14 West's Grace Epperson on using data to improve customer experience

On this episode of The Data Chief, Cindi is joined by Grace Epperson, the Chief Analytics Officer at 14 West, an Agora Company. They discuss what Grace's learned in that role, and how her and her team’s mindsets have evolved over the years. Grace also shares her take on why a liberal arts education is valuable in technology industries, plus how data can help marketers create personalized and impactful customer experiences. Key Takeaways: Include your customers in the design process. Changing the design process to be consultative, collaborative, and more of a conversation with the customer ensures that the end result meets their needs. Such a minor mindset shift can lead to exceptional results. Critical thinking matters. In such a rapidly changing field as marketing, being able to intuitively bridge the gap between knowledge and expertise has become an even more valuable skill. With some simple tips, you can cultivate that type of thinking in your team. How art complements technology. Approaching a career in tech with an education in the liberal arts is an asset, not a hindrance to success. More About Grace Grace Epperson is the Chief Analytics Officer at 14 West, an Agora Company. With over 20 years in data, analytics, marketing, and people leadership, she helps folks get value out of data that enable insights, stronger business decisions, and more powerful actions. Over the years, Grace has held many marketing and operational leadership roles. Since 2011, she has had the privilege of leading 14 West's Business Intelligence team in working with 700+ users across 30+ publishing affiliates worldwide. Whether it's a conversation, an Excel report, a dashboard, an ad hoc question, a data feed, a predictive model, or a means of automated marketing activation, Grace and her team will be there to help affiliates leverage the value of their data. -- The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com.  --  For full show notes and more, go to thedatachief.com. Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.