Adrian Kingwell, MD of Mezzo Labs, talks at Getting Ahead in Web Analytics 2 on how to improve the performance of any project by having clear objectives, KPIs and underlying data.

1. A flying lesson.
Or, why it’s important to connect KPIs to a clear
objective
Adrian Kingwell, Mezzo Labs
November 2013

2. Why is this date so
important?
th December
17
1903
“
“

4. On 17th December 1903, Wilbur and
Orville Wright achieved the first
sustained, controlled, powered heavierthan-air manned flight…
But it wasn’t the first powered flight…
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“

5. Samuel Pierpont Langley
(1834 – 1906)
American astronomer,
physicist, inventor of the
bolometer and pioneer of
aviation.
• Professor of
mathematics US Naval
Academy
• Director, Allegheny
Observatory
• Professor of astronomy,
Western University of
Pennsylvania
• Third Secretary,
Smithsonian Institution
• Founder, Smithsonian
Astrophysical
Observatory

6. Langley received US War
Department grants of
$50,000 and $20,000 to
develop a piloted
airplane.
They wanted something
to help them win the
Spanish-American War –
a spy plane.
He connected his project
with their strategic
objective.

7. On May 6, 1896
Aerodrome 5 was
catapulted from a boat on
Potomac River.
It flew over 1000m.
Proved that stability and
sufficient lift could be
achieved in an aircraft.
But it was un-manned.
Next challenge: put a
man in it.

8. So Langley scaled up the
original models.
He developed a more
powerful engine.
But it didn’t work.
Two launches in October
1903 both immediately
crashed into the water.
It wouldn’t fly. It was
uncontrollable.
Result: no more state
funding.

9. Langley taught us some
valuable lessons:
1. There’s always
someone, somewhere
who has the budget
you need
2. Align yourself with
business objectives
3. Don’t set unachievable
milestones, or KPIs that
don’t measure progress
4. Give stakeholders
regular updates of
progress
5. One man’s opinions
may work when you
are small, by they
rarely scale

10. “
So how did the Wright brothers beat
Langley?
“

11. Wright brothers started
with a more achievable
objective…
Get a man and an engine
in the air and keep it
there.
• They started with man
on-board a glider
• They did not waste
time developing a
more powerful engine

12. Their objectives were to find
more lift and better control
•
They built a wind tunnel to
test their hypotheses
before committing to the
full-scale world.
•
They used data from the
wind tunnel to improve the
efficiency of the wings and
propellers.
•
They created a different
sort of “model”.
•
Their fundamental
breakthrough was
invention of three-axis
control.

13. The Wright brothers were
first – but not by much.
• 1 man
• 1 engine
• 37 metres
• 12 seconds

14. What did the Wright
brothers teach us?
• Set achievable
objectives
• Test and learn
• Optimise (they refined
the principles of flight,
rather than build a
bigger engine)
• You don’t necessarily
big budgets
But they were NOT a
commercial success.

15. The Wright brothers
made no flights at all in
1906 and 1907.
They spent their time
trying to persuade the US
and European govts to
buy their flying machine.
Replying to the Wrights'
letters, the U.S. military
expressed virtually no
interest in their claims.

16. “
So how does this help us web analysts?
“

17. 5 steps to Data-Driven Marketing
This is your vision

18. • Your vision may be clear
– The objective is to get marketing driven by data,
not misinformed personal opinion
• But this journey will fail if it is not closely
aligned with board-level objectives
• So how do we align objectives, activity and
data?
“
“

19. You need a model - one that will scale
to board level
Business
objectives
Your
objectives
Your
activities
KPIs
Metrics

20. Business
objectives
• Win the Spanish-American war
Your
objectives
This is how it
looked for Langley
• Build a spy plane
Your
activities
• Scale our model
• Build a more powerful
engine
KPIs
• Distance flown
Metrics
• Metres

21. Business
objectives
• Be the first manned, powered flight
Your
objectives
• Build a plane that gets a
man off the ground
Your
activities
This is how it
looked for the
Wrights
• Build better wings
• Build better propellers
KPIs
• Lift
• Power used
Metrics
• Lbs/ft
• HP

22. Business
objectives
This is how it could
look for you
• Sell more product at lower cost
Your
objectives
• Sell more online, with less
budget
Your
activities
• Improve SEO
• Increase social reach
KPIs
• Increased visitors from
Google
• Increased visitors from
Twitter
• Google
visitors
Metrics • Twitter
visitors

23. This is how it looks
once you’ve
planned it out

24. Objective
Nail the requirements
and get the right data.
Dashboards align with
audience types
• C-level needs very
simple metrics and
lots of pictures
• Management need
some depth but not
too much
• Campaigns and
content KPIs are deep
KPI
KPI
C-Level
Management
Campaigns
Content
Data Layer

25. What Langley should
have done…
• Clearer alignment
between US Govt
objectives and
Langley’s KPIs
• More testing and
learning
• Better reporting of
progress to all
stakeholders
The result…
• The funding continues
• The Aerodrome flies
• America wins the war

26. Conclusion
• Digital objectives must be aligned with
business objectives
• Objectives must be realistic and achievable
• Decide tactics, agree KPIs
• Report progress back to the board via a few
simple KPIs
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, test and
learn, pivot or persevere
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