Pageviews, visits, unique visitors, click-through rate, followers, retweets, fans, etc. They’re all just numbers. Numbers don’t build relationships with you or purchase your products. People do. So instead of getting caught up in numbers, it’s important to remember that people are important.
The Easier Route
Measuring numbers allows us to try to relate actions we’re taking (marketing, advertising, etc.) to business goals (sales, ROI, leads, etc.). The Internet is a medium that is much more measurable than other types of media. This ease of measurement has lead to a drive for numbers for every action we take online.
Don’t get me wrong, analytics are important. They help us figure out what’s working and what’s not, where we should be spending our money, how we should try to change our message, etc. But I too often hear from potential customers about how they want to increase the pageviews or visits to their website. That’s great, but if no one is buying from you (or whatever it is that’s your business goal), what does it matter how much “traffic” you have? Increasing numbers is much easier than thinking about how to interact with people.
People Matter
If you take a few minutes and think about the people you’re trying to reach, it will greatly improve any business action you’re trying to take. What do they find important? How are you going to help them? How can you make your website as easy to use as possible? What do people want to accomplish on your site? What benefits are you offering them? Why should they care? Thinking about people will help create a much better business strategy. Analytics and statistics can help guide that strategy, but you have to remember that people are not numbers.
How can you help the people you’re trying to reach?
(photo by D Sharon Pruitt @ Flickr CC)
Liked this post? Consider subscribing to our RSS feed or our free email updates or following us on Twitter.
Technorati tags: design, usability, business, navigation