Meet the data director at Union agency in Charlotte, NC as he talks about data solutions, implementation, tracking, analysis & reporting for clients.

Richard Harris Jr. | Data Director | Union

Take 10: with Richard Harris Jr., Data Director

At the moment, our new data director is best known by colleagues for his readings of team member accolades during our weekly all-agency meeting. It’s rowdy and loud, complete with beats and sound effects.
Richard Harris Jr. is also known for his countrywide adventures. He and his wife are busy working toward their goal of visiting all of the national parks in the continental U.S. before they hit their mid-30s. “We don’t often go to the same place twice,” he said.
But clients are getting to know Richard for his passion for data, analytics and tagging. He likes to forecast the future, as he puts it. Since he joined the Union team, he’s been busy getting a new data reporting platform set up while building out machine-learning models to forecast revenue or leads based on clicks and other metrics for clients.
Here’s some insight from Richard about challenges that clients face when it comes to data, how the pandemic has changed the data and analytics landscape, and more.
What’s your favorite part about the data and analytics process? My favorite segment in the data world would be implementation. I argue that it’s the most important part. It follows the age-old rule that clean data in provides clean data out. I love the data science space because it’s so large with what we can accomplish from campaign automation to forecasting future performance. However, without a solid implementation strategy, we would be analyzing inaccurate data.
You like to help develop solutions for clients – what’s the most common challenge you’re trying to solve for them? 
The data not being organized, the data not being available for us to build tools off of, if it wasn't collected in the right way. That’s when my analysis and implementation skills come into play, to make sure everything is tracking correctly.
What do you want clients to get out of the data and analytics work Union does?
I want our clients to be able to have a better understanding of digital as a whole so they can make informed decisions that are going to impact their bottom line. I also want clients to be able to see how much we are actively impacting their bottom line. And also just change their perception of what we can do and how well we can do it, especially from a data perspective.
As Union’s new data director, what do you hope to add to the Data &amp; Analytics Department?
I’m building this department in three segments. Implementation and tracking, analysis and reporting, and data science. I want our team of data scientists to help build tools and come up with other solutions for our clients, and build different models that can forecast accurately.
What’s the best part of your job so far?
I love how I’m able to touch all these three facets in the data space. Any given day I can wake up and say there’s a lot that needs to get done, so I can do any of the above.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I’m pretty relaxed. I give my team the tools to succeed. I give them the autonomy to come up with solutions and different ways to think about a problem. They can always reach out, and my door is always open.

Get to know Richard as he answers our 10 questions between traveling and building data solutions

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to clients when they want to see stronger Google Analytics results for their ecommerce pages?
Roll in smart A/B testing where they’re actually analyzing the tests against each other, to see which one would be stronger and better-performing. I would want to make sure that they are set up and tracking properly, too.
What’s the biggest mistake brands make when it comes to strategy based on their latest data and analytics reports?
People think you set up an analytics platform and that’s it. They don’t think of analytics as being an ongoing, living process involving interpretation. You can’t set it up and forget it.
How has the pandemic changed the data and analytics landscape most?
It’s definitely changed how we analyze data points. Because we have to bring in the consideration that a pandemic is going on, so we have to question why people are performing certain actions online.
What’s your brand?
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/nomadicweekenders/">Nomadic Weekenders</a>.

Valtech + Union is a creative &amp; performance marketing agency that creates omni-channel campaigns, unleashing creativity on a data-driven world, helping brands produce memorable, measurable and repeatable results. Obsessed with data-driven performance, we believe every marketing dollar should be viewed as an investment. Our clients expect a meaningful return and we prove the ROI of our work with quantifiable data.

About Valtech + Union

Richard Harris Jr., Data Director at Union in Charlotte, NC