Reading one of my favorite authors (and of course blogger too) Avinash Kaushik, I came across his most recent blog post: Kill Useless Web Metrics: Apply The "Three Layers Of So What" Test
Avinash appropriately describes the misconception that certain (what I call noisy) popular web metrics are as important as they seem. Even though a favorable change in one of these metrics looks good, it doesn't always mean that it is a benefit to your business (and of course your bottom line).
Asking "So What?" three times to every key metric should eventually end in an actionable item.
If at the third "so what" you don't get a recommendation for an action you should take, you have the wrong metric. Kill it.
You need to face up to the reality that just because it sounds good, or looks good on paper during a board meeting, doesn't mean that the actual statistic is relevant or worth anything. If you can not act upon it, who cares?
