This is a transcript of episode 92 of the Let’s Get Data-Driven podcast.

I’m Lanie Lamarre and it’s spring and I have allergies and my face hates me but my nasally voice thanks you for listening. But here’s something to love about spring because I can report that more than 50% of my summer weekends are already booked with tickets for concerts and festivals. Everyone has their own idea of what the important things are – breathing feels like it would be nice right now – but live music weekends are ALWAYS right at the top of my list.

Every business also has its own idea of what the important things are and what’s more is that something that is important in this season may not be something that is important next season. What you’re focused on, what you’re working towards, it’s always shifting and changing… and so should the numbers you’re focused on and working towards, so we’re talking about exactly this today.

I say this a lot – #allthedata doesn’t matter all the time – but how the hey are you supposed to know what data matters and when you should pay attention to what, amirite?

Let’s get you with the program, shall we?

PROGRAM METRICS

In fact, that’s where we’ll start: with PROGRAM metrics.

There are some numbers you want to kind of keep in your sight all the time. Not that you’re going to do anything about them or take action on them in any way, but they’re the numbers that comment on the overall health of your online business performance.

We’re talking about things like email subscribers and sales revenue. These are data points that you’re not necessarily doing anything with but we all keep them front-and-center because they’re the common goal behind why you’re in business in the first place.

You can think of your program metrics as the pulse of your business; in your day-to-day, you’re not exactly concerned with the exact numbers and percentages but if something weird or off-beat showed up, you’d that a closer look.

Your program metrics are relevant for you to keep an eye on the effectiveness of everything else, but these are generally data sets you have either a steady pace or expectations around. Another good example of a program metric would be your customer satisfaction; again, it’s not that you’re always so focused or invested in these data points but if you suddenly get a bunch of complaint emails, or you have a weird amount of haters, or there’s a sudden drop in your clients or members, you notice that type of shift, right? Because the success of your overall program depends on – not so much the growth but yes, growth will certainly be a factor – but the consistency and reliability of what you have come to expect from the way you operate.

PROJECT METRICS

Meanwhile, you may be making a big push – say you’re launching a product – and naturally, you’ll want to pay closer attention to your sales revenue during this time. These data points would be your project metrics or the key performance indicators (also called KPIs) of your launch.

If anyone should know what defines a project, it’s the Project Management Institute, and they define a project as ”any temporary endeavor with a definite beginning and end”.  The metrics or indicators that you use to track and reflect the success of a project – like a launch – isn’t going to be this ongoing thing; you’re going to have a set number of tasks to conduct in a set time frame, and you’re going look to those tasks you’re engaged in to help you define what your KPIs or project metrics are.

Where you’re investing your time, money and effort is the return you’re looking to track and measure.

Get clear about what those investments are and what your expectations are for the return on those investments, and that makes figuring out what data matters in this season all kinds of easy to figure out.

When people ask “how do I figure out my KPIs?”, I’m the jerk who answers a question with a question because I have to say “I don’t know, what are you and your team working on?”

Because the way you define success will change and shift based on where your attention and resources are focused. Not everything gets your attention all the time, but what you are focused and invested on at this moment should be accounted for with the relevant metrics.

Which brings us to accountability…

ACCOUNTING FOR SUCCESS

It’s fine to have goals and expectations, but what has to happen for you to meet these and who is going to account for them?

This is a huge part of goal-setting that either gets overlooked or worse, overburdened. If you’re doing – or at least, trying to do – #allthethings in your business, you know what I’m talking about here. You’re going to grow your list and social media followers and increase sales and create content for this new platform and whip up a new offer and partner up on that joint venture and launch that podcast or channel…. ummm, no you’re not. That’s too many things for you to expect anyone – including yourself – to have to account for.

This is why before you start a project or make a hire, I always recommend you set 1-3 KPIs – key performance indicators – to make your expectations aligned as all-get-out and clearer than Crystal Pepsi.

I love examples so let’s go coo-coo for cocoa puffs today and roll with the clear cola project. For the young podcast listeners, there was this thing back in the 90s where they made Pepsi into a clear drink called Crystal Pepsi because clear soda could be marketed as “pure” and “natural”, right? Pepsi went all out with this, too: there were Superbowl ads, there was a Van Halen song that I have this Pavlovian thing happening in my brain where I see the crisp-looking ad as I hear the song in my head, and it failed miserably. The former Pepsi marketing executive David Novak was said to claim “it was probably the best idea I’ve ever had — and the most poorly executed.”

Not only would Pepsi have to change hearts and minds to accept something they’d always known to be one way, but there was more to account for than “just” the cultural shift; even if they had nailed the marketing element and convinced people this was something new they wanted, the product itself was defective because “colas are brown for a good reason” and the clear packaging turned the product rancid on the shelves. On top of everything else, the manufacturing was rushed because of this Superbowl ad they had invested in running, so ready or not, here comes Crystal Pepsi.

While this COULD have been a success, there was too much to account for.

When you fall short of a goal you set or an expectation you have for an outcome you would define as a success, consider what had to be accounted for and by whom.

Most of the time, it isn’t that people or project failed as much as the accountability was either not made clear or it was spread too thin.

Let’s use another example and say you hire a social media manager. After 3 months of working together, you’re feeling some type of way about what you’re paying them for because you don’t feel you’re getting the value you wanted out of the hire… but did you communicate that expectation, to both yourself and to this new hire? I see it all the time when someone makes a hire with some type of utopia vibe that they never actually defined… and when utopia doesn’t manifest, they’re disappointed with the other person, who would never have promised rainbows and unicorns had the other been upfront about their expectations.

A huge advantage to getting clear about which metrics each person accounts for is that all parties are on the same page about their performance expectations; if they can’t be met, the how and why for this can easily be communicated before it is an issue. For instance, if it’s Day 1 of your new social media manager hire and they hear your expectations and let you know that those are unrealistic, you’re avoiding frustration for everyone involved because you can either revise your expectations to something they deem more appropriate or you can hire another social media manager who says they can meet the expectations you have.

That person’s role in your business then becomes the metrics that reflect your expectations, and new expectations will either mean more work for them or new hires.

OPERATIONS vs PROGRESS

Which brings us back to where we started this conversation discussing PROGRAM metrics versus PROJECT metrics, and how #allthedata doesn’t matter all the time.

Contrary to what the ads in your feeds tell you about making a million dollars in your sleep, the reality is that you’re not always going to be in that project-focused mode of launching and hustling. There’s a time and a place for this type of work – and there are project-specific metrics you’ll want to determine ahead of time that you can prioritize your focus on to ensure your project is on pace to meet your expectations – but there’s also a time and place for the program-based metrics that help you maintain your business flow and smooth operations. When you’re feeling overwhelmed – and P.S. qualitative metrics like feelings can be just as valuable as quantitative metrics – know that overwhelm is usually an indication that it’s time to level-up your program.

Any time you’re looking to make an investment, start with what metrics that investment will give you a return on.

Instead of starting with “I want to hire someone” or “I want to buy this course”, start with your end goal in sight and determine what success means for you and your business. This will position you to make a better decision about your investments because you’re literally setting everyone up for success by making your end goal clear and in everyone’s sight.

All too often, I hear feedback about disappointing experiences that could have been avoided had the person been clear about their expectations. For instance, people hire an ads manager or buy an ads course thinking they’re going to get a bunch of new leads for an upcoming project like a workshop they’re hosting or an offer launch. What they fail to realize is that when it comes to ads, they literally have to get with your program and it doesn’t start with attracting leads; it starts with identifying conversion rates, testing copy, testing audiences, testing graphics, and all of this will require an up-front investment you may not see a return on. Ads are a long-term, program-based strategy and not the one-and-done project approach it’s often framed as.

If you hire an ads manager and tell them, “I’m launching next month and I expect ads to double the revenue of my last launch”, that person should have a few follow-up program-related questions about how you’re currently performing and some project-related questions about how your last launch went before they can commit to your expectations.

WHERE TO FOCUS NOW

So here’s a fun little Q&A for us to do together: look at everyone on your team – including yourself – and identify what 1-3 key performance indicators you are expecting them to account for.

Then – and here’s how you decide what you most need next in your business – think of one metric you would like to improve in your business right now. If you could choose just one thing, what would it be? Now, if you’re going to choose something like “revenue”, I get it – we all want more revenue – but get specific about the source of that revenue; so revenue from your email sales sequence, from affiliates, from ads… get specific about WHAT revenue you’re looking to improve.

Now consider who on your team should be accounting for this new metric you want to focus on. If you’re putting it one someone – again, including yourself – who already has 3 KPIs to account for, you may want to consider making someone else accountable for this new thing OR take something off that person’s plate to make room for this new thing. Did I say to include yourself in this equation? I think I did, right?

Because this is where the “crying in the shower” or “crying in the Target parking lot” of holy-flipping overwhelm happens. When there are so many targets and benchmarks floating by that you feel like you’re juggling fire sticks and playing the piano at the same time, it’s a good indication that you are having to account for too many things and your results will reflect that.

Want your projects like your launches to be successful? Provide space and resources for the metrics you need to account for to define it as a success.

Want your program to run smoother than smoothest peanut butter? Account for the metrics that need to be rock-steady for you to see that happen.

And realize that seldom are you able to focus on growth-related metrics for projects and maintenance-related metrics for programs at the same time. You’re not launching AND streamlining your content strategy at the same time, right? You’re not hosting a summit AND putting an evergreen email sales sequence at the same time, right?

Determine what season you’re in, decide which metrics you need to focus on that you would define as successful and clearly communicate and follow-up on those expectations with person who you decide will be accountable for them.

I tell you this all the time but you’re the boss, apple sauce, and that means it’s YOUR job to set the expectations you have for success. Which is kind of the fun of it, isn’t it? I think so!

I’m Lanie Lamarre and it’s spring and I have allergies and my face hates me but my nasally voice thanks you for listening. But here’s something to love about spring because I can report that more than 50% of my summer weekends are already booked with tickets for concerts and festivals. Everyone has their own idea of what the important things are – _breathing feels like it would be nice right now_ – but live music weekends are ALWAYS right at the top of my list.
Every business also has its own idea of what the important things are and what’s more is that something that is important in this season may not be something that is important next season. What you’re focused on, what you’re working towards, it’s always shifting and changing… and so should the numbers you’re focused on and working towards, so we’re talking about exactly this today.

I say this a lot -** #allthedata doesn’t matter all the time** – but how the hey are you supposed to know what data matters and when you should pay attention to what, amirite?
Let’s get you with the program, shall we?

## PROGRAM METRICS
In fact, that’s where we’ll start: with PROGRAM metrics.
There are some numbers you want to kind of keep in your sight all the time. Not that you’re going to do anything about them or take action on them in any way, but they’re the numbers that comment on the overall health of your online business performance.
We’re talking about things like email subscribers and sales revenue. These are data points that you’re not necessarily doing anything with but we all keep them front-and-center because they’re the common goal behind why you’re in business in the first place.

### You can think of your program metrics as the pulse of your business; in your day-to-day, you’re not exactly concerned with the exact numbers and percentages but if something weird or off-beat showed up, you’d that a closer look.

Your program metrics are relevant for you to keep an eye on the effectiveness of everything else, but these are generally data sets you have either a steady pace or expectations around. Another good example of a program metric would be your customer satisfaction; again, it’s not that you’re always so focused or invested in these data points but if you suddenly get a bunch of complaint emails, or you have a weird amount of haters, or there’s a sudden drop in your clients or members, you notice that type of shift, right? Because the success of your overall program depends on -_ not so much the growth but yes, growth will certainly be a factor_ – but the consistency and reliability of what you have come to expect from the way you operate.

## PROJECT METRICS
Meanwhile, you may be making a big push -_ say you’re launching a product _- and naturally, you’ll want to pay closer attention to your sales revenue during this time. These data points would be your project metrics or the key performance indicators (also called KPIs) of your launch.
If anyone should know what defines a project, it’s the Project Management Institute, and they define a project as ”any temporary endeavor with a definite beginning and end”.  The metrics or indicators that you use to track and reflect the success of a project -_ like a launch _- isn’t going to be this ongoing thing; you’re going to have a set number of tasks to conduct in a set time frame, and you’re going look to those tasks you’re engaged in to help you define what your KPIs or project metrics are.

### Where you’re investing your time, money and effort is the return you’re looking to track and measure.

Get clear about what those investments are and what your expectations are for the return on those investments, and that makes figuring out what data matters in this season all kinds of easy to figure out.
When people ask “how do I figure out my KPIs?”, I’m the jerk who answers a question with a question because I have to say “I don’t know, what are you and your team working on?”
Because the way you define success will change and shift based on where your attention and resources are focused. Not everything gets your attention all the time, but what you are focused and invested on at this moment should be accounted for with the relevant metrics.
Which brings us to accountability…

## ACCOUNTING FOR SUCCESS
It’s fine to have goals and expectations, but what has to happen for you to meet these and who is going to account for them?
This is a huge part of goal-setting that either gets overlooked or worse, overburdened. If you’re doing – _or at least, trying to do _- #allthethings in your business, you know what I’m talking about here. You’re going to grow your list and social media followers and increase sales and create content for this new platform and whip up a new offer and partner up on that joint venture and launch that podcast or channel…. ummm, no you’re not. That’s too many things for you to expect anyone -_ including yourself _- to have to account for.
This is why before you start a project or make a hire, I always recommend you set 1-3 KPIs – _key performance indicators_ – to make your expectations aligned as all-get-out and clearer than Crystal Pepsi.
I love examples so let’s go coo-coo for cocoa puffs today and roll with the clear cola project. For the young podcast listeners, there was this thing back in the 90s where they made Pepsi into a clear drink called Crystal Pepsi because clear soda could be marketed as “pure” and “natural”, right? Pepsi went all out with this, too: there were Superbowl ads, there was a Van Halen song that I have this Pavlovian thing happening in my brain where I see the crisp-looking ad as I hear the song in my head, and it failed miserably. The former Pepsi marketing executive David Novak was said to claim [“it was probably the best idea I’ve ever had — and the most poorly executed.”](https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/what-is-crystal-pepsi)
Not only would Pepsi have to change hearts and minds to accept something they’d always known to be one way, but there was more to account for than “just” the cultural shift; even if they had nailed the marketing element and convinced people this was something new they wanted, the product itself was defective because “colas are brown for a good reason” and the clear packaging turned the product rancid on the shelves. On top of everything else, the manufacturing was rushed because of this Superbowl ad they had invested in running, so ready or not, here comes Crystal Pepsi.
While this COULD have been a success, there was too much to account for.

### When you fall short of a goal you set or an expectation you have for an outcome you would define as a success, consider what had to be accounted for and by whom.

Most of the time, it isn’t that people or project failed as much as the accountability was either not made clear or it was spread too thin.
Let’s use another example and say you hire a social media manager. After 3 months of working together, you’re feeling some type of way about what you’re paying them for because you don’t feel you’re getting the value you wanted out of the hire… but did you communicate that expectation, to both yourself and to this new hire? I see it all the time when someone makes a hire with some type of utopia vibe that they never actually defined… and when utopia doesn’t manifest, they’re disappointed with the other person, who would never have promised rainbows and unicorns had the other been upfront about their expectations.

A huge advantage to getting clear about which metrics each person accounts for is that all parties are on the same page about their performance expectations; if they can’t be met, the how and why for this can easily be communicated before it is an issue. For instance, if it’s Day 1 of your new social media manager hire and they hear your expectations and let you know that those are unrealistic, you’re avoiding frustration for everyone involved because you can either revise your expectations to something they deem more appropriate or you can hire another social media manager who says they can meet the expectations you have.
That person’s role in your business then becomes the metrics that reflect your expectations, and new expectations will either mean more work for them or new hires.

## OPERATIONS vs PROGRESS
Which brings us back to where we started this conversation discussing PROGRAM metrics versus PROJECT metrics, and how #allthedata doesn’t matter all the time.
Contrary to what the ads in your feeds tell you about making a million dollars in your sleep, the reality is that you’re not always going to be in that project-focused mode of launching and hustling. There’s a time and a place for this type of work -_ and there are project-specific metrics you’ll want to determine ahead of time that you can prioritize your focus on to ensure your project is on pace to meet your expectations_ – but there’s also a time and place for the program-based metrics that help you maintain your business flow and smooth operations. When you’re feeling overwhelmed -_ and P.S. qualitative metrics like feelings can be just as valuable as quantitative metrics_ – know that overwhelm is usually an indication that it’s time to level-up your program.

### Any time you’re looking to make an investment, start with what metrics that investment will give you a return on.

Instead of starting with “I want to hire someone” or “I want to buy this course”, start with your end goal in sight and determine what success means for you and your business. This will position you to make a better decision about your investments because you’re literally setting everyone up for success by making your end goal clear and in everyone’s sight.
All too often, I hear feedback about disappointing experiences that could have been avoided had the person been clear about their expectations. For instance, people hire an ads manager or buy an ads course thinking they’re going to get a bunch of new leads for an upcoming project like a workshop they’re hosting or an offer launch. What they fail to realize is that when it comes to ads, they literally have to get with your program and it doesn’t start with attracting leads; it starts with identifying conversion rates, testing copy, testing audiences, testing graphics, and all of this will require an up-front investment you may not see a return on. Ads are a long-term, program-based strategy and not the one-and-done project approach it’s often framed as.
If you hire an ads manager and tell them, “I’m launching next month and I expect ads to double the revenue of my last launch”, that person should have a few follow-up program-related questions about how you’re currently performing and some project-related questions about how your last launch went before they can commit to your expectations.

## WHERE TO FOCUS NOW
So here’s a fun little Q&A for us to do together: look at everyone on your team -_ including yourself_ – and identify what 1-3 key performance indicators you are expecting them to account for.
Then – _and here’s how you decide what you most need next in your business _- think of one metric you would like to improve in your business right now. If you could choose just one thing, what would it be? Now, if you’re going to choose something like “revenue”, I get it – _we all want more revenue_ – but get specific about the source of that revenue; so revenue from your email sales sequence, from affiliates, from ads… get specific about WHAT revenue you’re looking to improve.
Now consider who on your team should be accounting for this new metric you want to focus on. If you’re putting it one someone – _again, including yourself _- who already has 3 KPIs to account for, you may want to consider making someone else accountable for this new thing OR take something off that person’s plate to make room for this new thing. Did I say to include yourself in this equation? I think I did, right?

Because this is where the “crying in the shower” or “crying in the Target parking lot” of holy-flipping overwhelm happens. When there are so many targets and benchmarks floating by that you feel like you’re juggling fire sticks and playing the piano at the same time, it’s a good indication that you are having to account for too many things and your results will reflect that.
Want your projects like your launches to be successful? Provide space and resources for the metrics you need to account for to define it as a success.
Want your program to run smoother than smoothest peanut butter? Account for the metrics that need to be rock-steady for you to see that happen.

And realize that seldom are you able to focus on growth-related metrics for projects and maintenance-related metrics for programs at the same time. You’re not launching AND streamlining your content strategy at the same time, right? You’re not hosting a summit AND putting an evergreen email sales sequence at the same time, right?
Determine what season you’re in, decide which metrics you need to focus on that you would define as successful and clearly communicate and follow-up on those expectations with person who you decide will be accountable for them.

I tell you this all the time but you’re the boss, apple sauce, and that means it’s YOUR job to set the expectations you have for success. Which is kind of the fun of it, isn’t it? I think so!

CONTINUE READING

This is a transcript of episode 91 of the Let’s Get Data-Driven podcast.

I’m Lanie Lamarre and I’m a card-carrying member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and even I find it difficult to keep up with all the data privacy changes happening in the digital marketing world right now. It’s a lot, right? But here’s the REAL “gah” of it all… you’re expected to be compliant to all these new laws and regulations, which is a full-time job to keep up with and you have other things to do, boss!

So today, we’re going to talk about how you can keep your online business compliant… without having to become a privacy professional to do it.

The online world is being forced to take responsibility for how we are collecting, storing and using data, and I’ll be the first to admit that it is a LOT to keep up with. Even business owners who couldn’t care less about responsible marketing are going to have to make the effort, though, because non-compliance penalties, fines and reputational damages are today’s reality.

So what is digital marketers supposed to do? Simple – get a compliance tool.

WHAT IS A COMPLIANCE TOOL

And what exactly is a compliance tool? A compliance tool is a software or platform that helps organizations to comply with various regulatory and legal requirements. These tools typically automate compliance-related tasks like advising visitors as to what tracking they’re opening themselves to. A data compliance tool will straight up tell you and your visitors what data is being collected and stored where, and it will allow your visitors to provide consent and have some agency over they choose to share their information with you.

Undoubtedly, you’ve noticed that most website have those cookie banners now asking you if you accept the cookies to collect your data or if you’d prefer to manage your preferences before navigating the website. That’s what we’re talking about here: based on your visitor’s location, that visitor will have their laws and regulations dictating what data you can collect and store about them. It isn’t where your business is located that dictates which laws and regulations you have to abide to; it’s your visitor whose rights are being protected and therefore, it is their laws and regulations you are expected to abide by.

What’s great about a compliance tool is that these will typically account for where your visitor is coming to you from on your behalf, and the compliance tool is on top of your obligations to them based on where they’re visiting from. Unless you’re a nerd like me who finds this stuff fascinating – but frankly, even if you ARE – using a compliance tool is an increasingly necessary asset to keep in your tech stack to ensure you’re marketing responsibly and not inadvertently breaking any laws.

Their popularity is growing precisely because it is a lot for marketers to keep up with, even though they are being held responsible, and if you Google “data compliance tool” or search service like appsumo for “Privacy”, you’ll find options for tools that can help you create privacy policies, manage custom data requests, and remain compliant across any law changes with automatic updates.

AWARENESS OF DATA COLLECTION

In addition to keeping you on the up-and-up of all the legal stuff, there are additional benefits to using a compliance tool. A big one for me is the awareness factor.

When you use a compliance tool, part of its job is to scan your site for tracking cookies you may have installed and to inform both you and your visitors that they’re there. For instance, when you embed social media plugins on your website, you are also typically allowing that social media platform to install tracking on your website. When you use those Captcha or ReCaptcha services that protects your site from spammers or when you embed YouTube videos on your site, you’re allowing Google to collect data on your website on your behalf. When you have third-party services like chatbots on your site, these use cookies to collect data.

It’s worth nothing that not all cookies are created equal. Some cookies may be necessary for the functioning of a website, others may be used for tracking or advertising purposes, and that’s the point of a compliance tool: it gives your visitors the ability to decide for themselves to what extent they are willing to be tracked.

Meanwhile, as a website owner, you’re expected to be transparent about the types of cookies you use and obtain user consent where required by law… but it’s hard to be transparent about things you don’t know about in the first place. That’s why one of the big gold star benefits I see from using compliance tools is that not only does it help you comply to data privacy laws but it also allows you to be aware of the extent to which you are tracking your visitors and it provides you with the opportunity to revise and think about whether that’s data you want to continue collecting or not.

Because here’s the truth of the matter: most website tracking isn’t happening to serve the website owner or its visitors.

When you’re aware of what you’re tracking and on whose behalf you’re collecting that information, you’re then able to sit back and ask yourself whether that data collection serves you, or whether you’re opening yourself and your visitors up to unnecessary risks for someone else’s benefit. Using a compliance tool allows you to do that.

IMPLICATIONS OF DATA COLLECTION

Of course, the main reason we all want to be data privacy compliant is because we don’t want to get sued or pay fines for disobeying the law, right? But if you listen to this podcast, chances are that you want to be a responsible marketer and you care about doing the right thing for your visitors and yourself.

I often hear people say “but what do I care about my data being collected? they already know everything about me” and it’s a fair statement because again, we’re not being made fully aware of how our information is being used after it’s collected.

You know I’m a big fan of examples so let’s use one that was kind of a big deal in the news: the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal was a data privacy scandal involving the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. In 2018, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had obtained personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent, and had used this data to create targeted political advertising during the 2016 US Presidential election.

Cambridge Analytica had created a personality quiz app called “This is Your Digital Life” which was designed to collect personal data from Facebook users. The app not only collected data from the users who took the quiz, but also collected data from their Facebook friends without their consent. This allowed Cambridge Analytica to collect data from millions of Facebook users, which they used to create detailed personality profiles and target political advertising to users.

The collection of personal data in this case was an issue because it was done without the knowledge or consent of the individuals concerned. Facebook’s data policies at the time allowed app developers to collect data from not only the users who installed the app, but also their friends’ data if the users gave permission to the app to access their information. This meant that app developers like Cambridge Analytica were able to collect large amounts of personal data without users realizing it.

Another example, taken straight from recent headlines: Major retailers in Canada like The Gap, Home Depot and Petsmart have been found to be sharing customer information with Facebook to gain marketing research. It appears that when customers chose the option to have their receipt emailed to them, that person’s information and their purchase history was being shared with Facebook, once again without the customer’s knowledge or consent. Purchases from department store giant Hudson’s Bay, athletic apparel chain Lululemon, electronics retailer Best Buy, homeware store Bed, Bath & Beyond and beauty products chain Sephora all appeared in the Facebook data seen by CBC. As the article states, “This is “a wake-up call,” said Wendy Wong, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan who studies emerging technologies. “These revelations are showing the extent to which the public does not know how much of our activities are trackable”.”

It isn’t just your activities, either. As the Privacy Commissioner reports, there are concerns that in certain stores, purchase details could prove “highly sensitive … where they reveal, for example, information about an individual’s health or sexuality.”

THE FUTURE OF REGULATION

While all this regulation is a bane to your existence as a digital marketer – because I get it, you want to have better ad retargeting and you want more accurate client journey reports – your existence and rights to privacy and consent as a human being matters more right now. As such you can expect to see more regulation being applied, and I’m all for it.

Let’s take an example where we’re seeing AI growing faster than anything we’ve experienced in the digital world. We’re at a place right now where you can take someone’s voice and make that voice say virtually anything you want, regardless of whether that person said that thing or not. It seems to fun and funny to have someone like Joe Rogan say you rock socks and have great hair – and that example is relatively harmless to whether he said that or not – but in the same vein, his voice can also be used to share opinions he may not agree with, to make statements he may not support, to say slurs he does not condone. This is a problem for all of us, whose personal information like our voice, can be used by others in ways we do not agree or consent to.

The European Union is working on this with the AI Act – officially known as Artificial Intelligence Act – and it is aimed at regulating the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the EU. The proposed regulation is meant to address the potential risks posed by AI systems, such as privacy violations, discrimination, and bias.

I’ll admit that I feel a little Chicken Little about the situation because the AI Act is still in the early stages of development – and like GDPR, it’s only based in the EU – so I have my doubts as to whether this regulation and regulation like this will be put in place in time to mitigate the inevitable risks. After all, this AI train is moving forward at record speed and these types of unprecedented laws will take years to write and enforce. I suppose time will tell on this front.

Technology is great but for every great advancement is the potential for it to be used with nefarious intent, and we do need more guardrails and awareness in place.

On a much brighter side, I do think the digital landscape will catch up to the transparency and awareness I believe we all need, and it won’t be in the form of a cookie banner, either. I do believe that cookie banners and compliance tools are our very necessary placeholder for time being, but I also think that the way websites are built, the way social media and marketing take place, the way tracking is done – all of it is going to undergo an complete overhaul.

A good example in the news of this right now is what we’re seeing with TikTok: there are all these bans being enforced by government departments and educational institutions against the use of the platform on its networks because of the way data is being collected and stored by ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok. I can’t see there being an all-out federal ban against the use of the platform – it’s too big at this point, I feel – but I do think it’s going to be the last straw that created a need for better boundaries around social media tracking as a whole.

These are interesting and exciting times to be a digital marketer. Instead of being frustrated, I hope you can find a way to reframe those feelings into excitement for being THERE as all of this goes down. There’s a lot going on and a lot of changes that will impact you… and that’s exactly why you want to use a compliance tool to keep you on the up-and-up of these things, so you don’t have to bog yourself down with having to know the ins-and-outs of it all.

Talk soon – baiiieee!!

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This is a transcript for episode 87 of the Let’s Get Data-Driven podcast.

I’m Lanie Lamarre and my favorite holiday is Mardi Gras, which is coming up next Tuesday. This means we are in full carnival season mode and this year, I’ve eaten all the king cake and have zero regrets.

This week, we’re talking about putting in place something YOU will have zero regrets about and that’s positioning your data in a way that you can SEE – literally, with graphs and charts – SEE your performance.

Data visualization – or what some cool kids call data viz – is fancy term that refers to being able to see your numbers in graphs and charts that make it easy for you to see – or visualize, as the wording suggests – what your numbers are trying to tell you about your performance trends and patterns. The goal is to set all of these graphs and charts up in a way that will tell a story and this will be done on what is called a Dashboard.

Much like the dashboard of your car, you should be able to quickly glance at your performance dashboard and get some SNAP! insights about what’s going on. If there’s something that needs your attention, your dashboard should be set up in a way that you can easily identify that and then you can dig into that aspect of your data with more depth, as required.

So how do dashboards and data visualization differ from your analytics reports, and why would you want both?

There are a number of reasons but let’s start with the most obvious one:

• Your analytics software tracks, collects and stores the data; your visualization software doesn’t track, collect or store anything other than the layouts you select for story-telling. Your visualization software taps into any database or data source you tell it to and reports on the numbers that are stored on those platforms. Your website analytics are one data source but you have others, like your email marketing service that is a data source that tracks, collects and stores your subscriber data or your social media platforms that are also data sources that tracks, collects and stores information about how your followers interact with you on those media. All of these are data sources that you can and probably want to plug into your data visualization software to tell a more complete picture of your performance; which brings us to my next point,
• The idea that one single centralized data source will be your end-all and be-all no longer applies, if it ever did. Once upon a time, our website analytics could report with a significantly accurate degree what people are doing on our website, but that was before changes to privacy and data collection and awareness among web surfers who don’t want to be tracked and have taken measures to avoid this. As these have increased, the degree to which you can rely exclusively on this type of tracking to make business decisions has decreased. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have access to accurate data that will help you see some of the most important and actionable results you want feedback on. For instance, your email list growth rate, your sales performance trends, your ad campaigns – you have access to all kinds of accurate data, if you know which data source to focus on;
• Another difference between data visualization software and analytics software is that while analytics software WILL provide you with some graphs and charts, but they’re standard… while you and how you operate is anything-but. The cookie cutter approach will only get you so far and the way your processes and systems are set up will impact the ideal way for you to report on your results. The graphs and charts in your analytics software IS a helpful starting point but that’s exactly what they are: a starting point from which you can then build a reporting and storytelling strategy from.

So let’s talk more about that storytelling experience because if there’s one key take-away that I want for you from everything I’ve ever said, it’s this: #allthedata doesn’t matter all the time.

Even if you’re using a privacy-compliant website analytics software like Plausible Analytics or Fathom Analytics, you’re probably collecting way more information than you’ll ever need or use. Honing in on what matters to you RIGHT NOW is important for it to be the best use of your time and energy, and it’s crucial for you as you wear the bossy pants.

So what data matters? You want to limit your line of sight to look at 1) your Overall Business Health metrics and 2) the Key Performance Indicators that comment on where your current standing is versus the performance expectations you have for special projects you have going on, such as launch metrics or ad campaigns.

If you need help with identifyfing what these would be for you or how to set up your dashboards for these using Airtable or Looker, there’s a link in the shownotes where you can join for just $19 and I will walk you through the whole enchilada.

Because once you have YOUR most important data points selected, you’re going to select the graphs and charts that will best accommodate your story-telling needs. It is through visualization that the proverbial magic happens and if you want to see how that magic happens, head over to my Instagram because I have some Instagram Reels over there that will prove that you ARE a numbers person when you have data visualization on your side. It makes seeing what story your numbers are telling so much easier and different graphs can help comment on different angles of the same story, if you know which one to pick.

For instance, sometimes you just want to compare one same data set, like sales made over one time period, such as those I’m using in the aforementioned Instagram Reels. There are also graphs that will help you see how your data sets are correlated, like how your different traffic sources impact those same sales over time. Other times, you’d benefit from a graph that would comment on your different products sales roll in over time. Again, which graphs and charts you use will depend on what story YOUR business and YOUR operations would best benefit from telling, and taking control of how the information that is most important for you to report on is a hella-boss move for you to make.

I’m going to say it again because it’s important enough that it warrants being repeated again and again: #allthedata doesn’t matter all time.

While data is not retroactive and you want to be proactive about tracking your promotional efforts such as any links you’re posting outside of your site that drives traffic to your website. That doesn’t mean you should expect to always look at or even care about that data on a regular basis. It’s great to have that information on hand for when you’re doing something like setting new KPIs for your next launch, limiting what you look at to what actually matters and moves your needle forward.

You 100% have my permission and blessing.

Talk soon, baiieeee!

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_This is a transcript of episode 86 of the [Let’s Get Data-Driven Podcast](http://omgrowth.com/listen)_

This week’s episode is about why you cry in the shower in February and what you can do about it… I mean, besides moving your sob-fest to the car in attempt to keep things fresh. Aww muffin – help is on the way, and it’s in the form of a podcast today.

I consider myself to be a systems person first. In fact, I got my start in the online world talking about systems and I had all the workflows and processes and frameworks to show for it.
I may not be packaging onboarding systems anymore, but the way we map out and track your marketing campaigns within the Membership To Get Data-Driven is still very much a system.

In fact, anything you’re doing – any series of steps or procedures you’re doing in your business IS a system.
Whether or not it’s automated, documented, outsourced, repeated, any set of actions you take in your business consists of a system.

The more organized and streamlined you are about your systems, the smoother your operations will be.
And why do we want to make like Sade and be a smooth operator? Because the smoother your day-to-day is, the more time, space and energy you have to dedicate to literally ANYTHING else that isn’t maintenance towards your business. You can try that new promotion, you create that new content, you can build those relationships… and every time you do one of those things and integrate it into your business processes, you’re creating a new system in your business.
If you ever feel like you’re overwhelmed by #allthethings you have going on in your business, it’s typically systems-related; either you created too many systems that you now have to maintain or you have systems that aren’t working as hard for you as you are for them.

I’m going to let you in on the not-so-secret secret that you can come to terms with that will make your overwhelm and business life easier, and for this, we will turn to a Fight Club quote: you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake and you are made of the same decaying matter as everything else.
Admittedly, that’s a bit of a harsh way to put things but hopefully it gets the point across that any chaos or overwhelm that has you crying in the shower is something that someone else has also had to apologize to an significant other who got torn a new one for no fault of their own, other than being with someone whose systems failed them.
Someone else already been there. Someone has already done that. Which is why I always encourage you to copy someone else’s test paper when it comes to creating, updating or even researching any type of business system.

This is one of the main reasons why I agreed to collaborate on the Systems and Workflow Bundle going on now – link to that is in the shownotes – but reinventing the wheel when it comes to getting streamlined and organized is a waste of time when you can use frameworks and trainings and templates and processes and workflows and toolkits that you can look at and apply to how YOU want to operate without starting from scratch.

So that’s my first tip when it comes to putting business systems in place: find out what’s already being done and how.
So how do you find out what’s already being done and how if you don’t have it packaged the way this Systems and Workflow Bundle is?
– Ask your biz besties how they do things or what resources they recommend. Word of mouth and person-to-person feedback is still – _and I believe will always be_ – your most valuable source of information;
– Search YouTube and Pinterest. Yeah, Google can also be helpful, but I’m going to bet you’re more of a visual boss who gets way more out of show-and-tell than just the “tell” part so use search options that will actually deliver that visual component. Heck, try Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, too – sometimes those bite-sized lessons or tutorials can point you in the direction you ultimately would best benefit from;
– If the problem is that you don’t know how to talk about your problem, look at sites like AppSumo to browse through software they sell but pay special attention to how they speak about the problems those tools and software help address. Sometimes it helps to hear and see how others frame a problem to better understand and put into words what we find ourselves struggling with.
– And when all else fails – _heck, even when all else works well _- I will always always always recommend you start by grabbing a cocktail napkin or getting a journal and mapping out what you’re struggling with and working through solutions by drawing them out with a point A to point B to point C and so forth. The bossiest thing you can do is to step away from the screen and put a process – even the idea or skeleton of a framework of a process – to paper.

Now, just because you make the decision about putting a business system in place doesn’t mean you’re the one who has to maintain it forever-ever.
In fact, I would argue that BECAUSE you’re the one who made the decision and understand the value of this system is the reason WHY you should NOT be maintaining it. After all, we’ve established that end results of having to maintain too many things is why we cry in the shower.
Here’s how you wear the bossy pants when in comes to business systems: you determine a need, you decide how this is going to be addressed, and you understand how it works for you and why. Once you have determined, decided and understand how and why a system works for you, it’s time to make a decision about how you’re going to take your hands off this wheel and either OUTSOURCE or AUTOMATE the processes as much as possible.

Let’s use “publishing short form video” as an example because heaven knows there are plenty of tears shed in the shower over that one, including from yours truly, and it’s a great example to illustrate your accountability amid your ability to outsource AND automate.
So in this example, we’ve determined that we need to improve our short-form video production. I’m not about re-inventing the wheel, I decided to watch one of the trainings from the Systems and Workflow Bundle called “Watch me Film 20 Reels in 1 Hour” because that sounds about right for what I want to achieve. I can dedicate one hour to generate what I would think of as a month’s worth of content, right? So that’s a commitment I’m willing to make and as I watched this training offered by Stephanie Kase and I kept that commitment in mind, I was able to watch the video with my bossy pants on and thinking ahead.
This way, when Stephanie drops knowledge bombs throughout her training about creating drafts that you can create overlays for later, I’m already thinking ahead to how that may be something I can outsource so that I don’t have to do it and then once that part is done, the final version of the Reel can be scheduled via automation – nice!
Because I’m going into this new system keeping my eye on the prize and that prize is NOT about creating more work for myself.
Beyond the protips and knowledge bombs is the fact that when you watch someone else – an expert or at least someone with experience – and you see how they’re doing something, you can learn so much more about strategy and tech by watching that person just do how they do rather than just toying with the tech from scratch. When I’m talking about not starting from scratch, it’s not just about the strategy but it’s also about how that strategy works with the tech and the tools, and watch Stephanie do 20 Reels in 1 Hour was kind of a masterclass to me for how to make better use of the timer features and the \_\_\_\_ options and what to look out for based on past mistakes she’s made.

I believe that watching someone with experience do what they do can generate a kind of second-hand experience for you.

I have a course called Airtable Like A Boss that I designed with exactly this thought in mind: I feel you learn more by watching something in action than learning about features and options in a silo, and instead of starting with tech tutorials, I started with templates and walk students through how this works and how that works and why they’re connected and how you can personalize it.
Anything that shortens your learning curve? Take it.
Anything that can take what you know or what you can do and put it on auto-pilot? Do it.
Anything that will take up more of your time, energy or brain space than you’re willing to dedicate and cannot be automated? Look into finding the resource who can either do it for you, find ways to automate it for you or shorten the level of commitment you have to dedicate to it.

But try to keep in mind that the kind of crying in the shower overwhelm you sometimes feel has more in common with a sore throat than anything else; it is not a personal reflection of you, your role as the boss or your capacity or intellect but rather, it’s just a symptom pointing you towards something that’s wrong that you’ll need to invest a little time and energy to remedy.
If you’re interested in shortening your learning curve in a bunch of areas including the reels training I mentioned as well as Zapier training to help you improve your automations, quizzes, sales pages, onboarding, offboarding, just a ton of systems and frameworks and workflows and templates, grab my link in the bio to check out the Systems and Workflow Bundle.

And hey! this is peak overwhelm time, just in case you’re feeling some type of way. Why is that? It’s because we come into the new year with all these aspirational plans but we didn’t have the time to put the systems in place that will support it all – gah! Cut yourself some slack, boss – you’re doing the hard stuff and I’m proud of you and even if you don’t always feel like it, the bossy pants look great on you!

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This is a transcript of episode 85 of the Let’s Get Data-Driven Podcast

I’m Lanie Lamarre and this week’s episode is an Office Hours question from the Membership To Get Data-Driven because my members ask the best questions and this one was too good not to share so here we are.

The question I’m sharing in today’s episode goes like this: “Lanie, you talk a lot about identifying trends and patterns but how exactly do I actually go about doing that?”

This is a great question because when it comes to taking data-driven action, the trends and patterns will tell you a whole lot more about what to do or lean into next than trying to focus on exact numbers typically will. Being able to hone in on those trends and patterns is one of the most valuable skills you can appropriate.

Now, the first barrier to seeing trends and patterns in your reports is cleaning up your data so that your results show up in a way that you can make sense of. Yes, the platforms you’re publishing on will show up in your reports but the naming convention they use in their default tracking won’t be as clear and consistent as it is when you’re wearing the bossy pants and you’re making the decision about how you want your reports and results to look. That’s why when you join the Membership To Get Data-Driven, one of the first things covered in the Roadmap To Optimization is about getting intentional with identifying and tracking your marketing efforts so that you have clean and clear reports that make trends and patterns in your performance easy to identify.

Letting other platforms dictate your naming conventions and reporting is kind of the equivalent of trying to find your favorite black tank top in the pile of black laundry versus when everything is hanging neatly in your closet; yeah, you end up with the tank top either way but one way made it infinitely easier to find than the other.

Ask any data analyst what they spend most of their time doing, and they will tell you it’s not spent on analysis but rather, 70%+ of their work is about cleaning up data sources. If you tag and track your traffic intentionally, it’s like having a live-in house cleaner for your data where you may have to put your plate in the dishwasher to maintain things but you’re never having to unload the whole dang thing.

So let’s say you have your data in check and it reflects how and what you’re promoting. The next step to identifying patterns in your performance results isn’t to look at your data but rather, start by looking within yourself to ask “what were my expectations for this campaign?”

Let’s use examples because you know I love them: let’s say you want to start conducting quarterly reviews and one of the key campaigns that you want to see, understand and improve the trends and patterns around is your evergreen email sequence. This is your series of automated emails – let’s say you have 6 of them in this series – that gets triggered to release when someone signs up to your email list and it promotes your signature offer.

Each of these emails will perform differently in different ways, and you’ll want to clock in on what is happening at each step of your client journey for each one of those emails. In this case, your client journey is to 1) open the email; 2) click-through from the email to your sales page; and 3) click the BUY NOW button to make a purchase.

Since the beginning is always a great place to start, let’s start by looking at that first step where we want people to open our email. Now, there are a lot of reasons why “open rates” are not the reliable metric they once were and you will never be making any business decisions solely based on open rates anymore (and if you want to learn more about why that is, give episode 61 on Email Marketing Metrics a listen); but in this instance, we’re not making decisions, we’re trying to identify your patterns, and in this instance, your open rates are useful because you’re looking at this performance in a kind of silo. We don’t care about the exact numbers here, we care about the trends so this works.

So as we look at the trends of your evergreen email performance as a whole from email #1 to email #6, which email is showing up with the highest opens? Which one is getting the least? By what margin? What is the trend you’re seeing here: for instance, do your open rates drop consistently by 2-5% between each email? How does this compare to what you thought would happen or what your expectations were? Are there any exceptions to the consistency you’re seeing: for instance, are there any weird or obvious spikes or dips that break the otherwise consistent trend you see carried through your open rates? Always take note of those spikes and dips that defy your patterns as an alarm bell telling you, “oh, this defies my usual trend and I want to look into why that is.” After all, there could be something about that email that you could then apply to your other emails that would be the rising tide that lifts all your other open rates, which could then have the waterfall impact on your click-through and purchase rates.

If the first step of this client journey is for your reader to open the email, the next one is that they click-through to your site from the contents of that email. Again, you’ll want to establish what the click-through pattern is between each of the emails. Which one gets the most click-throughs? Which gets the least? What are the numbers telling you about the consistent expectations you can have for these emails? How does this compare with what your actual expectations were? Are there any spikes or dips in engagement to account for?

And hey! maybe spikes and dips ARE the trend and pattern you’re seeing. Maybe your click-throughs look like a big ole “W” where email #1, #4 and #6 get significantly higher clicks, and emails #2, #3 and #5 are opened at an opposing, lower rate. That’s a trend. “Consistent” doesn’t necessarily mean a linear trajectory but rather, in this sense, we’re talking about what keeps showing up, because once we know what’s happening, we’re going to want to look at why that is and if there’s any way we can apply what we see is working well into other areas and maybe ditch what isn’t going so well.

Identifying trends and patterns in your results and performance is a lot like lying on the grass and looking up at the clouds; you’re not concerned with the details or even reality so much as you’re looking for outlines and shapes that symbolize what your performance looks like as a whole. Maybe you look at your purchasing trends and see that when you isolate the spikes in your “W” pattern for the click-throughs, emails #1, #4 and #6 had about the same sales come through for each of them so that your trend for those emails with the high click-through rates actually have a linear trend in sales patterns. You can find trends within trends, you can identify patterns within patterns, and this is why I say creative bosses are THE BEST analysts because it isn’t so much about the actual numbers; you want to get a feel for what is happening with your performance as a whole canvas and then to play with the elements that will build it into the full painting you want to see.

To start painting with data, it’s simply a matter of:

• Mapping out what you’re doing – so what are the various promotional pieces you’re working with to market your offer;
• Setting your expectations for what you intend to see happen;
• Looking at what actually happened to establish future expectations as to what trends you see and where any outlying spikes or dips can be identified that break up those patterns;
• Comparing this to what your expectations were; and
• Assessing why you think certain trends and outliers are what are they are, and finding ways to use that knowledge to your advantage.

Looking for ways you can use your trends and patterns to your advantage? I have an entire module dedicated to Optimizing Your Results in the Membership To Get Data-Driven that is designed so that you can show up with your problem – something like “hey! people aren’t opening my email!” and you click on that problem to see what potential solutions you can implement to improve your results. If that sounds like something you or your team can use, I’d love for you to join and hear your brilliant questions at our Office Hours, too.

Talk soon – baiiieee!

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