tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34368959.post7953716466608802720..comments2024-03-25T04:32:02.396-04:00Comments on Customer Experience Matrix: Are Millennial Marketers More Analytical?David Raabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489754392712536104noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34368959.post-80556307342316097842014-07-20T21:31:26.703-04:002014-07-20T21:31:26.703-04:00Thanks Damian. My experience with young marketers...Thanks Damian. My experience with young marketers has also been that they are not especially analytical or particularly versed in statistical methodologies, but I don't know that I'd attribute that to anything generational. It's more a matter of general experience and lack of training. They'll presumably learn as they get older, or at least the smart ones will. Let's not stereotype an entire generation.<br /><br />I'm not sure the complexity of B2B sales cycles really explains disinterest in ROI measurement. It's true that some companies have relatively few deals, but big companies do have enough, and even those with few closed deals have many more inquiries and opportunities, which gives them a larger base to assess. You might not be able to get very precise estimates of incremental impact from such small volumes, but you do get a sense of what seems productive and what does not.David Raabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03489754392712536104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34368959.post-86501325273595119732014-07-20T21:25:14.764-04:002014-07-20T21:25:14.764-04:00The following was submitted by Damian Roskill...
&...The following was submitted by Damian Roskill...<br />"My vendor friend’s suspicion was that marketers don’t buy better measurement because, whatever they say in surveys, they really don’t want to be measured. My own opinion, based on comments from marketers over the years, is they don’t have time to put advanced measurement systems in place."<br /><br />I don't think either is quite right (although you are closer to the answer). The simple truth is that B2B marketing (where most of this stuff sells) has complex sales cycles where it is very difficult to measure. As an example, my group recently analyzed all the completed enterprise level deals we closed in Q2. While Marketo (our chosen tool) helped, we still has to go talk to sales people and do a bunch of data analysis to determine the history of a lead-to-close.<br /><br />So the problem of B2B is that many companies live in a complex attribution space - often a place of what I call "snowflakes" - where every deal is a little bit different.<br /><br />If you happen to be running a simple SaaS business, then getting to such answers might be easier - but for us, the answers are nuanced and complex, and difficult to tease out of rigid software platforms.<br /><br />So in my opinion it isn't that people don't want the answer, it is that the answer is much more complex and, as you rightly point out, requires a great deal more time to analyze than you thought. The final problem is that if you have a low number of deals, it may be very difficult to draw any huge conclusion about ROI where every deal looks a little bit different.<br /><br />"Then our conversation took an unexpected turn: the vendor speculated that younger marketers might be more analytical and hence more inclined to ROI measurement."<br /><br />I'd say yes and no - yes, there's more of a focus on ROI, but in general I find that young marketers lack crucial skills to answer these questions. They also tend to lack a statistical rigor and knowledge that I think are critical to getting to the right answer. So they're good at recommending A/B testing, but if you ask if the test is statistically valid, they suddenly don't have an answer. This is a key area of training that college should be providing to young marketers.<br /><br />Thanks for the article David - great as usual!<br />David Raabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03489754392712536104noreply@blogger.com