The Weekly Blog is curated content from the Evolytics staff, bringing you the most interesting news in data and analysis from around the web. The Evolytics staff has proven experience and expertise in analytics strategy, tagging implementation, data engineering, and data visualization.

STOP SHAMING YOUR USERS FOR MICRO CONVERSIONS

NIELSEN NORMAN GROUP | BLOG

Has a website ever made you feel guilty for opting out of an email signup?  Or made you feel like a liar for clicking a button that says “No Thanks. I don’t want to save money,” in order to close a popup?  Now there’s a name for it – manipulinks.

There have undoubtedly been AB Tests conducted, showing higher CTR for such links. Unfortunately, other key performance indicators are often connected, and optimizing one can have negative effects on another.  Companies should avoid sacrificing customer experience and satisfaction for the sake of micro conversions.

When we test and optimize website experiences or marketing with our clients, we make sure to run potential changes through a pretty strong “common sense” filter as well.  We may concurrently run a voice of the customer (VOC) survey to make sure we’re not sacrificing customer satisfaction just to boost quantitative results.  It’s also important to identify secondary metrics (such as bounce rate, time on site, or exit rate) that you’re not willing to sacrifice when pursuing a test success metric.

TRANSCEND TAGS AND DELIVER EXPERIENCES

ADOBE | BLOG

Adobe announced an update to its tag management system in April, now calling it “Launch” instead of “Dynamic Tag Management.”  Our implementation team has evaluated the updated tool’s new features, but the enhancements mainly fall into three categories:

• Tag Templates:  Third-party tech providers are able to update their own tag templates, making sure users are always accessing the latest tag versions and related functionality improvements.
• Cross-Platform Data Activation:  Adobe is making it easier to blend data points from multiple platforms to customize experiences with its “marketer-friendly rule builder.”
• Data Consistency:  Adobe is adding in data layer functionality to capture key data points as a single source of truth, so those values can be standardized and passed to different connected technologies.

FACEBOOK: ‘MARKETERS NEED TO STOP TAKING SHORTCUTS WHEN IT COMES TO MEASUREMENT’

MARKETING WEEK | BLOG

Facebook fires back in the fight over meaningful metrics on its platform.  The platform got into hot water last year after admitting several errors in audience measurement, such as inflating the reported time users spent watching videos.  Facebook’s latest defense is that marketers are measuring the wrong things.  They also take a shot at last-click attribution, digital media’s favorite punching bag.

While this doesn’t fully absolve Facebook of its past measurement sins, they have a point.  Companies should never rely only on data available directly from an advertising platform as the single source of performance truth.  Whenever possible, advertisers should employ 3rd party ad tracking and also measure as far downstream from an initial ad impression as possible to trackable micro and macro conversions.  Last-click attribution may not be your best option if you have access to more sophisticated attribution models.  The first step to measurement success however is crafting a thoughtful, comprehensive measurement plan that aligns digital metrics with business objectives.