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What do I do on a daily basis at Clearhead? This! (This orignially appeared here)
Traditional media companies are struggling to compete in a changing landscape–a landscape that requires both agility and digital product innovation to capture the attention of an increasingly distracted consumer.
GateHouse Media publishes more than 600 community papers and manages 555 websites, making it one of the largest publishers of local media in the country. At its size, GateHouse needed to scale its testing team and process but found it difficult to do so at the pace it desired. GateHouse hired Clearhead’s consulting practice to fast track a data-driven culture throughout the company by changing the way they think about people, process, technology and culture.
Approach
Clearhead begins every engagement with Problem Solution Mapping (PSM), our proven framework for achieving data-driven results in every part of the business.
PSM is comprised of three core stages:
- Defining objectives + goals
- Problem discovery + validation
- Developing, mapping + testing hypotheses
Through PSM Clearhead focuses a company’s investments and attention on a set of targets that align with the overarching goals of the business, greatly improving the odds of generating ROI.
Due to GateHouse’s complex structure, Clearhead pursued a two-pronged approach to incorporate perspectives of both the Consumer Marketing team and other internal stakeholders. The engagement began with a PSM workshop, which allowed for GateHouse Media’s existing test creation and approval process to be mapped out in its entirety to identify the biggest challenges in creating an efficient process.
The PSM and process mapping workshops were followed up with a series of activities to complete our understanding of the company including: stakeholder interviews, surveys and maturity modeling.
As a result, Clearhead was able to create a process map for GateHouse that pinpoints gaps and redundancies in their current testing process (pictured below). From there we began to formulate solution-hypotheses.
The Problem
With a comprehensive view of the company, Clearhead was able to identify barriers in three core areas: prioritization, measurement and communication.
Currently prioritization was limited to the the speed at which a test could be run. This inconsistent prioritization created a “firehose” effect that slowed GateHouse’s process.
The sharing of data from previous tests was also absent from the process. By not circulating data stories as part of the testing process, GateHouse was unable to maximize testing impact, nor learn from earlier successes or failures.
This data gap also pointed to a larger challenge GateHouse was facing: communication. Communication between the Consumer Marketing group, publishers, local newspapers and other stakeholders was limited. As you can imagine with 555 websites communication can be difficult. The majority of shared information was limited to to a periodic email newsletter. As a result, there was a persistent knowledge and understanding gap between the Consumer Marketing team and the other internal stakeholders.
Hypotheses
Clearhead developed the following hypotheses (and tests to run) around the three identified problem themes of measurement, prioritization and communication.
Measurement
We believe that creating a process to archive and incorporate previous tests will allow for more data informed decisions. If we are right, test selection and prioritization will better align with strategic goals, and the communication of test results will become easier.
Prioritization
We believe that establishing specific criteria for prioritization will create an environment where alignment with business goals drives decisions. If we are right, the number of tests that are not aligned with business goals will decrease, and the ability to identify and measure successful tests will increase.
Communication
We believe that resolving issues around prioritization and reporting will make communicating results easier and more impactful. If we are right, positive feedback from data consumers will increase, as will uptake of Consumer Marketing data.
Blueprint for Success
Clearhead recommended that GateHouse focus its efforts on the following to fill current gaps and streamline its testing process:
- Build a Success Measurement Framework to measure the success of the new process and to further increase test success metrics and internal satisfaction surveys.
- Create a Improved Testing Process Map to clearly map and detail the test process using data, with the proposed improvements, to resolve identified problems.
- Communication + Reporting Improvements to assist with the reporting and communication of data stories, particularly including measurement of improvements through surveys and feedback.
Beyond the Blueprint
What may seem like small changes -addressing gaps in process, measurement and communication- can have a profound effect on the entire company. GateHouse can now implement a process that confirms which tests actually improve the business, and dispel concerns of testing simply for the sake of testing. Refining its testing process ensures the ability to pinpoint which efforts move the needle and why. These small improvements will lead to building a modern digital product team.
GateHouse’s concerted efforts to redesign its testing program have led to a more efficient process, as well as the launch of several large winning tests. These benefits will continue to multiply as the organization embraces the new process to increase velocity and decrease waste in its testing efforts.
