From Vanity to Value: Rethinking Digital Performance Metrics in a GenAI World with Scott Lux

Host:

Ruchi Pardal

SVP Growth & Innovation

Guest:

Scott Lux

EVP of Technology and E-Commerce at Esprit

Performance SEO Unpacked with Ruchi Pardal explores how retail, digital, and e-commerce intersect in today’s fast-changing environment. Guest Scott Lux, EVP of Technology and E-Commerce at Esprit, shares how his retail roots, from lighting stores in Dallas and Birmingham to fashion brands in New York, inform his approach to chasing outcomes over impressions, focusing on customer behavior, and tying metrics to real business health across digital and physical channels.

Timestamps

Time	Topic
00:00	Welcome to Performance SEO Unpacked
00:42	Introducing Guest: Scott Lux
02:08	Agency vs. Retail: Which World Wins?
04:37	Stop Chasing Impressions, Start Chasing Outcomes
05:09	Why Many Brands Broke Their Metrics
07:02	Customers Over Metrics: Understanding Real Demand
08:37	Why ROI Across Touchpoints Is Nearly Impossible
10:16	The Real Challenge: Mapping the Customer Journey
11:33	The Most Overlooked Element: Fixing Fundamentals
13:18	Which Metrics Actually Matter Today?
17:01	Brand Definition → Content Strategy → Product → Revenue
19:10	How to Measure Content in the Zero-Click, AI Era
22:42	Why AI Should NOT Replace Brand-Created Content
25:05	The Three Must-Have Metrics for a 2026 CMO Dashboard
28:20	Closing Thoughts & Key Takeaways

“Stop chasing impressions and start chasing outcomes; focus on product, sell-through, and whether your audience can truly support growth.” — Scott Lux, EVP, Technology & E-Commerce

What You’ll Learn

In this episode, you’ll learn why retail and digital metrics must align with real outcomes, not just traffic and impressions, and how focusing on product, sell-through, and customer behavior drives growth. You’ll also explore strategies for mapping end-to-end journeys, setting behavior-based KPIs, optimizing multi-channel content, integrating AI responsibly, building reporting dashboards, and using tools like Shopify, Klaviyo, and Snowflake to track revenue, retention, and performance across digital and physical channels.

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