Mindshare Strategy

Last week, I had a client exclaim with excitement that they’d seen a 400% increase in their web traffic as a result of a recent advertising campaign.  On first blush, this is an exciting statistic indeed … until you dig into it.

Over a period of 3 days, they had gone from 5 web site visits per day to 30. 

Many times, coaches and consultants tell us we need to put our successes and accomplishments in an easily comparable form.  A Fortune 500 company doesn’t care if you increased sales on a line by $5,000.  If the entire line only sells $1,000 per year, though, this is a significant achievement.  Unfortunately, a percentage overinflates the worth of your success.

Whenever reporting statistical figures, it is vital to include some kind of contextual reference.  Had my client told me they’d increased web traffic by 400% over 3 days I would have been more skeptical of the number and would have pushed back.  A three day window, particularly for volatile web traffic, doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

It does show a significant initial response to their ad campaign, though.  Possibly something that should be nurtured into a more lasting result.

The bottom line is that statistics without reference are meaningless.  If you ever intend to communicate these numbers, make them meaningful to the parties with which you communicate.  Without context they make you look uniformed – or, even worse, like you’re hiding the truth behind bloated figures.