There’s a moment in every creator business where the numbers don’t tell the full story. A post doesn’t go viral, but something about it feels important. Or perhaps a product idea doesn’t immediately convert, but you can tell your audience is leaning in. There is a lot of science to being an entrepreneur, and the numbers are VERY important, but sometimes our gut instincts are just as important.
I’ve learned not to ignore the moments when something just feels like the right thing to do. When the data and my intuition are at odds, 90% of the time I go with my intuition.
The balance I’m always trying to strike in my own business is an art based on data, but not a slave to it. I don’t want to just follow what performed best on social. I want to focus on what my audience actually needs and where the deeper opportunity lies.
This means expanding beyond content into education, programs, and a more defined product ecosystem. I’ve been running my business this way for a while, and the results have confirmed which moves are the right ones to make and which are not. It isn’t just data that I look at; it is data plus intuition.
Data Driven Content With Trial Reels
There are many opportunities now to use data-led intuition in digital businesses. One great example is Instagram’s new trial reels feature. They are now giving us the opportunity to try out new ideas and concepts and see what sticks before ever posting on our main feed. It’s a great way to try out what your gut is telling you and see where it leads. Every digital business owner should be creating at least a handful of these a week to work through ideas and concepts. Here’s the data I am looking at when creating a trial reel for my Pink Pop Party Instagram account:
- Where people drop off in a video (did the hook work?)
- Which posts get saves vs. clicks (interest vs. action)
- What actually drives link clicks and purchases
- Which content leads to DMs or questions
These are signals, but they don’t really give me answers; they give me better data-driven questions. And with these questions, we can involve our gut in the process of working through what’s working, where to pivot, and where to invest.
Instead of saying, “This post failed,” I’ll ask: Where did people stop watching? Was the hook unclear, or was the idea off? Did this attract the right audience but not move them to action? And this is where intuition comes in. Because sometimes the data shows something underperforming, but your instinct tells you there’s something there worth refining. Not abandoning or forcing, but instead adjusting.
Intuitive Questions To Ask Yourself
Here’s how I actually use this in a very practical way: After I test content or a product idea, I log three things:
- What happened (clicks, conversions, engagement)
- What I think it means (my interpretation)
- What I’ll try next (specific adjustment)
I keep this in a simple tracker (I like using a Google Spreadsheet for this). In the spreadsheet, I put the post idea, the written or spoken hook, the first 3-second visual hook, and then the data noted above. I then have a section for my own thoughts and gut feelings about what happened, why it worked, and why it didn’t. Over time, patterns start to show up, not just what works, but why it works. The why is what I use to drive future change and adjustments to our content and brand product selections.
The goal here isn’t to become rigidly data-driven. It’s to become data-aware and intuition-confident. You don’t need perfect information to make your next move. You just need enough insight to make a smarter one. If you’re sitting on ideas, data, and momentum but aren’t sure how to turn that into your next step, this is exactly the kind of work I do inside my coaching programs. Let’s plan your next big win together. Connect with me here.