When Metrics Don’t Matter

I knew a publisher who used to give an incredible presentation about "Direct Traffic" to a website. He made a very convincing argument that such traffic was the result of print advertising, the untrackable medium.

But even when advertising can be tracked, the fact is that you can only know the end of the story. What salespeople don’t know is how the prospect behaved prior to that final interaction.

Last week, Allan Brown from Graduate Prospects (a highly successful digital-only magazine) shared the following essay with me. In it, he details how salespeople need to think beyond the final click when dealing with clients. While Allan’s clients are recruiters, the lesson is universal for all of us, regardless of our audience. Excellent reading:

“Tough Measures in Recruitment Media" by Allan Brown.
 
In times of negative economic pressure, when budgets are being cut and all expenditure needs to be justified, many organizations will only use media they know is effective. Whether clients are looking at click-throughs to their website or evaluating where new clients first learned about the opportunities, salespeople are questioned about effectiveness more than ever. And though it’s wise to measure the effectiveness of media and advertising, the results should also be taken in context.
 
When looking at the measurement of the response mechanism, or the click from a web site, one needs to consider how it came about. Was the advert that produced the action the first and final interaction? If we are confident of this then all is well and good. However, if the click was a result of familiarity with a brand developed through other interactions, using this measure to justify future media spend could undermine the very basis of that interaction. Would the candidate have clicked on that link if they were not familiar with or inspired by the brand? This question requires an answer if you are not to fall in the trap of cutting the media that initially engaged the candidate resulting in the final measured interaction.
 
There are also significant issues with asking recruits through what route they applied. It is common for candidates to accept many different influences on different levels whilst seeking a career move or their first role. The breadth of the interactions they have with friends and family, careers professionals, directories, magazines, newspapers, emails, web sites etc are very difficult to measure. In addition, you are reliant on memory and honesty, which both present issues. There are many significant marketing texts, as well as widespread anecdotal evidence, of the unreliability of recruits / customers as measure of media effectiveness. In one example, an organization advertised in a number of different media in order to reach a wide audience. Upon booking the media one of the choices was omitted from the media schedule, so the adverts did not appear, but it was left as an option on the candidate questionnaire preceded by the question ‘Where did you hear about this role?’  To the recruiters surprise a significant number of the responses included the media that was omitted from the schedule and did not appear.
 
This is a challenge for any recruiter to understand and there are many possible reasons including:
* The candidate just forgot where they saw the role
* They are worried about giving the wrong answer and keen to make a good impression, they offer the answer they feel best suits the role.
* They did not give it any thought and just ticked any random answer.
 
Be cautious when measuring media effectiveness using simple metrics that look straightforward, as you could do more harm than good. Consider the whole campaign from inspiration and engagement, right through to that final interaction: the application of the recruit with your client.