- How to People
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- Better, not more.
It’s Wednesday, September 20th, and today we’re talking about the dangers of measuring the wrong thing for the wrong reason.
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Better, not more.
We need better, not more. But we continuously sacrifice all the things that matter most for the sake of numbers.
Vanity metrics are good for one thing only: ego. So why do so many of us continue to trade long-term quality for short-term dopamine?
In business, community, hell even in our wardrobe, quality is the most important thing. Yet the allure of “lots” is irresistible.
Wondry is one year old. In our first year of business, we politely declined 70% of our prospects. Here’s why, and why it matters to you.
But first, a story I’m sure many of you can relate to:
It was a Monday and I was working on content. If I may describe my relationship with content in Facebook terms: “it’s complicated”. On this particular day, however, I was having a good time.
I love those moments when inspiration hits and the words flow easily. When something feels natural and you just know it’ll land. I was writing about the anatomy of an engaging post. After running so many communities, there were some clear commonalities between posts that received no love and those that gained momentum.
I have a knack for writing community posts that do well. Unfortunately, this knack does not always translate to social media content.
But sometimes I surprise myself, and I was pretty sure this one would be a banger.
It most certainly was not. I posted to a whopping four comments.
Later that day I was scrolling Instagram and saw a post by an influencer I really respected. She’d posted 38 minutes ago and had hundreds of comments.
sigh
I clicked into the comments:
They were spam comments. Lots of them.
I’m not an influencer, and for a variety of reasons, I likely never will be—but I still find it easy to get caught up in the comparison of vanity metrics and have to remind myself:
Better. Not more.
Wondry just celebrated its one-year anniversary. When I started, I’d never heard of an agency that focused solely on community strategy. It felt groundbreaking and daunting. We came in pretty hot with a lot of inbound interest, but soon faced a big decision: stay a small team (initially there were four of us) and serve fewer people, or expand and scale.
We made the conscious choice to turn away a substantial 70% of our prospects. I knew that rushing into working with more clients at the expense of delivering the quality service I was promising would compromise my credibility and reputation.
In transparency, I am not saying we turned away 100 people. We did not have 145 potential clients come pounding on our doors when we hung our virtual shingle, but we didn’t need to hunt for them, either. Every time I sat across from a potential client, I asked myself these questions:
Did I really believe that they were ready to launch a community?
Were they doing it for reasons that aligned with my own values?
Were we the right people to support them, given their niche and goals?
Do I like them?
All of these things mattered to me. And not every entrepreneur would weigh some of these so heavily, but that’s the point: I do. This is what “better, not more” looked like for me.
It meant turning down the prospect who canceled/no-showed twice in a row.
It meant saying “no, thank you” to the company that wanted to overpromise and underdeliver.
It meant passing on the team who wanted to build a product that made me uncomfortable.
The numbers do lie
Our taste for vanity metrics starts early. When I received an “A” on my third-grade report card, did that really reflect the promise of my future performance? Nah. But it felt good. And I think I got some ice cream.
We love to focus on scale, but there are so few examples where it yields exceptional results.
The same principle applies to community building. In the realm of online communities, the temptation is to focus solely on growing member numbers.
Communities thrive through relationships. Instead of striving to have a hundred conversations a day, what about one meaningful conversation that leaves a lasting impact? Quality interactions deepen relationships and make your community a valuable asset. It's these connections that will not only keep members returning but also lead to long-term growth and success.
I’ve dropped into many Slack communities with hundreds of conversations to catch up on. I’ve never thought “Oooohhh, impressive!”. In fact, often my eyes glaze over and I make a virtual Irish exit.
Being able to boast about a large community means very little if no one would miss it when it’s gone. The sheer size of a social media following or the number of community members can create the illusion of success, even if these metrics have no bearing on revenue, satisfaction, or the achievement of strategic goals.
Behavior, Not Numbers
I view the success of the work we do similarly to a successful community: through the lens of behavior.
For me, a beautiful business means I have a great relationship with the people I am serving, but more importantly, that their lives are better for it. We could measure Wondry’s success by counting the number of clients we’ve worked with just as we can measure community by the number of members. Neither tells a complete story.
What I ask myself instead is “What change have we created?”
Inside of a community, we’re looking to change our members by moving them towards a goal or a purpose. Inside of a client relationship, I am asking myself if the support and guidance I’m providing have changed the way the company talks about and approaches the community.
A real example:
When Wondry first launched, I would create these long strategic plans, hand them over, and that would be the end of the engagement. It was very unfulfilling. There was no long-term relationships and most of the time, the plan was never used because the client didn’t really know what to do with it.
Once we changed directions to a long-term “done with you” approach, 80% of our former clients signed back on, which told us they were looking for way more support than we were giving. But even more satisfying are the conversations we have. Although each has different goals and numbers to hit, the language is always based on building substantial, quality experiences for their members.
I realize this is all a little “pie in the sky”. Stakeholders need a number, and you can’t say “Well Margo and Jerryl are really hitting it off!”.
But I can’t think of a single aspect of my life, whether it’s my inner circle of friends or shoes, where the number of items has mattered more than the quality of items. What looks good to others may not feel good to us.
Marinade
A few things I’ve read this week that are worth soaking in:
David Brooks on how People Are More Generous Than You Think
I absolutely love out-of-the-box events, like this guide on how to host your own 2-hour reading party
Onward,
April
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