Someone asked, at the Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver, what the top 3 analytics tools were.

Repeating the answer here:

3. The Bullet Point

  • It’s a powerful communication device.
  • Keep it short.
  • Because people read short bulleted lists.

2. A statistical tool, like R or something else, that can tell you about the relationships among the variables.

  • Understanding the relationships among variables is important for making many decisions.
  • Most tools can’t see outside themselves; or tell you anything about the relationship among variables.
  • R is free; others are not.

1. Your own brain.

  • You use it to understand the world.
  • You use it to make decisions.
  • There is, as of yet, no substitute tool on the market for your own brain.