It's the Experience

Peter Ramsey:

I see stuff like this every day. Companies 'trust the analytics'.

"99% of users complete the page, so it's not a problem".

But the issue isn't the completion rate, it's the experience.

This example might only be a small confusion, that most people would overcome on their own, but it makes the experience less enjoyable.

The more enjoyable an experience, the more we want our friends to do it.

It's a problem I see in many products and videogames. A videogame can have a fantastic retention score, but it does not make it fun.

I'm not against analytics (quite the contrary, if done respectfully), but it should not be your main driver. It should be a source of advices and confirmation to qualitative analysis, insights and/or gut feelings. It should be secondary to the experience itself.

Sometimes, you should do something because it makes your product better and more pleasant, not because it checks another item on an imaginary features checklist or because it pleases one specific client.