Analyse the facts, decide the fluff

Picture a meeting. Five people, forty minutes, one question: which photo goes at the top of the homepage? The sunset or the smiling team? Everyone has an opinion, and they'll defend it till the cows come home.

Meanwhile, on the same page, the opening hours are wrong.

That's overanalysis. Plenty of energy going in, aimed at the wrong thing.

Two kinds of questions

Every decision in your business falls into one of two buckets.

Facts. Is the price right? Do the opening hours match Google? Does the booking button work on a phone? Is the phone number the same everywhere? These have one correct answer. There's nothing to debate, so check them, fix them and keep them right.

Preferences. The photo, the colour, the font, whether the headline is clever or plain. These are mostly taste. Opinions are allowed, and they're welcome. But two people can both be right, and no amount of meetings will change that.

Most businesses get this back to front. They argue about the preferences for weeks and never check the facts at all.

Let your data pick the bucket

Here's the good news: you don't have to guess where your energy belongs. Your data tells you.

Your website already records which pages people visit, how far they scroll and where they leave. If nobody scrolls past the first screen, the debate about the photo at the bottom is wasted breath. If half your visitors leave on the contact page, that's where your energy belongs.

Analyse your data so your output is guided by what customers actually do, not by what someone in the meeting reckons. An anecdote is one person's story. Data is everyone's.

Facts first, fluff fast

So here's my rule. Analyse the facts until they're right. Then decide the fluff, quickly, and move on.

Pick the photo in five minutes. If you can't agree, test both and let your customers vote with their clicks. Then spend the other thirty-five minutes on the things that are costing you sales.

That isn't laziness. It's putting your energy where the money is.

Why AI cares about your facts

AI reads your website the same way your customers do: it scans for facts. Wrong hours, an old price or two different phone numbers tell both of them you can't be trusted. A slightly less perfect photo tells them nothing at all.

Facts win customers. Fluff wins arguments.

Brad, CMO (Chief Maverick Officer), Maverick Digital16 October 2026

Every idea here is mine, sorted with Claude's help.