There is no such thing as a vanity metric
Vanity metrics don’t exist. Don’t be a vain marketer surrounded by metrics
Don’t pay attention to impressions, they’re just a vanity metric. So are sessions or likes or page views or time on site or…. well, just about anything. Don’t look at that, you’re told, it’s a vanity metric. Don’t pay attention to that, it’s not any use to you. Look at your goals, your conversions, your ROAs.
Vanity metrics aren’t real. They’re the analytic version of cards with bent corners in a heavily weighted game of three card monte. By telling you not to look at those metrics and focus on the ones that matter, you’re being pushed away from taking a complete view of your activity, progress and real performance.
The birth of vanity metrics
I am old enough to remember when website performance analysis was entirely about server log files and clients who were obsessed with hits. Once we properly understood that hits were linked to the number of assets on a page and therefore were not as useful a way of understanding performance, they soon came to be known as ‘How Idiots Track Success’.
Hits weren’t a vanity metric. They were simply a bad one. They lacked accuracy or real meaning. A page with lots of images on it would achieve lots of hits while a page with lots of users may well achieve fewer. So, understanding and tools evolved. Page views became a popular measure, along with visits, sessions, unique and returning visitors.
Analytics shifted into more Javascript and cookie based systems and with it a focus on goals, events, funnels and conversions. Tracking sales real-time and comparing campaigns and performance on the fly. So, the narrative of analytics shifted. We all became obsessed with outcomes and percentages and revenue and that’s when the idea of the vanity metric took hold.
It became the default to say that the numbers which weren’t directly linked to a customer transaction didn’t matter. That they were about vanity – specifically dear client – your vanity. They made you look and feel better while the smart people with their charts and spreadsheets and initialisms and a conviction in their divine right to being right were focused on the metrics that matter.
They were wrong. They were wrong to push that message and they were wrong to patronise you and tell you that the things that mattered to you were not important.
Have vanity metrics, but don’t be vain
I am old enough to remember when website performance analysis was entirely about server log files and clients who were obsessed with hits. Once we properly understood that hits were linked to the number of assets on a page and therefore were not as useful a way of understanding performance, they soon came to be known as ‘How Idiots Track Success’.
Hits weren’t a vanity metric. They were simply a bad one. They lacked accuracy or real meaning. A page with lots of images on it would achieve lots of hits while a page with lots of users may well achieve fewer. So, understanding and tools evolved. Page views became a popular measure, along with visits, sessions, unique and returning visitors.
Analytics shifted into more Javascript and cookie based systems and with it a focus on goals, events, funnels and conversions. Tracking sales real-time and comparing campaigns and performance on the fly. So, the narrative of analytics shifted. We all became obsessed with outcomes and percentages and revenue and that’s when the idea of the vanity metric took hold.
It became the default to say that the numbers which weren’t directly linked to a customer transaction didn’t matter. That they were about vanity – specifically dear client – your vanity. They made you look and feel better while the smart people with their charts and spreadsheets and initialisms and a conviction in their divine right to being right were focused on the metrics that matter.
They were wrong. They were wrong to push that message and they were wrong to patronise you and tell you that the things that mattered to you were not important.
