In a recent study by eMarketer, top 3 challenges with using any web analytics data include; inability to integrate data with other marketing solutions (46%), verifying accuracy (41%), lack of comprehensive data (32%). Not surprising at all!
A couple of theories jump out of these findings. One, there is a lot of data that can be available through simple tracking with any of the wide array of tools in the market.
Two, not enough effort and foresight goes behind defining the success metrics and the data that needs to be collected.
Here, I want to address the second theory, since we can and should control it and demand more from it. The data needs for each marketing campaign fall into a tightly linked planning, launch and post-launch stages. If we are to take a guess, this is usually not the case!
It is imperative that the campaign strategy clearly defines success metrics, data needed to verify this success, and a clear implementation plan to ensure appropriate reporting will be available to analyse the performance. It should be made a part of the project planning process, with the campaign manager directly accountable for reporting on campaign success.
Professionally, I have been witness to several projects, where measurement and analysis could not be completed, because analytics department/individuals were not engaged from the start of the campaign process. Effective ROI measurement and future marketing investments are dependent on how robust our data quality is - that should be justification enough for engaging appropriate level of analytical and data support at the concept stage of each marketing campaign.
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