Hello and welcome to the Wix Business Analysis and Data Science blog. We are a diverse group of 65 analysts, scientists and statisticians who transform big data into actionable insights. This blog is our window to the biz and tech readership world. We’ll be using it to present our methods, ideas and challenges, and we hope to get many interesting conversations started on things related to data, analysis and everything in between. In this first blog post, we’ll introduce our vision and the paths we are taking to realize it.
“We Measure Everything” is one of Wix’s core values as a leading industry brand. Becoming a highly data-driven company is another. Our job in this operation is to make sure that decision-making in the company is based on facts, not on hunches.
What does a “data driven company” mean exactly?
We collect as much data as we can. All of our products record data and all of our data is being monitored
We test everything in order to optimize and maximize product value
We consume our data – our insights and conclusions are all data-based
We develop our own tools in-house to streamline data collection and analytical processes
We raise questions that can only be answered through a scientific approach to testing
How we data-revolutionized Wix
As Wix grew over the years, so did our team of analysts and data scientists. We knew that in addition to increasing our team members, we should be strategizing how to increase the value and improve the input of BA for the company as a whole. We wanted to turn our insights into powerful action items.
The first step was an internal process of creating a diverse team, learning how to ask the right questions and defining our vision and our main goals. Next, we wanted to become an integral part of the product creation process and a key factor in planning the product roadmap. While this is not a conventional step in the product development process, we knew that our data, with the great value it could offer, simply has to be put to work.
Guess what? It worked! Our insights became an integral part of the process, starting with the initial steps of product conceptualization and up to the final stages of launch and post-launch. We’ve created a flow that involves BA insights from A to Z. Today at Wix, ideas are first expressed and then, thanks to our data, they are tested.
Once these cross-company changes have been implemented, our team continued to move towards our main goal – creating an impact.
We gave everyone in the company the ability to access the data and measurements that relate to their team’s activities. This way, everyone can have a precise understanding of both the strengths and weaknesses of the company. In addition, we trained product team members so that they too could start using data analysis and decision making tools and techniques.
Today, we are proud to say that, as our analysis went deeper, we managed to improve Wix’s conversion rate significantly. We made a huge change in the way product managers think and work, and we managed to ‘move the needle’ and improve KPIs. These are the outcomes of establishing a company culture that values data and its contribution.
Building on this experience, we’re looking forward to working on this blog and sharing our research insights, practical knowledge and the interesting challenges that we face in our everyday tasks.
Stay tuned!
Posted by Lior Paster Analyst