The Importance of Comparative Data (aka, “Comp. Data”)
You’ve created performance measurement for your marketing programs. You’ve identified key metrics that are critical to success ―micro and macro conversions.
You’ve identified and defined the KPIs that indicate how effectively and efficiently those initiatives are performing. And now you have all the performance data readily accessible!
So how are you doing? —and how do you know how well you’re doing?
Year-over-Year (YOY) comparison is a common method of evaluating two or more measured events to compare the results at one period with those of a comparable period (same time, season, holidays, etc) on an annualized basis. That’s super important, as time of year has a massive impact on conversion and revenue.
So using Year Over Year comparisons naturally normalizes for seasonality, and makes it quite clear if you’re up, down or stuck.
The Trap of Trailing Periods
If you are using trailing periods to analyze your performance you will always be measuring against seasonal periods that can skew the analysis.
If you are measuring your sales revenue for Q4, and you are comparing trailing period. In most cases, because of the Q4 holiday season, the revenue will always trend up.
For example, you are 20% higher than Q3 of the same year, however, you could actually be down 25% when comparing to Q4 of the prior year. This is important because both periods now have the same holiday season and this is the truest view of performance you can get.
GA3 Sunsetting will Eliminate Your Comp Data if You Don’t Complete Your Migration NOW.
To have reliable comp data you need at a minimum 13 months of data. If you are like most people and are viewing the GA3 sunset date of July 1, 2023 as the time to have your new GA4 ready, then you are in for a long period of no comp data.