From Shiny Objects to Blinded Vision
If you recall our previous blog on Shiny Object Syndrome, we explored how the constant pursuit of the latest hype in digital marketing can lead to a lack of focus and ultimately hinder success. But, as they say, there are two sides to every story, and today, we’re flipping the script to shine a spotlight on the pitfalls of KPI Tunnel Vision.
In this blog, we shift from a world of chasing shiny objects to the darkness of putting on KPI blinders. As we dive into the detriments of focusing too narrowly on a single key performance indicator, we’ll bring seven pitfalls to light that you may face as a result, and what to do about them.
Identifying the Key Performance Indicators
KPIs are agreed upon sets of data that allow a business to measure performance around a goal. They should align to your overall business objectives, be interrelated, and serve as a signal if there is a strategic or operational concern to address.
In digital marketing, there are several categories of KPIs that may be relevant in measuring the success of your strategies.
Website Traffic KPIs: These KPIs are indicators of how many visitors interact with your website, the source of that traffic, and how long they stuck around to engage with your content. This includes data points like:
- Website Traffic Volume
- Organic Search Traffic
- Referral Traffic
- Paid Traffic
- Mobile Traffic
- Engaged Sessions
- Average Session Duration
Customer Behavior KPIs: These KPIs tell you more about how your audience thinks and what they are seeking. Some examples include:
- Page Views per Session
- Conversion Rate
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Exit Rate
- Time on Page
- Cart Abandonment Rate
- Scroll Depth
Conversion Activities KPIs: These KPIs tell you how effective your marketing efforts are in converting prospects to leads or leads into customers.
- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
- Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
- Cost per Conversion (CPC)
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Overall Brand Sentiment KPIs: Various listening tools are available to inform you about your overall brand health with indicators about what people know and feel about your brand. These may include KPIs such as:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Social Media Engagement
- Online Reviews and Ratings
- Brand Mentions
- Sentiment Ratings
These are just a handful of KPIs that can inform leadership about the success of your digital marketing efforts. As crucial as this guiding compass is, focusing on just one can lead to negative consequences. You should have primary and secondary KPIs, which serve as a very important gauge to identify the impact tunnel vision can have on your overall success.
7 Pitfalls of KPI Tunnel Vision
When it comes to digital marketing, success hinges on the ability to measure and analyze performance accurately and consistently. Problems arise when blinders are put on with an obsessive focus on one KPI. Let’s start with an example and identify 7 pitfalls of this tunnel vision.
An Example of KPI Tunnel Vision: Take one particular business who had a goal of attaining a specific revenue target in 2023. An account structure and PPC strategy was built upon this goal, including other supporting secondary KPIs such as MQLs and SQLs and improving Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) over time.
This primary KPI of revenue, supported by identification of lead quality and cost of those leads, is a model that allows a business to analyze success across related points, and pull various levers should any one of those targets fall out of range.
Following some leadership shifts, KPI tunnel vision was presented in the form of targeting very specific traffic volumes. The demand of this singular KPI attainment required the pulling of PPC levers that negatively impacted the original KPI goals. The problem now being faced is that while the business still had the revenue goal, the blinders toward traffic introduced lack of quality into the system, which is a direct detractor from the goal of revenue and spend efficiency.
1- Limited Perspective: Just like a blind spot in a vehicle, a singular KPI is a digital marketing blind spot that can disrupt safely arriving at your destination and risks effective spend management. While it is important to have a primary KPI, such as website traffic volume, fixating solely on this narrows your view of overall performance, and can result in spending valuable budget on low quality leads.
Solve this problem by including supporting KPIs to provide a broader perspective. For example, metrics like conversion rate and time on page, will allow you to see if that traffic is relevant and how well your messaging is keeping that traffic engaged.
2- Misalignment with Goals: As you move toward your digital marketing destination, disruptions may occur requiring you to pivot to another route. If your chosen KPI doesn’t align with your broader business objective, you are essentially on the wrong path.
In the example above, simply focusing on traffic volume in spite of the quality of leads or audience engagement, led to missed targets for that business. If revenue is an overall objective, you must also have conversion activity and customer behavior KPIs in sight.
3- Risk of Manipulation: By wearing KPI blinders, you may also be introducing risk of unethical practices. Like a magician’s sleight of hand, some may resort to manipulative tactics to make that singular KPI look impressive, thereby sweeping red flags under the carpet.
By diversifying your KPIs, you ensure that they work hand in hand, and that fraud detection measures are in place by requiring a broader set of reporting expectations to prove success.
4- An Incomplete Picture: Have you ever tried to finish a puzzle with a missing piece? With KPI tunnel vision, a business is attempting to understand digital marketing success with incomplete data.
By focusing only on website traffic volume, you won’t know how well your site engages visitors or how effective your conversion strategies are.
By expanding your KPIs, you gather a more comprehensive view of performance with which you may better inform future strategies. Look for other metrics like scroll depth, time on page, and cart abandonment to be those missing pieces of the puzzle.
5- Customer-Centricity: Customers are the lifeblood of your business! By honing in on a single KPI a business is essentially disregarding the most crucial aspect of success: customer satisfaction and loyalty.
If we obsess over increasing website traffic without considering user experience, we risk alienating those who may otherwise become loyal customers. Visitors may be dissatisfied or confused by the experience, and that is a lost opportunity.
Including KPIs related to customer experience such as time on page, reviews and ratings, and using listening tools to identify sentiment, welcomes long term success by prioritizing customers over tunnel vision.
6- Market Changes: As fast as digital marketing moves, it is critical to be armed to identify risks and be ready to change course quickly. Tunnel vision on a single KPI limits the ability to adapt to evolving trends, competitor moves, and consumer behaviors.
By including KPIs related to market share, competitor strategies and consumer sentiment index, businesses remain agile and adaptable.
7- Inefficient Resource Allocation: Resources are finite, and how we allocate them can significantly impact digital marketing success. Relying solely on one KPI leads to inefficiencies not only with budgeted spend, but with the human resources allocated to manage SEM activities.
Introducing a relevant mix of KPIs allows for strategic allocation of resources where they will have the most significant impact. If traffic is a primary goal, knowing that these users are also relevant and engaged allows a business to direct spend to the most efficient places. This also ensures that the staff or agency is paying attention to the most important analyses and making the best strategic recommendations and performance optimizations to the accounts.
Just like, taming shiny object syndrome in digital marketing is not only possible but essential for sustaining growth and long term success, so is having a diversified perspective on the KPIs that will drive business success.
Staying true to your goals and strategic vision while making decisions founded in data is always our goal at (un)Common Logic and why our clients rely on us to support them on this path.
Contact us to learn more about how our customized approach to digital marketing can help you plan your primary and secondary KPIs, all while monitoring for performance optimizations and informing future strategies.
From Shiny Objects to Blinded Vision
If you recall our previous blog on Shiny Object Syndrome, we explored how the constant pursuit of the latest hype in digital marketing can lead to a lack of focus and ultimately hinder success. But, as they say, there are two sides to every story, and today, we're flipping the script to shine a spotlight on the pitfalls of KPI Tunnel Vision.
In this blog, we shift from a world of chasing shiny objects to the darkness of putting on KPI blinders. As we dive into the detriments of focusing too narrowly on a single key performance indicator, we’ll bring seven pitfalls to light that you may face as a result, and what to do about them.
Identifying the Key Performance Indicators
KPIs are agreed upon sets of data that allow a business to measure performance around a goal. They should align to your overall business objectives, be interrelated, and serve as a signal if there is a strategic or operational concern to address.
In digital marketing, there are several categories of KPIs that may be relevant in measuring the success of your strategies.
Website Traffic KPIs: These KPIs are indicators of how many visitors interact with your website, the source of that traffic, and how long they stuck around to engage with your content. This includes data points like:
- Website Traffic Volume
- Organic Search Traffic
- Referral Traffic
- Paid Traffic
- Mobile Traffic
- Engaged Sessions
- Average Session Duration
Customer Behavior KPIs: These KPIs tell you more about how your audience thinks and what they are seeking. Some examples include:
- Page Views per Session
- Conversion Rate
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Exit Rate
- Time on Page
- Cart Abandonment Rate
- Scroll Depth
Conversion Activities KPIs: These KPIs tell you how effective your marketing efforts are in converting prospects to leads or leads into customers.
- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
- Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
- Cost per Conversion (CPC)
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Overall Brand Sentiment KPIs: Various listening tools are available to inform you about your overall brand health with indicators about what people know and feel about your brand. These may include KPIs such as:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Social Media Engagement
- Online Reviews and Ratings
- Brand Mentions
- Sentiment Ratings
These are just a handful of KPIs that can inform leadership about the success of your digital marketing efforts. As crucial as this guiding compass is, focusing on just one can lead to negative consequences. You should have primary and secondary KPIs, which serve as a very important gauge to identify the impact tunnel vision can have on your overall success.
7 Pitfalls of KPI Tunnel Vision
When it comes to digital marketing, success hinges on the ability to measure and analyze performance accurately and consistently. Problems arise when blinders are put on with an obsessive focus on one KPI. Let’s start with an example and identify 7 pitfalls of this tunnel vision.
An Example of KPI Tunnel Vision: Take one particular business who had a goal of attaining a specific revenue target in 2023. An account structure and PPC strategy was built upon this goal, including other supporting secondary KPIs such as MQLs and SQLs and improving Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) over time.
This primary KPI of revenue, supported by identification of lead quality and cost of those leads, is a model that allows a business to analyze success across related points, and pull various levers should any one of those targets fall out of range.
Following some leadership shifts, KPI tunnel vision was presented in the form of targeting very specific traffic volumes. The demand of this singular KPI attainment required the pulling of PPC levers that negatively impacted the original KPI goals. The problem now being faced is that while the business still had the revenue goal, the blinders toward traffic introduced lack of quality into the system, which is a direct detractor from the goal of revenue and spend efficiency.
1- Limited Perspective: Just like a blind spot in a vehicle, a singular KPI is a digital marketing blind spot that can disrupt safely arriving at your destination and risks effective spend management. While it is important to have a primary KPI, such as website traffic volume, fixating solely on this narrows your view of overall performance, and can result in spending valuable budget on low quality leads.
Solve this problem by including supporting KPIs to provide a broader perspective. For example, metrics like conversion rate and time on page, will allow you to see if that traffic is relevant and how well your messaging is keeping that traffic engaged.
2- Misalignment with Goals: As you move toward your digital marketing destination, disruptions may occur requiring you to pivot to another route. If your chosen KPI doesn’t align with your broader business objective, you are essentially on the wrong path.
In the example above, simply focusing on traffic volume in spite of the quality of leads or audience engagement, led to missed targets for that business. If revenue is an overall objective, you must also have conversion activity and customer behavior KPIs in sight.
3- Risk of Manipulation: By wearing KPI blinders, you may also be introducing risk of unethical practices. Like a magician’s sleight of hand, some may resort to manipulative tactics to make that singular KPI look impressive, thereby sweeping red flags under the carpet.
By diversifying your KPIs, you ensure that they work hand in hand, and that fraud detection measures are in place by requiring a broader set of reporting expectations to prove success.
4- An Incomplete Picture: Have you ever tried to finish a puzzle with a missing piece? With KPI tunnel vision, a business is attempting to understand digital marketing success with incomplete data.
By focusing only on website traffic volume, you won’t know how well your site engages visitors or how effective your conversion strategies are.
By expanding your KPIs, you gather a more comprehensive view of performance with which you may better inform future strategies. Look for other metrics like scroll depth, time on page, and cart abandonment to be those missing pieces of the puzzle.
5- Customer-Centricity: Customers are the lifeblood of your business! By honing in on a single KPI a business is essentially disregarding the most crucial aspect of success: customer satisfaction and loyalty.
If we obsess over increasing website traffic without considering user experience, we risk alienating those who may otherwise become loyal customers. Visitors may be dissatisfied or confused by the experience, and that is a lost opportunity.
Including KPIs related to customer experience such as time on page, reviews and ratings, and using listening tools to identify sentiment, welcomes long term success by prioritizing customers over tunnel vision.
6- Market Changes: As fast as digital marketing moves, it is critical to be armed to identify risks and be ready to change course quickly. Tunnel vision on a single KPI limits the ability to adapt to evolving trends, competitor moves, and consumer behaviors.
By including KPIs related to market share, competitor strategies and consumer sentiment index, businesses remain agile and adaptable.
7- Inefficient Resource Allocation: Resources are finite, and how we allocate them can significantly impact digital marketing success. Relying solely on one KPI leads to inefficiencies not only with budgeted spend, but with the human resources allocated to manage SEM activities.
Introducing a relevant mix of KPIs allows for strategic allocation of resources where they will have the most significant impact. If traffic is a primary goal, knowing that these users are also relevant and engaged allows a business to direct spend to the most efficient places. This also ensures that the staff or agency is paying attention to the most important analyses and making the best strategic recommendations and performance optimizations to the accounts.
Just like, taming shiny object syndrome in digital marketing is not only possible but essential for sustaining growth and long term success, so is having a diversified perspective on the KPIs that will drive business success.
Staying true to your goals and strategic vision while making decisions founded in data is always our goal at (un)Common Logic and why our clients rely on us to support them on this path.
Contact us to learn more about how our customized approach to digital marketing can help you plan your primary and secondary KPIs, all while monitoring for performance optimizations and informing future strategies.