Build an “Improvement Loop” into Your Programs

Build an “Improvement Loop” into Your Programs

“Process Improvement” is a fancy way of saying that we want to continue to achieve better and better results from our efforts.

Experience is a great teacher – but only if we listen. To assure that we listen, Six Sigma provides us with an “Improvement Loop” called DMAIC, which stands for:

-       Design

      Measure

-       Analyze

-       Improve

-       Control

Follow this simple process, and you are guaranteed to continue improving your programs and your results. Let’s explore each of these in more detail.

Define. If we want to assess our results, we first must identify what we are trying to achieve. This is the essence of the Define stage.

Perhaps unexpectedly, this can be painfully difficult. Marketers may be uncertain of how to quantify the desired end result, or commit to finite goals.

Do we want improved customer satisfaction? Higher unaided recall of the product or brand? More traffic to the homepage?

The better you define your goals, the easier it will be to achieve them!

Measure. Now we can begin measuring how well each goal is being met. This begins with base-lining, or measuring how well the goal was met previously. This is the only way to know if your program improves the result.

“Measures” may include physical counts, research analytics, surveys, simple and/or complex observations, etc.

Analyze. Measurements usually consist of raw data. The Analyze stage converts this into relevant information to determine how well we performed against goals.

Improve. In the Improve stage, we test tactics (often referred to as Designs of Experiments, or DOEs) to determine if holding certain program elements constant while varying others will improve performance. Adjustments are based on data analysis.

Control. Once gains are made, we want to ensure we don’t slide backward, by monitoring key metrics and establishing reports that alert us to any drop in performance.

With controls in place, we can refine our goals in the Define stage, and start the loop again.

Volumes have been written on each of these stages. At this point, it is sufficient to understand that our process seeks continual improvement toward defined goals using measurement, analytics, improvement techniques and control reports. This process has broad applicability across many segments of business.