{"id":1502599,"date":"2022-04-24T07:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/?p=1502599"},"modified":"2022-09-01T08:28:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T12:28:54","slug":"do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool","title":{"rendered":"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Business intelligence tools help companies analyze and act on internal and external data. A good BI tool can import data from multiple sources \u2014 ecommerce software, ad platforms, selling channels \u2014 to produce tables and charts with insights for better decisions.<\/p>\n<h3>Meta Ads<\/h3>\n<p>To illustrate, I&#8217;ll export performance data from the Meta (Facebook) Ads Manager and then import it into QuickSight, an Amazon-owned BI tool, for analysis and visualization.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502600\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502600\" class=\"wp-image-1502600 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of a Meta Ads report.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example-570x307.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of a Meta Ads report.\" width=\"570\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example-570x307.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example-768x413.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example-150x81.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example-500x269.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-report-example.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502600\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Data from a Meta Ads report can also be exported and uploaded to a BI tool.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The first step is to create an Ads Manager report containing the fields to import into the tool. For this example, I&#8217;ll build a report containing the Month, Campaign ID, Ad Set ID, Platform, and several metrics.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502612\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502612\" class=\"wp-image-1502612 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of Meta Ads Manager report generator\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports-570x238.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of Meta Ads Manager report generator\" width=\"570\" height=\"238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports-570x238.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports-768x320.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports-150x63.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports-500x209.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-reports.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502612\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Create a report in Meta Ads Manager containing the fields to import into the BI tool.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>AWS QuickSight<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/quicksight\/\">QuickSight<\/a> is part of Amazon Web Services. Amazon built the tool to solve its own business intelligence and data visualization needs. Staff throughout the company reportedly now use the tool as do 100,000 external folks.<\/p>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/16-business-intelligence-tools-for-ecommerce\">many BI tools<\/a>. Popular options include Looker (part of Google Cloud), Tableau, and Sisense, although all tools are generally similar in concept.<\/p>\n<p>Accessing QuickSight requires an account. Prices start at $24 per month plus utility-like usage charges. Customers of Amazon Web Services can add QuickSight easily.<\/p>\n<h3>Add a New Dataset<\/h3>\n<p>QuickSight can connect to databases. Hence I could have accessed a Meta Ads API to add performance info to a database, such as Redshift or MySQL. Instead, I&#8217;ll upload the CSV file.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502610\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502610\" class=\"wp-image-1502610 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of the import data screen on QuickSight\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset-570x305.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of the import data screen on QuickSight\" width=\"570\" height=\"305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset-570x305.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset-768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset-150x80.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset-500x267.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-add-dataset.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502610\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">QuickSight can connect to databases or receive a CSV file upload.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It is worth mentioning that QuickSight can load data into server memory \u2014 using what it calls &#8220;Super-fast, Parallel, In-memory Calculation Engine&#8221; or SPICE \u2014 for fast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/an-arms-race-of-ecommerce-data-is-coming\">data computations<\/a>. The feature is more important for direct connections.<\/p>\n<p>Once the file is uploaded, click &#8220;Visualize&#8221; to create the analysis. Importing the data could take a moment or two.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502609\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502609\" class=\"wp-image-1502609 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of the QuickSight screen to visualize the data\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation-570x252.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of the QuickSight screen to visualize the data\" width=\"570\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation-570x252.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation-300x133.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation-768x339.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation-150x66.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation-500x221.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-quicksight-upload-confirmation.jpg 946w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502609\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Once the file is uploaded, click &#8220;Visualize&#8221; to create the analysis.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Analysis<\/h3>\n<p>QuickSight starts the analysis with an &#8220;AutoGraph&#8221; that will assign a visualization as you select fields from the list on the left menu. But one could manually add a visualization from the &#8220;Visual types&#8221; section in the lower-left portion of the interface.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502608\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502608\" class=\"wp-image-1502608 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot from QuickSight of visualization options\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis-570x485.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot from QuickSight of visualization options\" width=\"570\" height=\"485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis-570x485.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis-300x255.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis-768x654.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis-150x128.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis-500x426.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-empty-analysis.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502608\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;AutoGraph&#8221; assigns a visualization as you select fields from the left menu. The &#8220;Visual types&#8221; section in the lower left is a manual alternative.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Clicking on Campaign ID in the left menu labeled &#8220;Fields list&#8221; will instantly produce a chart of the Meta Ads campaigns.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502607\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502607\" class=\"wp-image-1502607 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of QuickSight chart visualization screen\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign-570x404.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of QuickSight chart visualization screen\" width=\"570\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign-570x404.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign-768x545.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign-150x106.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign-500x355.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-campaign.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502607\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clicking on Campaign ID in the left menu will instantly produce a chart of the Meta Ads campaigns.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>QuickSight added commas to the Campaign ID. But we can remove them to show the ID as it appears in Meta. To do this, hover over the Campaign ID in the field list. Click the ellipse to open the menu and select &#8220;Format.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Next, select &#8220;Link clicks&#8221; from the field list to add it to AutoGraph. That produces a visualization of each Meta Ads campaign sorted by the number of clicks. The screenshot below shows one campaign produced the most clicks.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502605\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks..jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502605\" class=\"wp-image-1502605 size-large\" title=\"QuickSight visualization adding the clicks field\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks.-570x344.jpg\" alt=\"QuickSight visualization adding the clicks field\" width=\"570\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks.-570x344.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks.-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks.-768x464.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks.-150x91.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks.-500x302.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-link-clicks..jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502605\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">When clicks are added to the visualization, one can easily ascertain that one campaign is producing many more clicks than the others.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Thus we can already see an advantage of using a BI tool. The Meta report was in a table view. It contained the same campaign data, but that data is much easier to digest as visualized in QuickSight.<\/p>\n<p>Clicking &#8220;Amount spent&#8221; from the field list adds a new bar showing the cost of each Meta Ads campaign.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502604\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502604\" class=\"wp-image-1502604 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of QuickSight visualization adding the &quot;Amount spent&quot; data\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment-570x315.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of QuickSight visualization adding the &quot;Amount spent&quot; data\" width=\"570\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment-570x315.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment-768x424.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment-150x83.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment-500x276.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-meta-ads-clicks-and-investment.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502604\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clicking &#8220;Amount spent&#8221; shows the cost of each Meta Ads campaign.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I can quickly add insights and visualizations, such as impressions, click rates, the total cost for all campaigns, and more.<\/p>\n<p>The result is a comprehensive, interactive dashboard with easy-to-digest insights.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1502602\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1502602\" class=\"wp-image-1502602 size-large\" title=\"Screenshot of final QuickSight visualization of the hypothetical Meta ads campaign data \" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-570x321.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of final QuickSight visualization of the hypothetical Meta ads campaign data \" width=\"570\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-570x321.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-150x85.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122-500x282.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/042122.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1502602\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">QuickSight generated a comprehensive, interactive visualization of Meta Ads data.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>The Next Step<\/h3>\n<p>I&#8217;ve uploaded a file and clicked a few fields to create a visualization. The process was straightforward, but I could easily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/to-master-data-visualization-start-with-these-3-books\">do more.<\/a> I could add data from UTM parameters to show, for example, the Campaign ID that drove the most revenue. I could show the top-selling products or sales from new customers versus repeat buyers. The options are near limitless.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here&#8217;s an example using QuickSight, Amazon&#8217;s tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":1502638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[13093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1502599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-data",""],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.2 (Yoast SEO v25.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool? - Practical Ecommerce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here&#039;s an example using QuickSight, Amazon&#039;s tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here&#039;s an example using QuickSight, Amazon&#039;s tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Practical Ecommerce\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/practicalecommerce\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-24T11:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-01T12:28:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Armando Roggio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ecommerceboy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@practicalecomm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Armando Roggio\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Armando Roggio\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/person\/357c476238d0b5e19bd0a0bfacefe722\"},\"headline\":\"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-24T11:00:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-01T12:28:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\"},\"wordCount\":784,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Analytics &amp; Data\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\",\"name\":\"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool? - Practical Ecommerce\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-24T11:00:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-01T12:28:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here's an example using QuickSight, Amazon's tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg\",\"width\":360,\"height\":240,\"caption\":\"Screenshot from QuickSight home page of a female by a computer screen\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/\",\"name\":\"Practical Ecommerce\",\"description\":\"Independent analysis and strategy for online merchants\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Practical Ecommerce\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/practical-ecommerce-stacked-hires.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/practical-ecommerce-stacked-hires.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Practical Ecommerce\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/practicalecommerce\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/practicalecomm\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/practical-ecommerce\/\",\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ecommerce-conversations\/id874457373\",\"https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/practical-ecommerce\",\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/practicalecommerce.com\"],\"description\":\"Practical Ecommerce is an independent digital publication founded in 2005 that helps online merchants improve their businesses through expert articles, guides, webcasts, and podcasts. The site has published over 7,000 articles and serves millions of readers worldwide.\",\"foundingDate\":\"2005-07-01\",\"duns\":\"09-076-7155\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"},\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/editorial-policy\",\"ownershipFundingInfo\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/about-us\",\"actionableFeedbackPolicy\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/contact\",\"ethicsPolicy\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/editorial-policy\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/person\/357c476238d0b5e19bd0a0bfacefe722\",\"name\":\"Armando Roggio\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8800b8ee23c4ea0ef55fd2ffb3dd937d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8800b8ee23c4ea0ef55fd2ffb3dd937d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Armando Roggio\"},\"description\":\"Armando Roggio is the longtime senior contributor to Practical Ecommerce. He's a global ecommerce authority and a practicing merchant, developer, and journalist. Since 2008 he's written over 1,300 articles for Practical Ecommerce addressing all matters of ecommerce and presented dozens of webinars. His previous positions include director of ecommerce for a regional retail chain and marketing publications manager at Micron Technology, a publicly-traded computer-chip manufacturer. He holds a B.A. in English Writing and Journalism from The University of Pittsburgh. Contact Armando via email or LinkedIn. Follow his ecommerce tweets at @ecommerceboy.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/armandoroggio\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ecommerceboy\"],\"gender\":\"Male\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/E-commerce\"],\"knowsLanguage\":[\"English\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/author\/armando-roggio\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool? - Practical Ecommerce","description":"In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here's an example using QuickSight, Amazon's tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?","og_description":"In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here's an example using QuickSight, Amazon's tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool","og_site_name":"Practical Ecommerce","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/practicalecommerce","article_published_time":"2022-04-24T11:00:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-01T12:28:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":240,"url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Armando Roggio","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ecommerceboy","twitter_site":"@practicalecomm","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Armando Roggio","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool"},"author":{"name":"Armando Roggio","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/person\/357c476238d0b5e19bd0a0bfacefe722"},"headline":"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?","datePublished":"2022-04-24T11:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-01T12:28:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool"},"wordCount":784,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg","articleSection":["Analytics &amp; Data"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool","url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool","name":"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool? - Practical Ecommerce","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-24T11:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-01T12:28:54+00:00","description":"In an age of massive data, a business intelligence tool can be a necessity for ecommerce merchants. Here's an example using QuickSight, Amazon's tool, with hypothetical Meta Ads data.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Do-You-Need-a-Business-Intelligence-Tool.jpg","width":360,"height":240,"caption":"Screenshot from QuickSight home page of a female by a computer screen"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/do-you-need-a-business-intelligence-tool#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do You Need a Business Intelligence Tool?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/","name":"Practical Ecommerce","description":"Independent analysis and strategy for online merchants","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#organization","name":"Practical Ecommerce","url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/practical-ecommerce-stacked-hires.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/practical-ecommerce-stacked-hires.jpg","width":250,"height":100,"caption":"Practical Ecommerce"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/practicalecommerce","https:\/\/x.com\/practicalecomm","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/practical-ecommerce\/","https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ecommerce-conversations\/id874457373","https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/practical-ecommerce","https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/practicalecommerce.com"],"description":"Practical Ecommerce is an independent digital publication founded in 2005 that helps online merchants improve their businesses through expert articles, guides, webcasts, and podcasts. The site has published over 7,000 articles and serves millions of readers worldwide.","foundingDate":"2005-07-01","duns":"09-076-7155","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"},"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/editorial-policy","ownershipFundingInfo":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/about-us","actionableFeedbackPolicy":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/contact","ethicsPolicy":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/editorial-policy"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/person\/357c476238d0b5e19bd0a0bfacefe722","name":"Armando Roggio","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8800b8ee23c4ea0ef55fd2ffb3dd937d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8800b8ee23c4ea0ef55fd2ffb3dd937d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Armando Roggio"},"description":"Armando Roggio is the longtime senior contributor to Practical Ecommerce. He's a global ecommerce authority and a practicing merchant, developer, and journalist. Since 2008 he's written over 1,300 articles for Practical Ecommerce addressing all matters of ecommerce and presented dozens of webinars. His previous positions include director of ecommerce for a regional retail chain and marketing publications manager at Micron Technology, a publicly-traded computer-chip manufacturer. He holds a B.A. in English Writing and Journalism from The University of Pittsburgh. Contact Armando via email or LinkedIn. Follow his ecommerce tweets at @ecommerceboy.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/armandoroggio\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ecommerceboy"],"gender":"Male","knowsAbout":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/E-commerce"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"url":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/author\/armando-roggio"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1502599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509293,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1502599\/revisions\/1509293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1502638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1502599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1502599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1502599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}