Why Data Is Not Enough to Drive Growth – The Human Aspects of Analytics
Why Data Is Not Enough to Drive Growth – The Human Aspects of Analytics
We are in an era of dashboards, metrics and real-time reporting. Data is wonderful asset to marketers – it gives direction, quantifies progress and turns performance into something tangible and measurable.
But there is a harsh reality that I’ve learned from my marketing career: data is not the only thing that will grow your business. People do.
Without human interpretation, data is nothing more than an array of numbers on a screen. Every click, every form submission, every page view – they all have stories attached to them:
- Why did a person seek out this specific piece of content?
- Why did they rely on one brand over another?
- Why did they end up converting – or not?
These “whys” are where the real insight starts.
The real magic occurs when analytics and empathy come together – when we begin to look at analytics as not just numbers, but signals of human behaviour, motivation, and emotion.
Let’s take a few examples:
- Spikes in website traffic look great in a dashboard but if the users are bouncing away from the website in seconds, it’s not growth – if they left, it tells you whether you are successfully communicating your message with them or not.
- High engagement on social media is not a vanity metric. It’s an opportunity to better understand what resonates on an emotional level with your audience – and an opportunity to improve relationships and messaging with your audience if we listen to the patterns underneath.
When we combine data with human understanding, we turn static charts into living stories – stories that enhance creative strategies, customer experience, and long-term growth.
In short:
“Numbers guide us, but people teach us.”
The brands and campaigns that are successful today are not always the ones with the most data. They are the ones who listen, understand, and take action with empathy – they combine analytics with an understanding of human behaviour.
I am interested to hear from you!
How do you incorporate data and actual human insight in your work? Let me know in the comments!