Confirming advertising results with data — how to collect the right data?

In today’s world, marketing decisions can no longer rely on gut instinct—they must be based on real data. To succeed in a competitive market, businesses need to carefully analyze campaign performance and consumer behavior in order to develop well-informed and optimized strategies. Research shows that companies implementing data-driven strategies achieve a return on investment (ROI) that is 5 to 8 times higher than those relying on traditional approaches.

The importance of data-driven marketing in paid advertising has also grown significantly in recent years. In 2022, 29% of advertising strategies were data-based; by 2024, this figure had risen to 41%, highlighting how organizations are increasingly turning to data to allocate their advertising budgets more efficiently.

All this indicates a clear shift in the marketing landscape: the era of "intuitive guessing" is over, and a new standard of "data-driven decision-making" is emerging. Relying solely on creative ideas and experience is no longer enough—quantitative data and analytics have become key drivers of success. With more data at our fingertips than ever before, the ability to adapt marketing methods in this data-rich environment is essential for marketers and businesses aiming for sustainable growth.

Why Is It Essential to Back Advertising Results with Data?

There are several key reasons why marketing campaign outcomes must be validated with real, measurable data. These reasons are tied to both strategic logic and common industry pitfalls:

1. Without data-driven decisions, marketers are more likely to misallocate budgets and draw inaccurate conclusions. Relying on assumptions or incomplete information increases the risk of wasting resources or overinvesting in ineffective channels. A typical mistake is using the wrong metrics to assess campaign success—focusing on so-called vanity metrics instead of real business impact. Vanity metrics—such as website traffic, social media likes, or follower counts—may look impressive on the surface but often have little correlation with actual sales or revenue. Prioritizing such metrics can result in misleading performance evaluations and flawed marketing strategies.

2. Worse still, acting on inaccurate or partial data can amplify the problem. The data we use must be reliable and comprehensive. While each advertising platform provides its own analytics, these are often biased or incomplete. For example, platforms like Facebook and Google may inflate results or fail to account for influence from other channels. This can lead marketers to double-count a single customer or misattribute conversions to the wrong channel. A clear example comes from Gardyn, a direct-to-consumer e-commerce startup. Their team previously relied on platform-reported metrics and Google Analytics to evaluate performance, but they soon realized it was impossible to confidently attribute sales to any one source. Everything remained guesswork. Things became even more complex in 2021, when Apple’s iOS 14 update tightened privacy controls and further disrupted data tracking—making precise ad targeting and attribution even more difficult. These challenges highlight the growing need for marketers to validate advertising effectiveness using trustworthy data sources and holistic measurement models.

3. Another common issue stems from failing to define clear goals and KPIs. When campaign objectives are vague, it becomes unclear what data to collect or how to assess success. Without proper alignment between metrics and business goals (e.g., revenue, conversions), marketers risk tracking irrelevant indicators. For instance, an online retailer measuring success by website visits alone may miss the crucial insight of how many visitors actually made purchases. This is why marketers must not only gather the right data, but also use it to measure what truly matters. Understanding and applying accurate KPIs is now a non-negotiable part of modern marketing.

What Should You Focus on to Collect the Right Data?

To draw accurate conclusions from a marketing campaign, the first step is to clearly define your goals. Whether the objective is to increase brand awareness, boost sales, or improve customer engagement, the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be tailored to match that specific goal.

Each campaign must have well-aligned KPIs, and all stakeholders—such as team members and leadership—should agree on how success will be measured. In other words, before the campaign begins, everyone should have a shared understanding of “what outcomes define success, and what metrics will be used to measure it.” When your campaign goals and metrics are properly aligned, you can more accurately evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts.

Marketing researchers often advise: “You achieve faster ROI when marketing actions are guided by clear, actionable goals and measurable indicators.” This means that, from the outset, you must set specific, quantifiable targets and determine what success looks like—for example, “if engagement rate exceeds X% or conversions hit Y number, the campaign meets its goal.”

The next step is to collect the right data.In today’s digital environment, there are many ways to gather data. The key principle is to capture information that can provide a complete and actionable picture of performance. To do this effectively:

1. Integrate Data from Multiple SourcesRather than relying on a single channel, marketers need a holistic view of the customer journey. This requires integrating data from various sources—websites, email, social media, ad platforms, CRM systems, and even offline touchpoints. Modern marketing analytics tools now make it possible to view all of this in one unified dashboard, giving businesses a true 360-degree view of customer interactions. For example, platforms like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) track user events across websites and apps, allowing businesses to connect behavior across devices and sessions.

2. Define the Right MetricsAs previously noted, KPIs must align with campaign goals. If the goal is to increase sales, metrics such as conversion rate, cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS) are relevant. If the focus is on brand awareness, then reach, impressions, and brand recall are more appropriate. It's essential for the marketing team to align internally on which KPIs matter most in each case. This ensures everyone has a clear definition of what constitutes "success" and eliminates confusion.

3. Use the Right Tools and Tracking SystemsMake sure all available tracking tools are properly configured before launching your campaign. This includes:

   • Web analytics platforms (e.g., GA4, Adobe Analytics)

   • Ad platform analytics (e.g., Facebook Ads Manager, Google Ads Conversion Tracking)

   • Social media analytics (e.g., Facebook Insights, Twitter/X Analytics)

   • Email marketing reports

   • CRM system data

Be mindful of data quality. Duplicate or inconsistent data can distort insights, while technical issues (such as incorrect page tagging) may skew performance results. Some platforms offer automated data cleaning and deduplication features, but marketers must always validate that the information being analyzed is clean and accurate.

4. Enable Real-Time Monitoring and ReportingMarketing moves fast, so having real-time access to data is critical. Today’s analytics tools offer real-time dashboards and dynamic reports that allow marketers to monitor performance and make adjustments on the fly. For example, ad platforms may let you tweak budgets or pause underperforming campaigns mid-flight, while Google Analytics can show you which pages are seeing traffic in real-time. Data visualization is also key—use clear dashboards and charts to communicate performance to your team and leadership effectively.

5. Prioritize First-Party DataAs data privacy regulations tighten, third-party data sources are becoming less reliable. That’s why businesses must now focus more on first-party data—information they collect directly through owned channels. This includes:

   • User behavior on websites and apps

   • Email interaction data

   • Survey responses

   • Loyalty program engagement

First-party data is more trustworthy because it is collected with user consent, and it allows for more targeted and customized analysis. Experts highlight that enhancing your first-party data strategy is critical for long-term marketing success.

Real Case Study — How Data-Driven Strategy Led to Marketing Success

Let’s look at a real-world example of how a company improved its marketing performance through data. Gardyn, a U.S.-based indoor gardening startup, achieved significant success by adopting a data-driven marketing strategy.

In its early stages, Gardyn faced a major challenge: its marketing data was fragmented. The team relied on individual platform metrics (like Facebook Ads Manager or Google Analytics), which often conflicted with each other and provided no unified view of campaign performance. As the marketing team recalled, “nothing matched up—we were forced to rely on overly optimistic platform-reported numbers and make guesses.” This lack of clarity made it nearly impossible to confidently attribute conversions to the right channels or ads.

To resolve this, Gardyn implemented a marketing analytics solution that centralized data from all touchpoints into one system. This allowed them to trace each customer journey across multiple platforms and establish a single source of truth for measuring results. With this unified data view, the team could identify exactly which channels were driving real revenue and which ones were underperforming.

As a result, Gardyn drastically reallocated its budget. For example, they reduced their ad spend on Facebook (Meta) by up to 70% over the course of a year without seeing any decline in sales. In fact, their overall marketing efficiency improved significantly, with their media efficiency ratio (MER) showing strong double-digit growth compared to the previous year.

But they didn’t just cut costs—they reinvested intelligently. By identifying channels that drove higher-quality traffic, they increased budgets where it mattered. One such example was TikTok, a platform they previously underutilized. Gardyn boosted its TikTok ad spend by approximately 1,400% in the new year, and despite this shift, the number of new visitors remained steady, while overall marketing costs dropped sharply. More importantly, the cost per new visitor decreased by 48%, and the “add-to-cart” rate rose by 94%, clearly indicating that the quality of traffic had dramatically improved.

This data-driven approach also reshaped the team's management culture. Gardyn’s marketers began monitoring key metrics on a daily basis, allowing them to make rapid adjustments when needed. “We track every metric daily—cost per visit, conversion rate, and more. If something isn’t performing to standard, we act immediately. It’s not about one or two numbers—it’s about understanding the full picture,” the team explained.

Ultimately, Gardyn’s example shows a powerful lesson: When decisions are based on accurate, centralized data, marketing efforts can become exponentially more effective.

In Conclusion…

Bringing together the key insights above, one thing is clear: in today’s marketing landscape, the ability to plan, execute, and evaluate campaigns based on data is not just a competitive advantage—it’s a core capability.

When businesses collect the right data, they gain clear visibility into campaign performance and can make faster, more informed decisions. A data-driven approach helps marketers deeply understand their customers, deliver personalized experiences, and ultimately increase customer satisfaction. It also enables teams to identify the most effective channels, allocate budgets more efficiently, and tailor content to match real audience needs—all of which directly impact the return on marketing investment (ROI).

Most importantly, data-driven marketing fosters a culture of accountability and precision. Instead of acting on assumptions or intuition alone, marketers are encouraged to test ideas, validate them with evidence, and measure results—leading to fewer mistakes and greater opportunities for growth.

While the volume and complexity of data can be daunting, teams that learn to harness it effectively will stand out from competitors and offer truly relevant experiences to their customers. By embracing a data-driven culture and integrating it into every level of decision-making, your marketing efforts can become not only smarter and more strategic—but also more impactful than ever before.