Bogged Down In Metrics

Einstein had this to say: “Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts.”

To me, that sums it up.

Some people spend all their time counting.

They’ll tell you that it makes a difference in their bottom line, but since we know that at least 80% of your output comes from 20% or less of your input, you have to ask if spending a huge amount of time on metrics really matters.

Focus on those things that affect the bottom line: conversion rates at crucial points along the path … click-through, add to cart, average order value, etc. TheGood.com has some excellent articles about data centered decisions.

personally, I don’t focus too much on metrics . . .

I want to see lives changed, and I see that when I get emails or reports that that is happening.

of course sales have to happen, so I see that with the daily reports.

New subscribers have to happen , . .

but think about this:

which is better, 20% conversion or $1000 in revenue?

40% conversion or 200 new subscribers?

without context, neither matters

I’ll take 10% conversion with 100 new subs

or 80% conversion but only 5 new subs any day

same with revenue . . . I’d rather a LOWER conversion rate but more happy people

because happy people end up spending more anyhow 🙂

and that’s not reflected in a one-time conversion rate

Sean

1 user thanked author for this post.

Mark Rhodes

The thing about metrics to not forget is that they allow you to see what’s happening and where. Done right, metrics aren’t burdensome and can be eye-opening. And you can’t test without them.

I know I’ll one day get to all this! I think the logically intuitive approach that Sean presents makes a lot of sense. It’s important to not get too bogged down with the numbers when you can so quickly evaluate things for yourself.

Don’t be too hard on yourself, Claire.

It often depends on what you read.

If you take in a steady diet of posts from places like MOZ, Kissmetrics, the Search Engine Journal, ahrefs, etc, then you can find yourself believing that if you don’t have a degree in Google Analytics that you’re somehow deficient in the IM space.

For those people and many others like them, metrics are their lifeblood.

Most of us don’t need to have that degree of detail in that sort of thing.

I’ve been on webinars with Daniel Levis where he said he didn’t worry about unsubscribes, CTR or any of those things. He was concerned about sales. He does most of his selling in the emails, so that when someone clicks through, they are more or less ready to buy. I’m on his list, and I’ve seen his emails, and the man does what he preaches. By the time you get to that link, you’re either going to click so you can buy, or you’re not going to click. There’s no clickbait, curiousity-type stuff.

Metrics are good, but as Sean said, context is important. Metrics don’t exist in a vacuum.

Scott, 😀