How to Avoid Flawed Results
Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services
Now more than ever understanding what each of your marketing channels is driving your orders is critical to your success.
Marketers have attempted various methods to achieve this understanding. What we have found is that in many cases the results are flawed and as a result, decisions as to how to move forward are based on inaccurate information. Doing this process internally sometimes leads to personal preferences and emphases on a particular channel over another.
Even if you decide to keep your matchback process internal, it pays to have an outside company occasionally provide the matchbacks for you. Here are three reasons why:
- The external company can validate your results. For a few hundred dollars you could receive an external reassurance that you are on the right track, and you can continue to charge ahead. Worst case scenario? You weren’t on the right track and now you have a great resource to help you fix and improve.
- Ensure your methodology is consistent. Every company has created a system that works for them depending on their culture and the different personalities in the team. An outsider looking in has the ability to find the flaws and the areas that your team might have overlooked or neglected.
- Review your best practice business rules. There are many different ways to peel an apple. Sometimes your company’s best practice business rules might not be, in fact, the best. A fresh perspective is great to challenge and refine your current approach.
Going through the process, discussing and agreeing to the business rules, understanding where the data is coming from, etc. are all critical to the accuracy of the analysis. Keep in mind - you should already know the total sales for the period being analyzed. The matchback fine-tunes those numbers into the proper channel receiving credit for the sale.
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