Avinash Kaushik Made Data, Metrics And Analytics Sexy (Again)
by integrating it into a broader strategic framework!
Preparing and researching for my time in the Growth Track of Tradecraft, I found a lot of fluffy gibberish instead of the innovative and straightforward marketing insights I expected. I was disappointed because the idea of breaking the complex and often vague field of marketing down to one critical focus — growth — seemed desirable to me! Admittedly, I’m just standing at the starting point of a long marathon, rather than a sprint, to become an expert in this field. However, I expected at least a few thoughts and insights that were new and persuasive, even for a motivated starter in this special field. Instead I found a bunch of SEO optimized “These are the 5 metrics, 7 programs and 14 actions that will make you a billionaire in no time” (and don’t forget to buy our premium content/stuff). *Yawn*
At that moment I felt like giving up and just waiting for the Tradecraft program, I found Avinash Kaushik.
He is able to combine a holistic business perspective with the goals of a company. Based on that he designs frameworks to foster efficient growth action. Just after providing you with this context, he shares his insights into actionable metrics, data driven decisions and lessons learned.
He not only delivers great guides, but manages to inspire as well. Here are some examples and core messages:
Framing Analytics into the actual business model
Even if he delivers a list of e.g. the most critical metrics, Avinash won’t let you leave the room (or his blog) before reminding you of the context of your business. Data and metrics are here to make smarter decisions about your business. However, pure data reporting won’t be a big help here. Avinash describes this by distinguishing between Reporting Squirrels vs. Analysis Ninjas.
The main differentiator: To not just “puke out data” you need kick ass metrics that will help you deduce meaningful and actionable proposals and decisions.
At this point it becomes quite clear that you’re lost without a deep understanding of your business and its goals, a knowledge of your possibilities and limitations, a balanced perspective of the now and the near future, and not to forget you have to know your customers and their needs.
You won’t win big without a holistic perspective on the complete customer-business journey.
Coming from a strong strategic background I was instantly taken by such a holistic perspective. At the same moment I know and experienced it myself — it is easy to remain on a broader level and swim in the shallow water. So what does it really mean for a business? How do you transfer this insight into action?
It’s not about metrics, it’s about the ability to pick them
In reporting and data analytics one critical factor of success is having good metrics. Or as Avinash says:
“The ability to pick critical view metrics to focus on is […] the difference between plodding along, or winning big.” (Source: Article on Occam’s Razor)
At first glance this seems intuitive to every marketer. Without the right metrics you make decisions just based on your gut feeling and experience. But it’s not really about having the right metrics, it is about being able to pick them. You need a broader company perspective and a focus on your goals. Hardly anyone needs a long report with tons of metrics, it is about providing actionable insights based on that data.
Your instant reaction might similar to Stephen Woessners in his interview with Avinash:
“What are the vital metrics, the two or three things that business owners should really pay attention to? If they would look at nothing else — what should they do?”
“Anybody who answers that question is stupid!”
Because every business is unique, strategies to e.g. sell can be dramatically different.
You need to ask: “What are you really solving for?”
3 categories of metrics within this framework
Even when there are no best metrics around and the answer is — it depends — Avinash presents 3 categories of metrics to start with. They are integrated into the framework of the customer-business journey and provide an end-to-end insight.
His advise is to focus on the 3 essential success factors: Acquisition Strategy, Behavior of Users on your Site, and the Outcomes. These 3 areas will cover the essential marketing phases for every business:
Acquisition: Everything you do to attract customers to your website before they come. For example, optimize your SEA targeting options and increase relevance. Metrics can be as simple as CPC.
Behavior: What KPI will help you to understand the behavior of your users once they land on your site? So you’re measuring the experience of your customers, e.g. via Bounce Rate.
Outcomes: Every site has at least one goal that should be measured, traditionally via Conversion Rate.
That’s it. Those are the 3 metrics that will measure the essential factors for your business and the users. Wait a second! CPC, Bounce Rate, Conversion Rate — that’s it? Such a fuss and a blog post for the most basic metrics? Besides the fact that every one of the phases could be measured with dozens of different more exotic ones, that’s not what I’m talking about.
What all this is about: These metrics are integrated in the business model of your company! By starting at the basic questions of your business and keeping in mind why you’re doing those analytics you force yourself to stay focused on and not just puking out data. Your effort can mean so much more than just another report — they’re there to generate valuable insights for your business and ultimately its customers. Data, metrics, analytics, reports and proposals become sexy (again). That’s all it is about!
Further Reading
There are only a few people that are able to convey the sense of a sometimes flat topic like web analytics and turn the whole thing around. And ultimately make learning much more fun! Here is some more stuff by Avinash Kaushik:
- Occam’s Razor is the blog of Avinash (articles are long but incredibly insightful!)
- If you really want deep into Web Analytics 2.0, read his book (long but worth it)
- There is a nice summarizing interview at http://growthhackers.com/:
Closing with a last quote:
“I hope people feel that I’m not obsessed about data, I’m obsessed about creating amazing, incredible consumer experiences and creating businesses that make a lot of money.” (From the interview with Avinash)
This article was originally published on Sven’s Blog.
