Whether your business is couture apparel or digital marketing, nobody wants their "seams" showing. And nobody knows this better than Stella&Dot, which helps women entrepreneurs become independent stylists by selling fashion accessories. Just as beautifully styled clothing depends on the skill of the couturier, selling these items successfully online relies on a seamless optimization and testing strategy.

If growth hacking were a person, it might be Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Okay, he was an android, (and a quantum leap more powerful than smart phones!) though he evolved considerably during the show's 7-year run, gaining emotion and even a sense of humor. But at heart (or whatever mechanical substitute was embedded in its place), Data was an analytical thinker focused on metrics: the best outcome for the Enterprise. His name was Data, after all. He might have been the original growth hacker.

In The Wizard of Oz, the people living in Oz have never actually seen the Wizard. Yet he affects everything about how the city is run. Minus the Wizard, Oz would be a colorless town, not a destination that transforms lives.

Optimization is like Oz. It's a high ROI item with a definite, measurable return. You don't see it, but without it, your customer funnels will decline over time because you'll have no compelling competitive advantage: content, design and flow that stamp your website as unique, just like your product or service.

Unless you're analytical by nature, dealing with business metrics may seem mind-numbingly mundane or induce hair-pulling frustration. How much more exciting to focus on branding, business development, new products in the pipeline...

Yet the numbers tell the story. Knowing your metrics means understanding your business.

Looking to hire a Growth Hacker? We created a job description we’ve used to help others hire this position. You’re welcome to use it as-is or alter it to your company’s needs to hire your very own Growth Hacker or build a team.