Many web analysts struggle to get people to pay attention to the numbers they report out. It's a major frustration point and can be a challenge when you're trying to affect change within an organization (e.g. a need to change some marketing plans/direction, a need to change the website, etc.)

Recently I finished reading the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. In the book, an example was provided from Stephen Covey's book, The 8th Habit in which Covey superimposes a human metaphor over some typical statistics and gives it new meaning. Below is the Covey example. It describes a poll of 23,000 employees drawn from a number of companies and industries.

The poll's findings:

• Only 37 percent said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why
• Only one in five was enthusiastic about their team's and their organization's goals
• Only one in five said they had a clear "line of sight" between their tasks and their team's and organizations goals.
• Only 15 percent felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals
• Only 20 percent fully trusted the organization they work for

Reading this you'd probably walk away thinking "there's a lot of dissatisfaction and confusion in most companies"

Here's Covey's take on the above data applying a human metaphor:

If say a soccer team had these same scores, only 4 of the 11 players on the field would know which goal is theirs. Only 2 of the 11 would care. Only 2 of the 11 would know what position they play and know exactly what they are supposed to do. And all but 2 players, would, in some way, be competing against their own team members rather than an opponent.

Pretty powerful stuff.

Next time you're about to give a presentation about your web analytics or when you're finding that your message is getting lost or ignored by others, try applying a human metaphor rather than present the numbers you usually do. You might be surprised at how this changes the understanding and actioning of your results.

Comments

[Taylor Pratt]

Great post, Scott. I usually have a similar problem with the SEO work that I do, but I find it especially true with analytics. Clients quickly and easily become overwhelmed by data, and their eyes instantly glaze over once you even begin mentioning them.

This is a great remedy for it.