19 questions to marketing attribution and predictive analytics vendors during a demo

With marketers facing increasing pressure to demonstrate the value of the budget they’re allocated for programs, marketing attribution and predictive analytics solutions are tailor-made for proving how tactics and media channels contribute to the bottom line.

Given all of that promise, marketers are certainly evaluating these technologies and one crucial part of that process is the demo. It’s important to set up demos within a relatively short time frame of each other to help make relevant
comparisons.

Make sure that all potential internal users are on the demo call, and pay attention to the following:

• How easy is the platform to use?
• Does the vendor seem to understand our business and our marketing needs?
• Are they showing us our “must-have” features?

Here are 19 questions to ask each vendor that will help you narrow the field:

• What platform hosting options are available (SaaS/cloud/on premise)?
• What are my options in terms of attribution modeling? Is there a set-in-stone pre-set formula or can I customize it based on my own priorities?
• How do clients typically staff and manage the day-to-day operations of the tool? Do I need dedicated data scientists, or what level of expertise is needed to get the full benefit of the system?
• What different kinds of data are available for integration and for appending? Does the vendor specialize in a particular channel, vertical or campaign objective?
• How does the platform ingest and manage offline marketing data?
• How does the platform monitor integration success and/or failures, and report on data variances or anomalies?
• How does the platform handle connectors and integrations with outside martech systems? Are your “must have” integrations rock solid?
• What is the system’s approach to integrating with the specific martech and ad tech systems that your company uses? Just because a connector exists doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for your organization and how you use that third-party platform.
• How does the platform employ machine learning for data analytics, such as predicting customer trends and patterns?
• Does the platform connect directly with execution systems so that you can quickly act on insights to tweak in-flight campaigns?
• What data security regulations does the platform comply with?
• What data security certifications does the platform have?
• Can we pay the software license month-to-month? Or is an annual contract required? Is there a short-term contract or an “out” clause if things don’t work out?
• Will there be a price increase when I renew next year — if so, how much?
• What are the additional fees? (i.e., set-up costs, add-on features, API, quotas)?
• How long is the onboarding process typically? Will we have a dedicated resource? Who will be the day-to-day contact?
• What is the level of support included in the price? What support is additional?
• Who pays if your system/team makes an error?
• Will our support team work with us to test new features and assess the results?

About The Author

Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media’s Content Studio, where she produces MarTech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land and MarTech. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She’s a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.