How many of us hide the truth about what we're doing, hoping those things don't end up coming out? Everyone. Mike and Doug discuss one of their favorite subjects in this episode - metrics, data, and analytics.
Marketing attribution is rearing up again because executives are putting more and more money into marketing, looking for what ROI it brings. Marketers feel the pressure to show how they've driven ROI. The thing with attribution though is that it should be reported as a percentage not as a dollar figure. But even before you start asking about marketing attribution, you need to have a strong SLA. Skipping that step and going straight into attribution is NOT something you should be doing because then you're trying to get an answer without having to do the hard work.
Doug's biggest concern around data and analytics is that we're measuring more and more things and we're getting dumber because of it. The problem is this: attribution isn't working. The purpose is for optimization, but today we use it to cover our asses. We're taking things that are signals to tell you if what you're doing is healthy or not and turning it into the end all. And because of that, we're making more and more myopic decisions. With all this intent, why do we continue to regress? Our data has gotten so far ahead of the context, it's paralyzed companies. It comes down to this: spend little time focusing on your analytics, and spend a lot more time on the context and you'll be more successful.