The Dangers of Measuring Everything on the Website 

All too often our clients come to us saying “We want to start measuring everything on the website!” On its surface, it sounds like a great idea. Why not collect as much data as we can from our website? After all, we hear all the time how valuable customer data can be, right? Well, the truth as always is a bit more complicated than that. 

The fact is, collecting data on everything is wasteful and unnecessary. There is no reason to collect that much data because most of the data being collected will likely be useless. There is no way any business can collect that much data and actually utilize all of it to make improvements to their website. The amount of money invested in that kind of data collection would never return in any meaningful way and just end up sitting in an ever-growing excel document never to be seen again. 

But data collection is important right?

Of course it is! But this is where the phrase “quality over quantity” becomes even more important. Blindly collecting massive amounts of data is expensive, overwhelming, and distracting. And this is exactly what happens when you are measuring everything on the website. Before any data collection begins, it is important to identify what kind of data would be most impactful for the business. This is where we look at KPIs to determine what kind of data is most useful. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator and it is a measurable value that demonstrates how effective a business is at achieving their goals. Any business should develop their 3 KPIs through an iterative process based on the core business objectives. 

Once you determine those top 3 KPIs you can then focus your data collection on those metrics. This data then becomes much more valuable as it allows you to track extremely relevant data and make meaningful decisions right away. Let’s take a look at how one might develop a KPI and then talk about how data collection can be helpful. 

Ask yourselves the following questions to properly develop your top 3 KPIs

• What is your desired outcome?
• Why does this goal matter?
• How will progress towards this goal be measured?
• How can you influence this progress?
• Who will be responsible for this goal?
• How will you know if this goal is achieved?
• How often will you review progress towards this goal?

Example of KPIs

Lets walk through an example of how a business might answer these questions if one of their KPIs was customer acquisition:

• To acquire 20% more customers this year over last year.
• A larger customer base will make our company more profitable. 
• Progress will be measured by the number of new customers who purchase our product in one calendar year. 
• Increase our marketing budget and invest in Facebook and Google ads. 
• The head of our marketing department. 
• If 20% more customers purchase our product this year compared to last year.
• This progress will be reviewed monthly. 

Now you have at least 3 KPIs to focus on, your data collection can be laser-focused on something you know is extremely relevant to the success of your business. This kind of data collection now has a regularly scheduled review, it has a specific person who is in charge of reviewing that data, it is tied to an outcome, and you have a plan to influence changes in that data. 

Make sure your KPI is an actionable metric

The most important aspect of a KPI is that it is an actionable metric. Meaning, this objective is something that you and your team can meaningfully impact through an iterative process. The reason for the consistent progress reviews is because you want to see how you are progressing towards your goal. If you see yourself falling short of your goal you should be able to make a plan to review your strategy and make changes accordingly. This is how you really utilize data in an effective way. 

Remember, data collection can be expensive. This is how you get the most return on your investment and see a meaningful impact on your bottom line. So now you have learned how measuring everything on the website is not a good idea, and what to do instead. Kubla’s professionals are ready to help you to set KPIs and goals, make meaningful plans and set up analytics to make sure things happen! Contact us today, and let’s talk about your goals!

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