Google’s Chief Measurement Strategist, Neil Hoyne, on using data to win customers’ hearts

Fearless Growth with Amanda Setili

What makes a successful data-driven company?

Today’s guest says that it has very little to do with the company’s ability to analyze massive data sets. Rather, what’s most important is identifying the right questions to ask, and then finding the simplest ways to answer these questions.

Neil Hoyne is the Chief Measurement Strategist at Google. He has led more than 2500 engagements with the world’s biggest advertisers and has generated billions of dollars in incremental revenue for these customers.

Even at that level of success for someone in his profession, however, Neil says that he goes to work every single morning with the ability to explore whatever he finds interesting that day. It once again comes down to a focus on solving difficult problems over aimlessly reading columns of data.

Further, it is vital to consider the human beings behind the numbers when interpreting any data, even more so when business decisions are made on the basis of those interpretations. Neil himself says: “We still have a lot to learn in business about how intuition and human behavior drives performance.”

Neil also shares how to have meaningful conversations with customers, particularly when that communication is taking place online. He prefaces this by explaining that “you certainly want data to support your decisions”; however, many companies “are incredibly fixated on the short-term” when looking at data.

Basically, they ask: “Did they buy or not?”

But what is missed with that narrow focus is the potential for nurturing a long-term relationship. The key is to approach data analysis with customer lifetime value in mind over immediate ROI.

Ultimately, Neil attributes his success in the data analytics space to his being able to bridge the interpretation of raw data with a deep understanding and appreciation for behavioral economics.

Says Neil: “If you’re going to be successful, you need a head as well as a heart. The ‘head’ is the data and analytics, but it’s not going to be the complete story. But on the other hand, if you’re leaning on, ‘This is just how I feel about a problem,’ you’re going to be missing out because there are times in which your intuition is going to be challenged.”

Connect with Amanda Setili:

● www.setili.com

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Connect with Neil:

● www.linkedin.com/in/neilhoyne/

Get his book, Converted:

● www.convertedbook.com