04 Jan Three Data Fallacies in Marketing Analytics
As marketing becomes more data-driven, marketers must be aware of the common data fallacies that hinder decision-making and prevent data from positively impacting marketing operations. Here are the top three fallacies to address today.
Fallacy 1: Only Use Online Data for Analytic Processes
We all know that digital marketing has exploded over the last decade. Marketers love that platforms like Google Analytics and Ads Manager make it easy to track the digital sales funnel. However, traditional offline marketing still works. Marketers shouldn’t neglect to measure offline marketing initiatives just because they think it’s hard. Consumers often travel through the sales funnel due to traditional and digital marketing methods. For example, someone may text a friend a link to a website holding a sale. Or, a personalized direct-mail piece could keep a brand top-of-mind when the consumer is ready to purchase the item later. Marketers must learn to integrate traditional and digital marketing campaigns into their marketing models to derive actionable insights.
Fallacy 2: Prioritize Reach Over Sales and Conversions
The second pitfall is the tendency to emphasize campaign reach over conversions and sales. A campaign can reach thousands of people, but if those people don’t convert to buyers, revenue and profits suffer. The key is to reach the right people with the ad. Keep in mind that a prospect likely needs multiple touches to move down the funnel from awareness to purchase. Leads that convert drive revenue and profits.
Fallacy 3: Small Sample Sizes Work
The third fallacy is that marketers believe small sample sizes can show statistically significant trends. Data-driven marketing requires lots of data! Often, you need multiple samples to begin deriving good insights. The data must be clean and valid as well. It is also critical for the sample size to be diverse and representative of your customer base. There are many sites that can help calculate statistically significant sample sizes.
There are many data fallacies that marketers may believe — I’ve only mentioned a few. However, if you examine your processes and address these pitfalls, you’ll be on your way to becoming an organization that makes marketing decisions based on good data and derives insights that positively influence operations.
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