The bar a non-technical founder should set
Not being technical is not a reason to accept an unexplained number. Four things any vendor should be able to say plainly, and what it means when they cannot.
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By Joris van Huët, Founder & CEOUpdated 2 min read
Not being technical is not a reason to accept a number you cannot interrogate. It is a reason to demand plainer explanations, not fewer.
The four
| What to ask | A good answer sounds like | A bad answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Where does the number come from? | A named system, and whether we sell you media | "Our AI model" |
| How sure is it? | A range, and what makes it wider or narrower | A single confident figure |
| What share of my orders does it explain? | A percentage, computed and shown | The question is not addressed |
| What can it not measure? | These channels, at this spend, and why | Everything gets a number |
What genuinely requires technical help
Very little, for the read itself. Producing a Google Analytics export is a menu operation. Reading a per-channel estimate with a range next to it is not harder than reading a weather forecast.
The one concept worth learning
Uncertainty. A confidence interval is the difference between a number you can act on and a number that is consistent with several stories. Ten minutes with what is attribution in plain English covers enough to read any report critically for the rest of your career.
That single concept does more work than any amount of tooling familiarity.
The shape that suits a founder
One export, one read, an answer in minutes, no install, no contract. The €99 one-time read is exactly that, with a full refund within 30 days, no questions asked.
The standard, stated once
You should be able to explain the number in your own words to someone else in your business. If you cannot, either the tool has not explained itself or you have not been given the fields that would let it. Both are the vendor's problem, not yours.
Further reading: no-code marketing analytics for ecommerce and marketing analytics tools for small DTC teams.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be technical to use marketing attribution?
No. Producing an analytics export is a menu operation and reading an estimate with a range beside it is not harder than reading a forecast.What is the one concept worth learning?
Uncertainty. A confidence interval separates a number you can act on from one consistent with several different stories. It is the single idea that lets you read any report critically, regardless of which tool produced it.
Go deeper: Incrementality testing, explained.
Sixty-second versions of these ideas: Causality Engine on YouTube Shorts.
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Keep reading
Terms in this article
- AnalyticsAnalytics is the systematic computational analysis of data. It reveals customer behavior and measures campaign performance.
- AttributionAttribution identifies user actions that contribute to a desired outcome and assigns value to each. It reveals which marketing touchpoints drive conversions.
- Confidence IntervalConfidence Interval is a statistical range of values that likely contains the true value of a metric. In marketing analytics, it quantifies uncertainty around estimates, indicating the precision of an outcome or causal effect.
- Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
- Marketing AnalyticsMarketing analytics measures, manages, and analyzes marketing performance to improve effectiveness and ROI. It tracks data from various marketing channels to evaluate campaign success.