The Data Stack Show 226: Building Trust in Marketing Data: An Engineer's Guide to Attribution Architecture with Lew Dawson of Momentum Consulting
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Jan 29, 2025 In this engaging discussion, Lew Dawson, a MarTech consultant at Momentum Consulting, delves into the challenges surrounding marketing data attribution. He shares insights on the 'people problem' affecting data consistency and the importance of collaboration across departments. The conversation highlights the complexities of UTM parameters and their crucial role in data reliability. Lew also tackles identity resolution and the need for unique join keys to improve attribution accuracy. His anecdotes add a compelling layer, making the intricacies of data architecture relatable and insightful.
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Attribution Errors Cause Misleading ROI
- John Wessel discovered an 800% return on ad spend was actually 400% due to conversion events firing twice.
- Another bug prevented orders over $1,000 from being captured, impacting overall ROI calculations.
Unnoticed Conversion Drop
- Lew Dawson experienced a major attribution failure when conversion tracking stopped working.
- This went unnoticed, highlighting the need for robust alerting and monitoring mechanisms.
Attribution Definition and Challenges
- Attribution seeks to understand customer acquisition costs, ad performance, and customer retention across channels.
- It's challenging because each business defines and weights attribution differently, often prioritizing specific KPIs.