Metrics that Matter

If there’s one thing that becomes clearer the longer you run a business, it’s this: direction is more important than speed. Sure, it can be tempting to build and launch quickly – but only if you’re going the right way. How do you determine what to focus on to best grow your brand? Here’s an idea: you don’t need more data, you need the right data. 

It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the more data you have, the better informed you will be to make business decisions. In reality, too much data can lead you away from your goals and distract from the things that actually matter. Here, we’ll go over finding the metrics that matter and cover everything from understanding what makes for a good tracking metric, to how to research your metric, to cross-organizational teamwork, and more. Let’s dive in. 

Finding your metric that matters

In a time when almost everything can be measured and analyzed, you might think: how can I find the metrics that actually matter for my business? A great way to determine these numbers is by starting with your goals and KPIs. Instead of looking at all of the data available to you, are there a few key points or trends that can help you further your progress on these goals? 

A good metric isn’t just measurable. It also should be easily explained and understandable to external stakeholders, simple to compare to other data points, and give you a clear course of action based on what the numbers are telling you. 

Finding exactly which metrics to track is a highly personalized process without a one-size-fits-all solution. Looking at your goals in addition to your business plan, obstacles, successes, user journeys, and community engagement will help you determine where you should focus your efforts and hone in on tracking the numbers that will make a real difference. 

Research, research, research 

While being able to do a deep dive into your numbers can be great for understanding the trajectory of your business, ultimately, the most important part of finding and tracking your key metrics is doing the research. 

Here, I mean research in a broad sense: external research to find industry standards, trends, and predictions, and also internal research to see what’s working, what’s not, and what you should be focusing on with your own company. Internal research can be everything from user surveys and polling to a click-map on your sites or emails. Put your detective hat on and try to get into the shoes of your consumer. Many of the insights you discover there will then lead you to the metrics that you need to focus on, whether those include click rates, subscription rates, or CAC. It’s important to note that as time goes on, the metrics you focus on will and should be changing. New research and analysis will bring to light new things to focus on. This is a good thing, and means you’re moving in the right direction.

Prioritizing cross-team collaboration 

Now that you’ve picked a few key metrics to hone in on for your brand, it’s time to get to work. Focusing on metrics often means collaborating with various parts of a company. To get the best possible results, you want to make sure that all of your teams are aligned and working towards the same goal, instead of putting effort into many different areas of the company that won’t amount to anything impactful in the long term. 

If parts of your company don’t agree on direction, make it an objective exercise to vote on where to focus. You can do this with score cards, or other computing techniques that take the emotion out of it and focus solely on numbers and scoring. It may feel like different teams, such as sales, marketing, or strategy, have different goals, but they should be aligned towards one larger purpose. This won’t just strengthen your data analysis and give you a better sense of direction – it will help unify your employees and drive them towards a common goal to work for. 

As a leader, it’s important to lead by example when choosing metrics to focus on and executing plans to analyze these metrics. You want your teammates to be bold, creative, and innovative when strategizing on how to best move the needle and make an impact. Celebrate failures, make it easy to suggest new ideas or ways of thinking, and don’t forget to be patient. Just because something takes more time doesn’t mean it’s not working. 

Conclusion 

In business, and in life, finding the right direction to go is often much more important than going down the wrong road quickly. One way to make sure your business is on the path to success is by finding and tracking the right metrics rather than drowning in useless data. Don’t forget to research, both externally and internally, experiment often, and make your data-driven goals a cross-team venture that is rewarding for everyone.