Every platform claims the same sale

Someone sees an ad for a pair of shoes. A few days later they see another one somewhere else. Then another, here and there. Eventually, they buy the shoes.

One sale.

Every platform takes the credit.

One or two count it because the person saw an ad. The other two or three count it because they clicked, or were on an email list.

All of a sudden, one pair of shoes has become three or four.

None of them are lying... they're just doing their own homework.

Questions to ask

• Who checks your numbers?
• If you add up every channel's results, do they come to more sales or bookings than you actually had?
• Which results came from which channel, and how do you know?

Can attribution fix it?

Partly. Data-driven attribution, analytics platforms, CRM data and media mix modelling can all get closer, and some businesses need them.

But they all have assumptions, gaps and different ways of assigning credit.

So at some point, someone still has to decide which number the business goes by. Usually it's the simplest one: how many people actually bought, booked or called.

One person. One pair of shoes.