I just wanted to make her laugh. But I measured it wrong. Maybe you are, too.
I spent the last year optimising for the wrong metric. Consequently, I have a 1,490-day Duolingo streak. How tantalising, the number.
But have I actually progressed towards my true goal, becoming fluent enough to make a ‘good’ joke in Dutch to my girlfriend in the last 365 days? Nee, nauwelijks.
I’m where I was 365 days ago, except now with friendlier Duolingo notifications.
The same thing happens a lot in marketing and, in my estimation, across entire businesses. We get hooked on metrics like click-through rates, impressions, or followers, which are nice to look at but don’t always move the needle. If those numbers aren’t aligned with the real business goals, like lead quality or conversions, we risk putting energy into the wrong places, growing in the wrong direction.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of numbers for numbers’ sake. What really matters is whether those metrics are bringing us closer to our actual goals.
Wrong metric = wrong growth.