emailresponses,andphonecalltranscriptions 1.SurveyResponses Everytimeyougatherfeedbackfromyourcustomers,you'recollectingunstructureddata.Forexample,surveyswithtextresponsesareunstructureddata. Whilethisdatacan'tbecollectedinadatabase,it'sstillvaluableinformationyoucanusetoinformbusinessdecisions. 2.SocialMediaComments Ifyou'veeverreceivedsocialmediacommentswithfeedbackfromyourcustomers,you'veseenunstructureddata. Again,thiscan'tbecollectedinadatabase,butyou'llwanttopayattentiontothisfeedback.YoucanevenstoreitinaWorddocumenttotrack. 3.EmailResponses Similartosurveyresponses,emailresponsescanalsobeconsideredunstructureddata. Thefeedbackyoureceiveisimportantinformation,butitcan'tnecessarilybecollectedinadatabase. 4.PhoneCallTranscriptions Yourcustomerserviceandsalesteamarealwayscollectingunstructureddataintheirphonecalls. Sincethesecallsoftenincludesomecritiquesofyourcompany,it'simportantfeedbacktocollect.However,aswithallunstructureddata,it'shardtoquantify. 5.BusinessDocuments Anybusinessdocumentsuchaspresentations,orinformationyouhavestoredonaWorddocument,isanexampleofunstructureddata. Sinceunstructureddataisessentiallytheinformationyouhavethatcan'tbestoredneatlyinadatabase,anymiscellaneousdocumentsyouhavecanbeconsideredunstructureddata. StructuredData Mostoftenreferredtoasquantitativedata,structureddataisobjectivefactsandnumbersthatmostanalyticssoftwarecancollect,makingthedataeasiertoexport,store,andorganizeintypicaldatabaseslikeExcelandSQL. Eventhoughstructureddataisjustnumbersorwordspackedinadatabase,youcaneasilyextractinsightsfromstructureddatabyrunningitthroughdataanalysismethodsandtoolslikeregressionanalysisandpivottables.Thisisthemostvaluableaspectofstructureddata. Structuredvs.UnstructuredData Thedifferencebetweenstructuredandunstructureddataisthatstructureddataisobjectivefactsandnumbersthatmostanalyticssoftwarecancollect,whileunstructureddataisusuallysubjectiveopinionsandjudgmentsofyourbrandintheformoftext,whichmostanalyticssoftwarecan'tcollect. 1.Structureddataiseasiertostore. Structureddataiseasytoexport,store,andorganizeintypicaldatabaseslikeExcel,GoogleSheets,andSQL. Onthecontrary,unstructureddataisdifficulttoexport,store,andorganizeintypicaldatabases.Mostofthetime,youmuststoreunstructureddatainWorddocumentsorNoSQLdatabases. 2.Structureddataiseasiertoanalyze. Withstructureddata,youcaneasilyexaminetheinformationwithstandarddataanalysismethodsandtoolslikeregressionanalysisandpivottables. However,withunstructureddata,youcan't.You'llhavetomanuallyanalyzeitorusetheanalysistoolsinaNoSQLdatabasetoexaminethistypeofdata. 3.Unstructureddataoffersmorefreedom. Whilestructureddataiseasiertostoreandcollect,unstructureddatagivesanalystsmorefreedomsinceit'sinitsnativeformat. Additionally,companiesusuallyhavemoreunstructureddatasincethedataisadaptableandnotrestrictedbyformat. BeData-Driven,NotJustGoogle-AnalyticsDriven InaworldwhereGoogleAnalyticscanspitouteverymetricunderthesun,youmustrememberthatqualitativedata,suchascustomerfeedback,isjustascrucialforinformingyourmarketingstrategyaswebmetrics. Withoutunstructureddata,youwon'thaveaclearunderstandingofhowyourcustomersactuallyfeelaboutyourbrand.Andthat'scrucialforeverymarketertoknow. Editor'snote:ThispostwasoriginallypublishedinFebruary2019andhasbeenupdatedforcomprehensiveness. OriginallypublishedApr9,20204:30:00PM,updatedApril102020 Topics: StructuredData Don'tforgettosharethispost! 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