The cost of a method nobody can explain

An unexplained number survives until the first serious challenge, and then it takes the measurement programme with it. Three costs, and the third is the one that lasts.

The three

The collapse is abrupt

A black-box number holds as long as nobody pushes. The first time somebody asks what it is compared against and there is no answer, the credibility does not degrade gracefully; it goes, and it takes the correct parts of your analysis with it.

That is why the ordering advice in defending a finding starts with the method is to lead with the design. A claim that has already placed itself cannot be knocked off a pedestal it never climbed.

Support dependency is the recurring cost

Someone has to work out whether the move is real, and the triage order is: was it smaller than the interval, did coverage move too, did a definition change, and only then did something change in the marketing.

Nothing transferable is the compounding cost

Two years with an explained method leaves your team able to read any measurement critically, because the four ideas that matter, what goes in, what it is compared against, why the interval is that wide, and what is not measured, transfer to every tool.

Two years with a black box leaves your team able to operate one interface. When it is replaced, that is worth nothing, and you begin again.

What it costs to avoid

Nothing, at evaluation. Ask for the methodology document and the sample output payload before buying, as set out in asking for the methodology before you buy. Both are free to request and the responses are informative whether or not you proceed.

What we do about it

Method in plain language on how it works, readable with no account. Every channel gets a data-health score from 0 to 100 that grades the read, not the channel, and a next step: raise, cut or hold, or fix tagging first. Input is a Google Analytics export you produce.

€99 for a first read, refundable within 30 days, no questions asked.

The question worth asking about your current setup

If your main measurement contact left tomorrow, could anyone in your business explain how your headline marketing number is produced. If not, that is the exposure, and it is larger than any licence fee in the discussion.

Related answers

• Plain-English methodology is part of the product
• Use the methodology doc to design your own check
• Explaining your attribution method to non-specialists
• The cost of cutting the wrong channel
• The cost of keeping multi-touch attribution in the EU