Frequently Asked Questions

In its most simplist form, a data strategy is a long term plan for how your business will collect, manage and use data. It tends to cover the following areas: Vision and Purpose: How you want data to be used throughout your business. People: Who is responsible for data in the business, from strategic decision making using data through to the data collection. This may include understanding the levels of data literacy in your business, training needs and hiring needs for specific skills that are required to support the vision and purpose. Process: How data will be captured and processed to meet the needs of the business. This may include contact details, transactions, survey responses etc and could include any data enhancements, analytics or modelling that may be required. Technology: What technologies you need to use to store, process, manage and access your data and how they will be both used and maintained in the business. This may be looking at your marketing technology used, through to your call centre applications. Data Governance: How you are processing, managing and governing your data to ensure compliance with GDPR and any prevailing legislation, keeping your data safe, secure, consistent, and accurate. Roadmap: What needs to happen and how long new developments will take to be implemented. This is critical as if a data strategy is a new initiative in a business, or a new tech development is instrumental to success, the implementation roadmap may take time so detailing this up front is critical. If these components of the data strategy are in place, you will have a solid basis for consistent reporting and measurement, using the data for improved customer experience and communications, and access to actionable analytics which will all deliver a positive impact on your business both in terms of efficiencies and also uplift in effectiveness. Whilst we are outlining a broad framework for a data strategy, we do not believe that there is a “one size fits all” approach to designing a business's data strategy. All businesses are unique and the data strategy needs to be designed for the business to enable it to thrive. When we work with businesses on writing their data strategies, we always spend time upfront understanding the business’s ambitions, data and tech landscape and people skills / resources. This has so much impact on the vision, the components of the data strategy and also the speed of implementation and change that will be required. A data strategy shouldn't be purely the responsibility of IT or the data team, instead it needs to start with the business ambition to ensure what is being addressed in the data strategy is actually going to be used to deliver impact and support the business ambitions. In enterprise organisations, the data strategy is often the responsibility of the Chief Data Officer who will lead the organisations data strategy design and implementation across these key pillars. In SME and large organisations, there tends not to be a single owner, but rather a syndicate working together in it. MoJo works with SME and large organisations to design data strategies that will meet the business goals and deliver a positive impact We have written lots of blogs about different components of a data strategy. Here are some of the most popular: Please get in touch if we can help your business design and implement an impactful data strategy.

When looking at the cost of a segmentation there are a number of things to consider: The business problem you are looking to solve with a segmentation What type/s of segmentation is needed (often is it more than one) The factors that can influence the cost How the segmentation will be maintained and applied Let’s tackle each of these in turn. Please do keep in mind that the pricing structure we outline below may vary by supplier, but this is our approach to segmentation pricing and will give you a reliable benchmark for comparison. 1. What business problem are you looking to solve with a segmentation? The reason we start with this is that different segmentation methodologies and outputs support different objectives. Defining the business problem won’t impact the cost but is just a critical factor in any analytical project. 2. What type/s of segmentation is needed? There are many different types of segmentation, and we are of the belief that one uber-segmentation model does not exist that will answer everything. As a business, you may just need one tightly defined segmentation model or you may need a suite that can work independently and in conjunction with each other. Only by defining the business problem can you best identify what the right solution for you is. For instance, if you are looking to identify and grow the value of your customers you may want to start with an RFV segmentation (a customers recency, frequency and value of purchasing) using transactional and customer data points. If you want to develop personas to inform advertising, you may need to enhance your own data first to build the personas. This may include adding data to your own first party data with things like demographics (age, gender), lifestyle information (number of children, marital status), financial information (household income, home ownership) etc. If you want to be relevant to customers' attitudes, you may need to commission research to explore these attitudes and capture new, bespoke data points that enable the attitudinal statements to be modelled across your database. We have a great article on segmentation that explains in more detail different methodologies https://www.wearemojo.co.uk/post/segmentation For MoJo, most segmentations we deliver cost from £20K. 3. The factors that can influence the cost of a segmentation The methodology used has the most direct impact on the cost for a segmentation project. If there is little existing knowledge about the customers or datasets being analysed we recommend starting with an Exploratory Data Analysis. This provides a fantastic base to defining the segmentation variables - what is interesting, well populated, what impacts behaviours and value. Any external data collection, whether that is through data appends or via research, would increase the cost and would need to be scoped and priced based on the volumes and number of questions being appended or asked of the respondents. Another factor that influences the cost is the volume and cleanliness of the inputs into the segmentation process. If the data inputs are unclean, then time needs to be spent cleaning and standardising the data for effective and accurate analysis. The visualisation of the output is also a factor - we once worked with a client who wanted lego figures representing their segments on everyone's desk. That is obviously going to incur a higher visualisation cost than a written pen portrait. 4. How the segmentation will be maintained and applied This is often missed in the excitement of defining a segmentation, but it is a critical part of a segmentation's successful impact on your business. You need it to be operational against your database and into any platforms used to reach customers and prospects e.g. marketing platform, customer service platforms. Any segmentation algorithm can be applied within the database, or run externally and segmentation scores updated on a periodic basis. The best route will really depend on your data landscape but make sure you cover this when scoping requirements with a supplier. Also bear in mind that segmentation parameters may change, so a segmentation model is not fixed for the next 5-10 years, it will need monitoring and maintenance to ensure its application continues to be accurate and impactful. Get expert advise in scoping your segmentation project If you choose to work with MoJo on your segmentation needs we will go through requirements with you in a lot of detail to ensure the solution we recommend is right for your business, and will be actionable in marketing, sales, customer service etc - however you want to use it! Hopefully this FAQ has given you a good steer as to what may be involved in the pricing of a segmentation project and what to consider when initiating such a project. Do get in touch with us if we can help you develop your segmentation needs.

The key for businesses of all sizes in our digital age is to use data effectively to leverage marketing performance. Here are our top reasons WHY businesses should utilise data to support their marketing and business growth: 1. Understand your ideal customer – data can help you to understand who your best customer is, as well as gain a detailed understanding of their purchase behaviours. This helps you understand opportunities and risks with your customer base - what makes your customer high value to you, what do you need to do to protect that value. 2. Utilise the most effective channels for promotion – understand where you can reach your target audience, when to target them, and with what message and at what cost enables you to maximise the impact of your marketing budget, using cost-effective channels that deliver a positive response. 3. Personalise the experience to existing customers - once you have acquired a new customer, utilise data and insight about the customer so you can deliver a personalised, relevant customer experience to them, building stronger relationships that will then deliver more future purchases from that customer. 4. Build loyal customers – utilise your data to develop loyalty programmes and customer rewards, to increase customer lifetime value, improve retention and increase their likelihood to recommend you to their friends. 5. Increase customer engagement and gather feedback – data-driven marketing enables greater personalised content and an ability to get a quick view of product and brand trust, loyalty, and engagement. 6. Real-time metrics and decisions – rather than having to wait weeks to see if a marketing campaign is driving performance, digital data enables immediate results tracking, quick decisions and the ability to change campaigns to optimise performance. You will be able to see which elements of your marketing are working and what areas need improvement. 7. Quick test and learn and optimisation – With digital and data-based marketing you can utilise an element of risk-taking on perhaps new channels, prices, content, and offers, and be able to see quickly if things are working. You will also be able to see what channels work together to optimise conversion rates. 8. Monitor and continually improve your marketing ROI – using your data effectively leads to continuous improvement and learning to deliver a significant increase in your marketing return on investment. If you need a data strategy to support your marketing activities and improve your marketing ROI but aren’t sure where to start, please book a Discovery Call with us, and we can talk you through the options available to you.

Possibly. A CDO can be a fantastic addition to a business. They drive the organisational level data strategy, ensuring the data conversation is heard across all pillars of the organisation and that actions are taken with data in mind at a senior level and filtering throughout all layers in the company. The ultimate goal - to deliver a data driven organisation that is efficient, effective and impactful through its use of data. But not all organisations need to have a full time, or permanent, CDO to make this happen. Large, enterprise organisations with a vast, complex data landscape will most definitely benefit from a CDO. They will help get the house in order, ensuring data governance frameworks are designed and implemented to protect the quality of the organisations data asset; they ensure the investment in technology is the right investment and ensure the implementation roadmap is both achievable and impactful. Smaller organisations (SME and Large businesses) do not necessarily need a full time CDO. Whilst they would benefit massively from the skills a CDO can impart, to design and implement the data strategy for the organisation that will help it become more data driven, smaller organisations tend not to have the bandwidth to support the investment of a full time employee in this role. There are challenges to a CDO role that need to be considered if you are thinking of hiring a CDO for your business, the most notable one (which is also often the downfall of a CDO in a business), is that they cannot work magic or drive significant change in isolation. There needs to be both investments in data management, infrastructure and tech, and people skills to drive and leverage the change that a CDO will bring. The budgets often associated with a CDO hire are also one of the reasons these job roles tend to only be present in large enterprises. There has been a recent trend for what is being called a “fractional CDO”, whereby businesses can hire the skills of a CDO for a fraction of time. This enables businesses to tap into CDO skills to help set them up for success, working alongside the organisation as needed. This is really valuable for the medium and large businesses who do not need a full time CDO, nor carry the budgets to support a full time employee and the associated costs. This is where MoJo can help. We provide this role to medium and large businesses who would benefit from CDO skills, but do not need a full time employee in this role. We are able to work in a condensed block of time to deliver the data strategy, or for a set amount of time per week (often just a day a week) to drive the implementation of the data strategy throughout the business. This is a more pragmatic, affordable route for many businesses, and helps prove the impact of data in the organisation, supporting decisions and reducing the risk of future data investment.

Salaries are often seen as something to be hidden. Very few job ads will ever post the salary (which we agree, is incredibly frustrating!) but when you are looking to develop your own team, especially into an area such as data, you want to know what the going rate is to be able to budget accordingly. The Chief Data Officer is still a relatively new role within a business, so there is not a huge amount of historical data to determine the expected salary level. However, many recruitment businesses run surveys to monitor salaries across different job roles which provide a great source for both setting expectations and budgeting. Salt Recruitment have recently published their SaltData Salary Insight for 2022 (published November 2022) and the going rate for a CDO is between £160K - £200K plus bonus. So if you are looking to budget for adding a CDO into your talent pool, then this is a good place to start. A Head of Data has a lower salary range, but does not necessarily have the leadership and C-suite presence that you need to drive significant change with data across an organisation. If your budgets do not stretch that far, there are alternatives. MoJo supports medium and large businesses to deliver the CDO expertise as consultancy projects, or ongoing retainers for a set amount of time (often only a day a week) to drive a businesses data agenda forward. This makes the data skills more accessible to all businesses (not only the large enterprises with large purses), helps businesses progress to be more data driven and builds the evidence to support a full time hire in future as the impact of being data driven can be identified and ratified. Should you want to discuss any data hiring needs, drop us a line and discuss how we could help you, or we can connect you with some great specialist recruiters in this space.

Data Scientist is a relatively new job role and one that can command quite a high salary. The reason is that Data Scientists have expertise that goes beyond standard customer and marketing analysis, delivering solutions using AI and deep learning techniques that are both difficult to master, and highly sought after. The trend is for more advanced, automated and scalable solutions to work with the vast and complex data landscape we now operate in. Salt Recruitment have recently published their SaltData Salary Insight for 2022 (published November 2022) and the going rate for a Senior Data Scientist is between £60K - £90K plus bonus. The table below shows how the rates vary based on seniority from Salt’s survey. Arguably, if you are looking for a data scientist to set up a function or lead the direction for data science in your organisation, you need to be looking at the top end of the table. We do think it is important to put thought into what your business will gain from employing a data scientist. We have worked with many businesses who have stated an ambition to hire Data Scientists, but without a clear objective for what they will deliver. Ensure you have a defined data strategy and a clear understanding of the deliverables they will fulfill. We have seen too often that a data scientist is brought into a business without a clear data strategy in place and they often end up sorting out and cleaning data, and only a fraction of their time is spent on “science”. I don’t need to tell you that a Data Scientist is an expensive resource to clean data! The other aspect to consider is how the data scientists work will be QAed, especially if they are less experienced. How will you know that the model they have created is doing what it should? Usually, you would have more than 1 analyst or programmer to enable a thorough QA process, but with the high cost of a data scientist, this may not be possible. There are some fantastic Data Science consultants who provide this peer review service (as well as the origination of modelling and deep analytics) that we can recommend if this is the route you take. If you are looking for advice on your data science hiring needs, or recommendations for peer review services please do get in touch with us.

We work with many clients who have data people employed within their organisation. And we think that is great! It shows as a business that you are committed to being data driven. Many in-house data teams have clear roles and responsibilities that may link to managing the data or measurement and reporting against it. In larger organisations bigger teams often exist covering roles such as data scientist, data governance and data engineering roles. In our experience, many businesses do not employ data strategists and customer analysts. This is a key missing link between the business and the technical skills to really optimise the value you are getting from using your data for customer experience or marketing purposes, or improving operations or pricing. Working with an external agency such as MoJo, enables you to get the best of both worlds. In-house teams have the advantage of being more familiar with the company's operations, culture and data assets. External specialists bring fresh ideas and innovation from different sectors, expertise in areas that are often not present within the in-house team, and the ability to dedicate resources to get the job done quickly and efficiently, without any impact on the BAU work the in-house team needs to deliver. To give an example. We often help businesses who want to be more insight driven with their marketing. Our data strategist will work with the business leads to understand the challenges and opportunities for being more insight driven, and the tech leads to understand the capabilities of the data landscape to identify the right approach to achieve the goal of delivering insight driven marketing. We’ll then deliver the right analytics solution for your needs. Taking your data into our analytical environment to ensure that we can process and analyze the data at scale and pace, without worrying about any detrimental impact on the performance of your business's operational systems. The analysis outputs we produce can be applied back into the operational systems with relative ease, and then monitored and maintained by the in-house data team. This enables us to deliver actionable insights and models quickly. Our data strategists (often a notably absent role in a business) ensure the outputs are actionable and used, so you are able to get the benefit of using the insights and models quickly onto your business's bottom line. To learn more about how we can work alongside your internal team, compliment their skills and bring fresh ideas to the table, do get in touch.

This is a question we have been asked when meeting with potential clients. We believe the concern comes from hidden questions such as: Will you have the resource capacity to service my business needs? Will it cost me more because I am paying for more experienced staff? How does your skill set cover so many facets of data? So we thought we’d take the bull by the horns and answer the question here, so you will know before meeting us if our business size is an influencing factor in choosing to work with us. We are currently a team of 2 full time data consultants, and 1 assistant employed by MoJo. Our network of trusted data experts, built up over 25 years working in this field, expands our resource capability ten-fold. As a micro business it is more efficient for us (and our clients) to bring in our trusted experts as and when they are needed, rather than having them sat on our payroll if the work is project based. As MoJo, we have been described as “a swiss army knife of data skills” and we can turn our hands to most challenges, and our network of trusted data experts also allows us to offer a wider range of data services and skills over and above our expertise - from tech developments, data engineering through to data science. We have been told by our clients that there are some fantastic benefits to working with us: Your project is worked on by very experienced consultants - we get to the answer quicker than if you were working with a more junior team. We work in a very agile way ensuring there is no waste in your budgets, and that we can adapt to unforeseen hurdles without impacting the project goals. You pay for the project delivered, with no hidden costs to cover overheads or the person in the corner who isn’t actively working on your project. You get a curated team based on what your project requires - if we don’t know how to do it we know someone who will. Our client testimonials also highlight the impact we bring to businesses who choose to work with us - business size has never been an issue! Laura James: “We Are MoJo has been fantastic from the start of our project. They took the time to recognise where we were as a business, our needs and helped us understand exactly how they were going to deliver actionable recommendations from our data. We would highly recommend We Are MoJo.” Wine Box Company (WBC): “MoJo has not only delivered practical solutions, they have also been a joy to work with; part of the team. They have been adaptable, consistently interested, and have dedicated the right amount of energy & effort to help us get the job done” Clarion Housing Group: “We Are MoJo has been a great company to work with, their expertise has helped us to develop and implement our data governance plan. Their insight opened up our thinking on how data governance impacts the delivery of our strategies and the positive effects this has for our people and our customers.” Thomas International: “We have successfully worked with We Are MoJo to bring much-needed order to our thinking around our future data strategy and enabled us to present a comprehensive roadmap back to our Board to secure the first phase of funding" Portman: “We Are MoJo took a hands-on approach, by quickly building trust amongst our colleagues they quickly identified the opportunities for data-driven thinking for Portman. Presenting these ideas with clarity they built engagement and understanding amongst stakeholders at all levels of experience and seniority helping us to secure further investment for future data capabilities. Rachel and Tash are a pleasure to work with” Springer Nature: “We Are MoJo was brought in to review our customer data and develop targeted campaigns to improve marketing results. Their fresh insights enabled us to take a new approach with our data and have moved us further along in creating customer-focused programs, setting a framework to build future programs as we learn and iterate. They work collaboratively with our teams, are clear on purpose and action, and document each step to get from concept to implementation.” If you’d like to know more about how we can work together with you, then please do get in touch. Our clients are also happy to provide references if you need additional reassurance that MoJo enables businesses to thrive in their data use, irrespective of our team size.

With almost every business we work with we have a pricing conversation that usually involves two key questions: How do you charge? Do you work on a day rate or a project cost? And the answer is usually, it depends. When we use a project cost: After 25 years working in data, we know how long things are going to take, and what can impact that duration. We are able to be accurate in project pricing of many projects such as analysis projects, data strategy and consultancy projects. We know in some instances we will lose out as there are often things out of our predictions that will impact the time spent such as needing a resupply of data or increased data cleaning to ensure the data is fit for purpose for the task, but that is a risk we take as our predictions are usually pretty accurate. Using project cost for these types of projects means we are looking at the overall deliverable and impact on your business, without worrying about logging every interval spent working on your project, and for our clients it means better budgeting. When we use a day rate: For some businesses where we support as an ongoing retained resource a day rate works more effectively as a business is buying expertise for a set amount of time, not a project deliverable. Our day rates are competitive and reflective to the expertise you are buying. This means we can be brought into a wide variety of data challenges and do not need to scope out a project estimate each time a new direction arises. We also work here in fractions of time, so you do not need to commit to a specific day a week, but rather it is the commitment for an agreed amount of hours that we monitor using the work management platform, Asana. For both project costs and day rates, we take an upfront deposit against the commitment and then invoice as milestones are reached either at month end, or as a project stage is completed. We find this works best for our clients. Irrespective of the pricing model used, you will always receive the highest level of service and quality of work to deliver a positive impact on your business.