Marketing data reliability cannot be overlooked. With accurate and reliable data come accurate and reliable decisions. That is, if you base business decisions on data.
When marketing data is unreliable, it can cause massive problems with campaigns, especially with their spending. After all, if you don’t know what you’re using the money for, how can you say it is working?
Here, we will explore strategies for ensuring the functionality of a marketing ecosystem and maintaining data reliability.
Table of contents:
- Understanding the marketing ecosystem
- Selecting and validating marketing metrics
- Handling errors in data
- Continuous monitoring and adaptation
- Proactive steps for data reliability
- Conclusion: A commitment to data accuracy
Understanding the marketing ecosystem
By a marketing ecosystem, we mean the combination of platforms, tools, and processes that are used for a company’s marketing. For example, a very simplified but surprisingly typical marketing ecosystem could consist of the following things:
- A WordPress website, including a blog
- Google Tag Manager for tag management
- Google Analytics for website analytics
- Content calendar
- MS Excel and PowerPoint for reporting
You could probably do most things with this kind of standard ecosystem. But when it comes to more complicated things, like multi-channel reporting, it can get pretty complex really quickly. At that point, we could see these kinds of tools included:
- Meta Business Manager for Facebook and Instagram marketing
- LinkedIn Business Manager for LinkedIn marketing
- Supermetrics for pulling data from different sources
- Looker Studio for creating and sharing reports
At this point, we not only gain more insights, but it also becomes easier to report and draw conclusions. You also have more options to choose which data to include in which reports.
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Selecting and validating marketing metrics
Data validation can be quite tedious, but it can really help in spotting anomalies. Cross-checking between data sources is something that we do weekly for conversions and in some specific cases. We use cross-checking the more actively when we have already spotted discrepancies in our reports. Our first reaction in these cases is to get to the bottom of it, and find out where the problem is. Then we continuously monitor the different layers of tracking to be sure that everything works.
Sometimes too good results will blind a marketer. Getting 200% increase in conversions out of nowhere can be tempting to just report proudly, but what you really should be doing is to find out if those conversion are real. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t, but at least you know if everything is working as intended. Common sense in your friend in doing data validation.
Also read:
B2B Marketing Measurement – Creating a Meaningful Measurement System
Do You Measure Your Marketing Enough?
Handling errors in data
Identifying and diagnosing errors
Errors can and will arise in marketing data; it’s just a matter of time. The most common things that throw errors, are tracking issues and platform updates. These errors usually represent themselves by either completely lacking any data, or data being way off. In the case of the latter, it can be difficult to pinpoint the actual errors.
By doing regular audits on the data errors can be spotted before it’s too late. Nothing can be undone however, so the effects of data errors will persist in the data. It’s then important to write down when an error has occurred, so that when the dataset is being analyzed, those errors can be taken into account.
Communicating errors transparently
It is a matter of time that an error happens. What marketers need to do, is to prepare themselves to communicate and explain what’s happened, when it happened, and what effects it can have. Also, it’s very important to explain if and how the error can be prevented in the future.
Prepare to answer these questions:
- What went wrong (e.g., tracking malfunction).
- What was impacted (e.g., specific metrics, reports).
- What will be done to fix it and prevent recurrence.
Everyone should understand that errors happen from time to time. That’s why it’s crucial to communicate about them as soon as they are identified. This will enforce trust and cooperation in the future.
Explore this topic more:
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Continuous monitoring and adaptation
Like any other software, marketing ecosystem will and should evolve over time. This means that things change and break, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. What you can do, though, is to get better at adapting to changes. Don’t lock yourself into a certain tool, platform, or technology. Be open to try and research new platforms and tools. However, I will admit that sometimes changes are not making the ecosystem better, quite on the contrary.
As you have your marketing ecosystem up and running, update the integrations and other software regularly. Even if you don’t want to use certain new user interfaces or features, do update whatever needs updating. Also be sure to share your knowledge of anything new and relevant with your team, so everyone can be on the same page.
Additional resources:
Trimming Unnecessary Information from B2B Marketing Reporting
Digital Marketing Data Analytics – Tools and Tips
Proactive steps for data reliability
So how can you mitigate the impact of data errors? It is possible to be proactive – to a degree. For example, creating a checklist for data reliability can result in fewer errors in data. But it can’t really prevent something you are not in control of.
Here are a few suggestions to put on the checklist:
- Doing regular data quality audits will help in spotting the errors sooner
- Establishing fallback mechanisms for key metrics (e.g. having two different platforms tracking a website)
- Using data pipelines with version control
Conclusion
A marketing ecosystem that is resilient to errors is a powerful asset. Having fewer or no errors in the data means that analysis can be done reliably and efficiently.
Remember also, that getting errors in marketing data is not the end of the world; it happens. By communicating any inaccuracies openly enforces trust and credibility, which are powerful assets as well.
You can of course manage and operate everything by yourself, or you could leverage a partner, like Aboad, who works with tracking, data validation and reliability all the time.