These days, we can measure just about everything in marketing.
But actually understanding what it all means is still optional and often ignored.
Marketing has never had more data.
Clicks. Impressions. Reach. Engagement. Open rates. Conversion rates. Scroll depth. Attribution. Customer lifetime value.
We can even track exactly how far someone scrolls down a webpage before they decide they’ve seen enough.
Yet even with more information than ever before, many businesses still find themselves asking: “So… is the marketing actually working?”
Welcome to the Dashboard Department
Dashboards are useful. Data is essential.
But at some point, measuring things stopped helping us make decisions and sometimes became the main activity.
One dashboard turned into three. Three turned into six. Then someone made another dashboard just to sum up the rest.
In the end, everyone knows a lot, but about nothing that really matters.
In Episode 15 of The Overthinker’s Guide to Modern Marketing Podcast, I talk about how the real problem isn’t the data itself. The issue is thinking that if we can measure something, it must be important. Modern marketing can track a huge number of things, but having more data doesn’t always mean we understand more.
The Decimal Point Has Spoken
Numbers feel reassuringly scientific.
“Sales are down about 12%” sounds concerning.
“Sales are down 12.37%” makes it sound like it’s time to call an urgent meeting.
Never underestimate the authority of a decimal point.
But data is usually better at showing us what happened than explaining why.
Maybe someone spent twelve seconds on your website.
- Was the page bad?
- Did they find what they needed right away?
- Did the phone ring?
- Or did the cat throw up on the carpet?
The dashboard has no idea.
Measure What Helps You Think
Measuring things should help us understand what’s going on, make choices, and get better results.
If a metric doesn’t help with any of that, it’s worth asking why you’re tracking it at all.
And if your marketing report lists 47 KPIs, chances are, not all of them are actually key.
That’s literally what the K stands for.
For more on data, dashboards and why modern marketing has become quite so complicated, listen to Episode 15: Why Marketing Has Become So Complicated.
Because the purpose of data isn’t to produce more reports.
It’s to produce better decisions.
