Today’s digital marketer is not getting the insights they need out of reporting tools. Marketers have access to multiple tools and dashboards that provide conflicting perspectives on how their ad channels are performing online. The challenge for many of them is working with multiple technology providers as well as trying to make sense of the data provided within a multitude of dashboards.
Marketers are skeptical (and rightly so) about advertising technology. They don’t trust it, either because vendors have overpromised and underdelivered, or because the thought of adding another piece of tech to the marketing stack is just too much. If you’re using a reporting system to get performance insights and the data isn’t accurate, then the optimizations won’t be effective.
Why Most Marketers Don’t Use Measurement Technology
The IAAAs’ research found that only about one in five marketers use advanced analytics tools to measure the impact of their digital media.
“There’s a huge gap between what people say they do in terms of measurement and what they actually do,” said Matt Davis, chief strategy officer at ad agency Droga5 and co-chairman of the IAAAs’ Measurement Council.
Most marketing departments don’t leverage measurement tech because they don’t trust vendors and most solutions aren’t ROI positive.
You probably get a lot of sales emails for new adtech. Every email says the same thing – that this new vendor is the best thing since sliced bread and their tech is the silver bullet that will 10X your ROAS. You’ve probably been burned before by vendor promises that didn’t pan out. It’s no wonder that you don’t trust ‘attribution’ providers.
The truth is that most marketers don’t buy measurement tech because it’s too expensive. It’s hard to believe that the analytics delivered will lead to enough performance gains to be ROI positive. So, most marketers stick with free tools like Google Analytics or in-platform reporting.
Free Isn’t Free
“If something is free, you are the product” – Richard Serra.
Google Analytics and ad platform reporting are free. Why? Because their product is your ad budget! They want you to spend more money with them.
“Free” Reporting comes with hidden costs: you don’t get to see across the walled gardens and you can’t truly understand how ad channels are converting users.
Free reports default to last-touch attribution, but last-touch/last-click doesn’t accurately reflect how buyers interact with your ads. The biggest problem with last-click attribution is that it encourages marketers to spend their budget in ways that are not necessarily the most effective. We very frequently see that when channels work together, conversion rates are much higher. Last-touch is overly simplistic.
The better way to understand how ad channels work together to drive conversions is with a piece of measurement technology.
When to Consider Adding A Layer of Measurement Tech
Measurement technology is not a one size fits all solution. The right approach depends on your business and its unique challenges. Here are 4 signs you need measurement tech:
You Have Conflicting Data
The first clear signal you need measurement tech is your data from various places doesn’t match. If Facebook shows 100 sales, Google shows 100 sales, but your ecom platform shows 125 – that’s a problem.
The problem with bad data is that it can make you feel like the worst marketer in the world. You understand your market and your customers enough to know how they’ll react to ads, but that’s not showing up in the data. You know it’s bad data because it doesn’t make sense – it doesn’t fit with everything else you know.
But if you’re just seeing numbers go up and down with no real understanding of why, how to improve, or what to do next, then your marketing efforts are going to feel like a lot of wasted time and effort.
When you have conflicting data and you’re not getting the insights you need, it’s time to consider measurement tech that can tell you what you need: what’s working, proving campaign effectiveness, and how to spend smarter.
You Miss ROAS/CPA Targets
If you’re still using Google Analytics and platform reporting to try to optimize campaigns, you’re flying blind. If you’re missing your KPI targets or CPA is increasing, it’s probably time to look into measurement tech.
Measurement tools help you understand how your website visitors are interacting with your ads and content. You can then use this information to improve the performance of your campaigns. Great solutions will show you where ad spend is being wasted and the best opportunities to reallocate that budget for the biggest lift.
You Want More Accountability with Your Agency or Ad Platforms
If you’re working with an agency or ad platform that can’t show you how your ads are working together, you’re missing the “verify” from “trust but verify”. A lack of accountability with your ad partners is a recipe for disaster.
By adding measurement technology, you can use the additional data to see where things are going wrong and make sure you get better results moving forward.
You’re Advertising in More Than 3 Channels
One of the biggest reasons to use a measurement platform is to help you optimize your ad spend. When you have multiple ad channels, it’s even more important to make sure that your ad spend is going to the right channels.
Once you add in a third and fourth ad channel to your media mix, understanding which channels are delivering value and exactly how much becomes near-impossible if you don’t have the right tool in place. Allocating ad budgets starts to feel like educated guessing rather than strategic thinking.
If you’re not using measurement tech across multiple ad channels, it’s likely there’s some portion of your ad budget that’s being wasted. Finding the right partner can help you create compounding performance improvements.
Conclusion
Too many marketers aren’t getting enough insight into campaign performance. Free tools don’t have the answers marketers need to properly see what’s working across multiple channels, prove effectiveness to the broader team, and find the best opportunities to spend smarter. Good news is that there are solutions to getting better measurement that makes analytics easier.
