Not receiving clear analytics and performance reports can leave you fumbling in the dark about your website performance.
Actionable metrics, which provide meaningful context into how users are engaging with a company's product, service or content, deliver valuable insights related to business objectives - and are the unsung leaders of informed decision making. Vanity metrics are those that make you look good to others but lack translatability to meaningful business results. Context is key - these lack the substance, nuance and context required to inform future strategies critical to improvement, instead focusing on the mere appearance of improvement. Think of these two as Informative vs Feel Good metrics.
The problem: You cannot fix what you don’t know is broken, a crack you missed, capitalize on an opportunity that goes unnoticed. Or more nefariously, opportunities lost by bluffing numbers of registrants, of leads, on conversion source to save face in the boardroom. If you have the money to burn and you don't care how you burn it, then by all means, flex those vanity metrics. But vanity metrics, or metrics without any actionable insights to inform your decision making, do more harm than good. Contrary to actionable metrics, which can be used to inform better business decisions, "Feel Good" metrics lack guidance for next steps and all too often woo organizations off course.
Valuing the integrity and transparency of your data, tracking and properly analyzing informative metrics that provide actionable insights, and then acting upon the picture that analysis paints in a way that advances your goals, is paramount to reaching your KPIs. These are the keys to enacting the infamous “data-driven marketing strategy”.
The reason: Assuming positive intent, it is most likely that improper or subpar data analysis happens on accident. Analyzing and reporting on data properly is a particular skillset, requiring continuous annotation and attention. The result is your team does the best they can with the resources & tools they have - the data is misanalysed and the picture it paints is wrong. Now they're faced with the daunting task of hunting in the dark and you're faced with opportunity loss – before anyone knew it was happening in the first place.
The cost: Ultimately, if you are not properly set up for actual data-driven decision making or cannot act/spend strategically based on that data, you end up with happy vanity metrics, an unhappy sales team and a marketing team handicapped by a capability gap. We've all seen it, presentation goes well, sales don't increase, directionless panic ensues - think of this as campaign roulette and you’re playing with limited marketing dollars.
The metaphor no one asked for: False metrics = a pat on the back = throwing spaghetti at the wall and not only failing but faking to see what sticks. And then you must throw more spaghetti at the wall and inevitably, pay for that spaghetti but end up with nothing on your plate. Okay, hopefully a small meal, but nothing to write home about, and accounting is upset with how much you've spent on your meal, sales is angry that there isn’t enough sauce and marketing is trying to reinvent the pasta machine.
While the allure of DIY Google Analytics setup or out of the box web builders may seem enticing initially, the pitfalls associated with micro-managing your digital marketing, SEO and website development in-house can hinder your business growth on a macro-scale.
The solution: No need to stumble around in the dark with misleading metrics, this is where we step in. Let our team bring their expertise, professionalism, and tailored solutions to the table. We're here to seamlessly blend with your existing team, providing actionable reports and scalable strategies that empower you to make informed decisions.