What you’ll read:
A recap on Sheila Marie Orfeno’s TED talk “How do we know what’s true?”
As data-driven marketers, we’re always looking to make the right decision, based on what we know to be true (usually what we see in our customer data).
Unfortunately, in cases, the truth — whether it’s about our customers, our industry, or our company — passes through a number of filters before it reaches us. So‘How do we know what’s true?’
Sheila Marie Orfeno asks her audience this question as she tells the story of a samurai who is murdered in a grove.
In the story, the murder witnesses tell the story and as it proceeds, it’s clear that each person recalls the event differently making it impossible to discern what actually happened.
Orfenodiscusses the main blockers that often get in the way of learning the truth. We’ll look at these blockers from a marketer’s perspective and try to figure out the best way to uncover the truth behind your customer data.
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Beware of Your Own Biases and Challenge Your Assumptions
The story of Rashomon, or In a Grove ends on an intentionally ambiguous note, with the mystery of whodunnit left unsolved.
Each witness’ testimony makes it seem like any one of them could be a suspect. This leads to endless discussions amongst audience members after the story concludes which of course, was the writer’s intention.
Actually, it is possible that the writer’s deeper intentions were to make the audience more aware of the role their biases play in their decision making processes and in their lives. Since there is no right answer, those who mistakenly believe they’d “figured it out” would do well to become more objective moving forward.
What does all this have to do with marketing?
When analyzing customer data, objectivity is crucial. You can’t allow any preconceived notions or assumptions to impact the way you interpret the information in front of you.
Hopefully, it goes without saying that prejudicial interpretations of any kind should be rooted out and stamped out permanently. That’s not just a rule for marketing; it’s a rule for life.
But we also need to be more aware of the unconscious assumptions we make when analyzing customer behavior, feedback, and other data.
This includes assuming…
- A new customer is shopping for themselves
- A customer with low CLV abandoned their cart due to price
- A satisfied customer will refer your brand to others
Though these assumptions generally end up being correct, it’s never a certainty — and treating it as such can potentially damage the relationships you have with your customers.
Objectivity is key here. We’ll dig a bit deeper into what that means a bit later on.
Take Third-Party Data With a Grain of Salt
In Rashomon, the eye-witnesses have only their memory of the event as they share their story.
No one’s memory is perfect. As time goes on and as they retell the story again and again, the truth becomes more and more obscured.
The point is:
Data that doesn’t come straight from the source is never 100% accurate. All third-party data is an interpretation of an interpretation and should always be taken with a grain of salt.
This isn’t to say that third-party data isn’t valuable.
It can certainly provide an overview of a given scenario and potentially point your marketing team in the right direction. And if multiple third-party sources are saying the same thing, there’s a pretty good chance the truth is in there somewhere.
But you should never completely rely on a third-party source when making marketing decisions. If their truth doesn’t line up with the truth, following their “words of wisdom” isn’t going to help your team.
Be Wary of First-Party Data, Too
There are only two characters in the story of Rashomon that know the truth about what really happened:
The murderer and the victim — and neither are gonna talk anytime soon.
Even if they could, we’d still get two different stories as to how and why it all went down. Similarly, even the information you collect directly from your customers may not be entirely accurate. Whether due to hazy memories, embellished claims, external factors (or anything else), your first-party data isn’t bulletproof.
You won’t always get the whole story from your customers Unfortunately, it’s not exactly possible to know what you don’t know — making it easy for critical customer data to slip through the cracks.
To this end, a strategic approach to collecting first-party data is vital.
Some overarching best practices to follow:
- Request feedback almost immediately after the engagement or experience
- Provide customers with a comfortable environment to respond (be it physical or digital)
- Allow them to respond freely and comprehensively — without influencing their responses in any way
Overall, zero-party data is much more reliable, as it comes directly from your customers completely unprompted and uninfluenced.
Contextual, Critical Data Analysis is Crucial
Here’s where the parallels between our TED Talk and customer data come to an end.
While it’s not possible to solve the mystery of Rashomon, you can work to ensure your customer data is as accurate and comprehensive as possible.
This means:
- Analyzing collected customer data not in isolation, but in context
- Collecting data from multiple sources to gain a more complete picture of the situation
- Thinking critically and metacognitively about the data you collect — and about the way in which you collect, analyze, and use it
The reality is, you don’t need to get down to 100% truth to make airtight marketing decisions.
But you do need to ensure the information you collect is sufficient in both quality and quantity to steer your team in the best possible direction.
The trickis knowing when you have enough data to make a move — but to also not stop digging for more after the fact
Which is what being data-driven is all about. As marketers, our duty is to deliver value to our customers based on what we know about them, while always looking to learn more in order to provide more value in the future.
Keep this up, and your customers will stay just as true to you as you have to them.