Spurious variables to look for in digital analytics

There are a few spurious variables to look for in digital analytics.

There’s a whole world out there outside of a website. And it’s not just social.

• Macroeconomic factors impact marketing performance.

• Consumer trends impact marketing performance.

• Competitor marketing activity impact marketing performance.

More data than ever is open, and available to you:

• The best trove of US macroeconomic data can be found by at FRED, which also has an excellent API.

• The best trove of US consumer trends (and seasonality) can be found at Google Trends.

• The best (free) trove of competitor display ad activity can be found at moat.com

To address some doubt:

• You don’t need a degree in economics to know how to read definitions and examine economic trends.

• You don’t need absolute counts of search volume to assess structural consumer trends.

• You don’t need all the data to make assertions about competitor marketing activities.

Digital analytics includes the world outside of the website.

Even if you don’t include it in your analysis the first few months, it’s worth looking.

Do you think it’s worth exploring?

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I’m Christopher Berry.
I tweet about analytics @cjpberry
I write at christopherberry.ca