Numbers lie
Image by Ryan Cuthriell
Analytics
11.01.2010
In:
Professional / Financial Services
We had to make best guestimates about what we thought was working and what wasn’t in our marketing campaigns. Today, that pendulum has swung 180 degrees—now we have too much data. There is data everywhere and it never stops. It keeps growing and growing, and we as marketers have a new challenge—how do we manage it all? One of the biggest lessons I have learned about metrics and data is that numbers lie. I know what you’re thinking: “That can’t be right. Numbers don’t lie.” But they do. Let’s look at an example.
Two sides of the story
Marketing Manager A is presenting to her superiors about how their website is performing. She is extremely pleased as she discusses a PowerPoint slide that shows an average user stays on their website for a little more than five minutes and views six or seven pages. She says, “Users are staying on our website much longer than industry average, which speaks to how well our content and website are performing.”
More than five minutes per visit and six or seven pages. This all sounds like great news, but is it?
Marketing Manager B is also presenting to her superiors. With a serious tone, she says, “Team, we have some real concerns about our website. As you can see by this slide, the average user is spending more than five minutes on our site and looking at six or seven pages each visit. This is unacceptable. These numbers clearly show that users are having a hard time finding what they are looking for and need to click several times on our website to get to where they want to go. Something must be done!”
So who’s right?
Same numbers with two very different interpretations. What does this all mean? What I have learned is that metrics are like an onion. You need to peel several layers down to really get a clear picture of what this glut of data is actually trying to tell you. I have also learned that it is never too early to bring your analytics or data governance team into a project. Developing key drivers and success metrics at the very outset of any project is an absolute must. This will ensure that the entire team understands the success metrics and will hopefully keep your metrics honest.
