Marketing companies and especially digital marketing companies are focused on cultivating a data-driven culture. With digital media famously being the most measurable channel available to brands and marketers today, it’s no surprise that agencies have become a bit obsessed with metrics. When it comes to email marketing, open and click rates matter the most, while lead acquisition and website analytics also become factors in other forms of digital media. While metrics can offer extremely valuable insight into campaign performance and keep marketers accountable and aware of business goals, there is a danger in overemphasizing the importance of metrics.
The unfortunate emergence of metric tunnel vision
Metrics ‘tunnel vision’ is an unfortunate side effect that occurs when metrics, statistics and numbers are overemphasized. Marketing teams can worry so much about their metrics that they could end up losing sight of the big marketing picture. This can negatively influence any strategic planning that needs to focus on more holistic ideas.
Using metrics as an excuse to follow poor marketing rules
Another major problem that could develop due to metric tunnel vision is some lapses in good judgment. When brands and marketers start thinking only about improving one metric or hitting a particular goal, many ethical and even logical tactics fly out the window as the hunger for metric perfection takes hold. Suddenly, devices that normally wouldn’t have even been considered are being called for the sake of metrics. For example, a social media manager who gets enthralled in the process of gaining new followers or ‘likes’ on Facebook. Now imagine if that social media manager started breaking Facebook’s rules of engagement to get more likes. It’s not ideal, and it’s not going to reflect well on the brand that has to live with the aftermath of the campaign.
Avoid tunnel vision of metrics and let creativity flow
One of the best ways to prevent tunnel vision when it comes to statistics, marketing metrics and analytics is to allow brands to trust and experiment with their own creativity. By focusing on building campaigns that target people, subscribers, consumers, rather than numbers, you’re likely to hit your metric goals anyway. Breakthrough campaigns are often seen as risks that can affect the stated goals of a certain campaign in terms of metrics. But innovative and exciting campaigns are what keep people interested in a brand and get people talking.
Finding a balance between being a slave to statistics and letting everything happen as it does is really the key to creating successful campaigns that benefit the overall goal of the business.