Did you know that “85% of homeowners believe that they would have a better looking lawn if they used a red, rechargeable lawnmower”?
Let’s talk about why you should not believe every statistic that is published.
video transcript
Did you know that “85% of homeowners believe they would have a better-looking lawn if they used a red rechargeable lawn mower?“
Now if that sounds a little fishy; it probably should. When you see a statistic being quoted without a source — and maybe not passing a gut check — here are three likely reasons:
- They made it up – or maybe AI made it up. If it’s the latter and no one verifies it isn’t a hallucination, you still ought to blame the human.
- More commonly, a marketing person gets “creative” in their interpretation of a statistic. Then their boss or another marketer gets “creative” in interpreting that one. Oh, and then someone in editorial or comms “tweaks it a little” – so that by time the executive or spokesperson cites the statistic, there’s very little fact left in it.
- OR, the statistics and the survey come from a company trying to sell red, rechargeable lawn mowers. (it’s biased)
My point is – citing statistics can make anything sound more legitimate. Case in point, only 42% of cited statistics are accurate, according to Internet researcher Mark Twain.
Twain obviously didn’t say that, but he is often credited with saying “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story” – and for some marketers citing statistics, maybe they learned that axiom a little too well? SO
- be careful what you quote
- always cite your sources
- and don’t believe every stat you read