Metrics are easy, insights are hard. 

Often, when people think “analytics,” they think about the process of pulling data or reports and making sure that data is correct. While that’s certainly an important part of the equation, that’s not where it ends.  

Once you pull that data, getting claritydirection, and insight from that data is a whole different story. 

To get valuable insights from your metrics, you have to understand the full picture. There’s business context, individual goals, responsibilities, etc. that all affect what your data actually means. Even more, you have to understand the value of what you’re trying to measure. In other words, you have to understand what you want from your data before digging in. 

Take one of the most popular website metrics as an example: unique visitors. Imagine you work at an agency and one day you see a dramatic lift in traffic to one of your client’s sites. The next day, it falls back down to normal levels. What would you say happened?  

If you try to work it out in a silo, you might sit there thinking you had made some magical change on the website that somehow bring in record numbers. Time to take a vacation!  

But wait. What you don’t know is, your client’s marketing team launched a new radio commercial the same day telling people to visit their website for a special promo deal.  

Data alone doesn’t tell the whole story.  

Unfortunately, a lot of people never go past the data. They dig through the numbers looking for little errors and questioning accuracy because working through what causes the data is a lot more involved. 

Bottom line? Context is key. If you’re plugged into what’s happening in the bigger organization, you’ll have a lot more insight to pull from your analytics.  

Does your analytics tool help you pull out the insights you need? Compare us to other analytics solutions to make sure you and your team get the insights you need. 

Compare us to other solutions