In this episode of In-Ear Insights, Katie and Chris dig into this key question: is there such a thing as being too data-driven?

“I’m not sure if you and I have discussed this in the past but it’s been on my mind a lot lately, and I’m not sure if there’s formal thought around this:

Being TOO data-driven.

I’ve seen areas where data point to weird or undesirable possibilities. Examples:

• A female YouTuber is clear that videos do better when the thumbnail has her in a bikini. Sometimes it’s appropriate because it’s beach vlog, other times, no. But the data say: wear a bikini
• By far, my most popular blogpost is one I regret having written because it was tongue-in-cheek and deliberately used a clickbait headline. It resulted in 6 years of mean comments from people who didn’t read the article. But, the analytics suggest I do more of that.

The difficulty is in having clear evidence that something works, but is it content (or a product/service) that we want to keep creating?

It’s popular to say, “it’s not about you, it’s about what the audience wants.” And that’s been the approach of coaches I’ve paid and people whom I’ve asked advice from. They go straight to the analytics and suggest doing more of the top performing stuff.

For the female YouTuber, it might be an easy decision to always use a bikini-clad photo of herself on thumbnails and make that part of her brand. But this person was torn. Once in a while was fine, when it was relevant to the video. But, the data was pushing her toward, “no. Do it all the time.”

Said another way: when do you tell the data “shut up! I’m not listening to you”? And how do you manage the mental strain of resisting something that clearly works?”

Dig in as they tackle how data-driven marketing and avoiding these kinds of traps.

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