How do you avoid crappy marketing data?

It’s easy to end up with turds in your data. Too easy. Waaaay too easy. 

So what can you do to avoid crappy marketing data?

You can start by asking six very powerful and simple questions about the numbers you’re looking at:

1. What are we measuring? 

2. Is it true?

3. What’s missing? 

4. How precise are things? 

5. Is the math right? 

6. Does it make sense? 

Take #1. Do you actually know what your metrics are measuring? Are you measuring purchase intent or just people’s desire to please? Are you gauging on-site attention or just how long a browser window is open? And WTF is ‘brand lift’ anyway?

Or #4: If you have a bunch of precise metrics, and you multiply them (or combine them) with a totally imprecise metric, the whole shebang is now imprecise. It’s basic math (and common sense). But it’s also common practice in marketing to report things to 5 significant digits: 416.45.

If you can ask them yourself, great. If not, find someone who can suss them out for you. Otherwise you’re bound to end up with some turds in your marketing math.