Why Marketers Should Never Rely Solely On Platform Data

I've advertised on all the major ad platforms and every single one of them has reporting that makes their own platform performance look good. 

They don't care if they take credit for action driven by other efforts.

Every platform is incentivized to count the most conversions possible so it looks like their platform is efficient and effective to advertisers so they can win more ad dollars. 

Since we can't trust the platform data, most marketers use Google Analytics to solve this.

GA is a good start, but it's also, ya know, owned by a giant search engine that sells ads that easily get tracked as the last click before someone buys. ‍

Google is not neutral and not incentivized to show you the "true" driver of performance.

If platform data is biased and the most common free analytics tool is also skewed, what should you do to better understand the impact of your marketing channels?

I think you know where this is going: 

‍Say it with me now: Attribution tools!

‍Attribution is a touchy subject because it involves ambiguity and making sense of the unknown.

It can feel icky or wrong because it might disagree with the other data that you liked/believed before. 

People don't want to admit they were wrong. Cognitive dissonance!‍

I recommend all marketers invest in:

1. An attribution tool

2. Post-purchase surveys

Compare the data between the two as a guide/check.

‍Attribution tools and post-purchase surveys aren't perfect, but they're waaaay better than nothing.

‍

I also recommend that all marketers not take any of this (or anything for that matter) too seriously. 

‍Remember that there's no way to *perfectly* track what drove every customer to buy.

Maybe a single ad drove the sale immediately.

Maybe it was multiple touches across four devices over a month.

Maybe it was word of mouth from a friend a year ago, but they clicked a search ad before buying.

If you only trust the platform data, then you're not accounting for most scenarios.

A good attribution tool gives you more clarity about what drove actions. 

It allows you to make better decisions, but will inevitably miss the nuance of things that aren't able to be tracked.

‍

Obsessing over attribution data too much is a bottomless money and stress pit.

I've seen brands blow millions trying to "solve" attribution, all to wind up in the place where they started.

@TaylorHoliday has a good take on this:

‍

Why do they end up where they started? 

Because they're trying to justify their own positions/biases with the data they have.

All of this data is just being used to tell the story they want to tell.

Humans are imperfect, biased, and make mistakes. 

Orrrrr they can be incentivized (corrupted) by things like kickbacks to stack the deck in favor of one platform versus another (*cough* TV *cough).

Speaking of kickbacks, I don't currently work with/for or invest in either, but I've recently used and would recommend TripleWhale and Northbeam.

Check them both out and go with the one that makes sense for you.

Tell them Barry Hott sent you and I'll make some money 🤑

Here's a vid I recently shot talking about overlapping data and attribution issues across platforms.

It's part of a longer Hott Take I did for @andrewfoxwell's membership about how brands should be diversifying spend. Watch it here.

If you want to see the rest of the longer video (see screenshot), more of my future Hott Takes, and get to hang out with me and the best marketers in the biz, I urge you to join the Foxwell Founders Community (from my link so I can make some money 🤑) 

If you need help figuring any of this stuff out for your brand or agency, I offer hourly consulting and would be happy to help you find the right solution for your business.

We're all better off with better data.