Does Data Destroy Your Narrative?

Have you ever read a book and wondered — is this really how the story went? Aren’t I getting a biased view with the iconic hero narrating the story from start to finish? Authors have the ability to change the narrative of a story by giving the point of view of multiple characters and marketers have the opportunity to do the same with their analysis.

We all know the importance of data — it helps us analyze historical performance, “predict” the future, gather important details about customers, and meet our strategic business goals. Yet, often times, we focus too heavily on what historical performance is telling us and we don’t take a step back and ensure the story we’re trying to tell is still present — that the strategy is still the main focus.

Analytics is a key plot-driver for the narrative of many organizations, but how much of your story should be driven by data before you lose the underlying narrative?

Similar to building a framework for any fictional story, you should evaluate the role data will play before building your narrative. Is data portrayed as the hero or the villain? Is it that awkward sidekick that has the most insight or the confidante that is killed off in the first 5 minutes of your favorite book?

I’ve categorized data into 4 character types — the hero, the villain, the confidante (sidekick) and the omniscient narrator. As you prepare for your next quarterly review this July or present your next big idea, think about what character best fits your narrative based on the varying benefits or even cautionary factors before you spend time creating those 10 KPI slides or spend hours digging through every metric you have available at your fingertips.

Key Roles for Data in Your Story:

1.The Data Hero

“Data always wins. Let’s have Data decide”

The hero is often synonymous with the protagonist and is commonly known as the central character in stories. When Data is the hero of your story, it’s important to have a strong supporting “cast” of insights and related goals so the conversation isn’t bogged down with the numbers based on a single point of view.

The benefit of letting Data be the hero is you have the opportunity to shape the story based on the success metrics you possess for your organization or in a larger segment of customers. Data can positively mold the discussions when you start by answering questions like:

• What are the historical trends for [this initiative]?
• How has [this initiative] changed over various time periods?
• What insights can help drive future progress for [this initiative]?

Using Data as your hero is most beneficial when you’re introducing a new idea, leading an ROI discussion, or you know your audience will want to heavily focus on the numbers. You know your point of view as the ideator may not be enough to lead to a decision, so having Data narrate the story, and solely in a positive (or heroic) light, will only benefit you further.

When you’re preparing to tell your story with these settings, here are sample metrics to have readily available for your stakeholders:

• What is the industry (or related segment) benchmark for this initiative?
• How does this initiative impact our organizational KPIs?
• Is this cost-beneficial? On what level (ie: leads, opportunities, retention)?

Caution: Organizational meetings can often turn to a discussion of the data points and the related accuracy/meaning instead of using data to drive strategy. Your organization may fall victim to this when many data analytic requests start with “if only I had this one view” or you find yourself digging into the data without an objective/goal. Although data should play a strong role in your story, don’t forget that you must be grounded in an initiative or objective to avoid falling into the “data blackhole”. Come prepared to discuss your objectives for each project in addition to the metrics. If it’s a fairly new idea — look for subjective data points in addition to the metrics you’re sharing –

• How have similar customers implemented this idea?
• Are other departments in support of the new project? Do you have a supportive coalition?

2. The Data Villain

“But Data says the program doesn’t perform!”

The Data villain plays an important role in many conversations when teams only look for confirming evidence of their success with a project. It’s important to evaluate, and not ignore, the challenges or areas of improvement in each initiative.

The Data villain is most beneficial when stakeholders need to objectively understand the performance and effects of an initiative, even if they are not positive. The Data villain allows you to lead a discussion without having a biased view in the strategy evaluation.

Caution: Ideally you will still have positive metrics or goals to share when evaluating an initiative, but it’s important you don’t ignore the villain in your story. After all, don’t heroes become their best selves based on the villains they encounter? Or how often has a story ended in a partnership between the hero and the villain?

Be cautious of how the Data villain may skew your strategic narrative. When data leads the discussion instead of playing a supporting role, especially when you’re evaluating both successes and challenges, it doesn’t consider the benefits outside of direct ROI. It’s important to be prepared to look at benefits outside of numeric metrics:

• How did the program influence your department’s or organization’s goals?
• How can you repurpose pieces of the program for high performing channels?
• What learnings or conclusions will improve programs going forward?

The villain helps round out the story and perspectives in your narrative and it plays an important role in properly evaluating success, but if it’s not positioned properly the audience may skew performance based solely on the challenges or negative performance metrics.

3. The Data Confidante

“Although these metrics show the high performance of [this initiative], if we dig deeper we see the nuances in our month/month trends”

The confidante is usually the hero or villain’s “right-hand man” who reveals the character, personality, or intentions of the main players in the narrative. The Data confidante plays a unique perspective as it digs deeper into the performance of a particular program and allows you to look further than the surface-level metrics, whether they are heroic or villainous. For instance, examine the commonly used “Demand Waterfall” in marketing. If we only looked at volume and conversion rates we may get an idea of how the overall marketing team is performing, but digging into more detailed metrics from the Data confidante gives more insight and allows your team to optimize each program.

The Data confidante allows you to lean on data to provide a unique point of view for program performance without it leading the conversation. The Data confidante allows the strategy to be the hero of your narrative and allows you to lead the conversation without participants focusing on the data collection methods and validity. If you’re not looking to spend too much time analyzing, I recommend providing the metrics before your strategic discussions. Let the Data confidante support the ideas and conversation instead of spending too much time evaluating the data visualizations during the presentation.

Caution: If you decide to lean on the Data confidante, ensure you level set on the types of data you’re collecting, how it relates to the initiative, and explain the data collection methods properly for your audience. The Data confidante may also cause skepticism if you’re measuring the data differently than the status quo or it’s not properly communicated. I recommend weaving in the Data confidante role with standard metrics and communicating the importance of these new views to properly measure the success of your initiative and avoid blindsiding key stakeholders. Ensure you’re answering questions like –

• How does this tie into our standard quarterly KPIs?
• What benefits are unique to this measurement?
• How does this compare to our standard views?

4. The (Omniscient) Data Narrator

“There’s no other way to look at it. If the data shows these are the results, that’s all there is to it”

The omniscient narrator acts as the objective third party in the narrative. Often times authors use an omniscient narrator to give a universal view compared to the focus of a key character like the hero or villain. The Data narrator helps provide an unbiased viewpoint to portray both successes and challenges in an initiative without driving the story to a specific conclusion.

The benefit of the omniscient narrator lies in the ability to tell a story from all perspectives. If you rely on Data to tell the whole story (not just the successes as the hero or the challenges as the villain) you are able to paint the full picture of your initiative and rival questions from any key stakeholders. To better utilize the Data narrator for any conversation with stakeholders, be prepared to answer the following questions:

• How does the Data support your initiative? How doesn’t it?
• What are the optimizations suggested by the Data?
• Where should we invest more based on the Data?
• Were there any surprises revealed from the Data?

Caution: As with the other roles, it’s important to not let the narrator be the only perspective in your story. Although an omniscient narrator offers a view outside of any biased focus of a key character, the narrator also drives the conversation without insights. At the end of the day, Data isn’t leading the initiative — you are.

Is This Another Cliff Hanger?

Although Data can help lead you to a conclusion, it’s up to you - the leader of your initiative, to ultimately tell the story and give the insights necessary to drive success forward. This is where I believe many teams are stuck today. Data plays an important role, but how many times have you had…

• Meetings derailed because there were too many questions about the Data source(s)?
• Decisions made solely based on a Data point and not the larger picture?
• Performance measured solely on the numbers and not the influencing insights?

Year after year there are more Data points and tools available for marketers to analyze their performance and forecast their next steps, but we can’t rely on Data to tell the whole story. It’s the insights we derive from the data to support the larger strategic narrative that truly matters. Marketing has always been a balance of both creativity and science, yet Data may lead the pendulum to swing too far in one direction as you look solely on performance and not the influencing factors or creative assets you created in the process. If you rely solely on Data to drive the conversation, isn’t it really destroying the larger narrative?