The Missing Piece in Marketing Measurement: Why Surveys Deserve a Seat at the Table

Marketing measurement has always been a challenge. With an ever-expanding media landscape, brands are investing in a wide range of channels—from digital to traditional media—all while trying to track and measure performance effectively. While methodologies like Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) provide valuable insights, they still leave gaps in understanding the full impact of marketing investments.

One of the most overlooked yet powerful tools in the measurement toolkit? Surveys.

In a recent conversation with Matt Bahr, CEO of Fairing, and Ron Jacobson, CEO of Rockerbox, we explored the role of surveys in marketing measurement and why they should be considered a crucial component of a brand’s measurement strategy. Here’s what we learned.

The Real-Time Advantage of Surveys

One of the biggest advantages of survey data is its immediacy. Unlike MMM, which is based on historical data, or incrementality testing, which requires time to execute and analyze, surveys provide real-time customer feedback.

Ron Jacobson put it best: “Surveys deliver immediate feedback, allowing marketers to make timely optimizations based on real customer responses.” This means that instead of waiting weeks or months for insights, brands can use survey data to quickly understand what’s working and pivot their strategies accordingly.

This speed is especially critical for brands that rely on agile marketing. When launching a new campaign or testing a new channel, waiting for data from long-term models can hinder rapid decision-making. With surveys, brands can get quick directional insights and adapt in real time.

Filling the Gaps

Matt Bahr explained, “Surveys provide a more accurate and scalable way to understand channel contribution. If you’re diversifying your media mix, incorporating survey data ensures that you’re not overlooking high-impact but hard-to-track channels.”

For brands investing in traditionally challenging-to-measure channels, surveys offer a way to validate their impact. Instead of relying on coupon codes, landing page visits, or other workaround tracking methods that can be unreliable, surveys capture direct feedback from customers, providing clearer attribution insights.

Surveys Work in Harmony with MTA and MMM

A common misconception is that surveys are meant to replace MTA or MMM. In reality, surveys work in conjunction with these models to provide a more holistic measurement approach.

Ron elaborated on this, saying, “We think of surveys as a validation methodology—one that works alongside MTA and MMM to refine attribution accuracy.” This means that rather than treating surveys as a standalone measurement tool, brands should use them to augment and validate other methodologies.

For example:

• MTA can provide granular insights into performance, but surveys can help validate whether an ad exposure influenced a customer’s purchase decision.
• MMM can model long-term trends, but survey data can provide real-world confirmation by capturing self-reported customer touchpoints.
• Incrementality testing can assess channel effectiveness, but surveys can supplement those findings with direct customer attribution data.

By layering survey data with these models, brands can reduce the uncertainties that exist within each methodology, ensuring a more complete and accurate picture of performance.

Surveys as a Privacy-Resilient Measurement Tool

With increasing restrictions on third-party tracking and cookie deprecation, zero-party data is becoming more valuable than ever, and surveys are a privacy-safe way to collect customer insights.

Matt emphasized this point: “Surveys provide a privacy-safe way to collect direct customer feedback. Unlike tracking-dependent models, surveys rely on consumers voluntarily sharing information, making them a sustainable solution in a privacy-first world.”

As regulatory frameworks like GDPR and CCPA continue to evolve, relying on methodologies that require extensive user tracking is becoming more complex. Surveys provide a direct, consent-based way to gather attribution insights without violating privacy policies, making them a future-proof solution for marketers to validate other first-party tracking insights.

How to Incorporate Surveys into Your Measurement Strategy

If your brand isn’t currently leveraging surveys, now is the time to start. Here are a few best practices to maximize their effectiveness:

1. Tailor Questions to Your Goals

• If you want to measure brand awareness, ask customers: “How did you first hear about us?”
• If you want to measure campaign impact, ask: “Did you see our latest ad on [channel]?”
• If you want to validate MTA, compare self-reported responses to digital attribution data.

2. Segment Your Audience

• New vs. returning customers may have different attribution paths, so segmenting responses can provide more meaningful insights.
• Different geographies may have different brand awareness levels, so adjust survey deployment accordingly.

3. Use Surveys as a Complement, Not a Replacement

• Don’t rely on surveys as your sole attribution method—integrate them with MTA, MMM, and incrementality testing for a complete view.
• Treat survey data as a validation layer to enhance the accuracy of your other models.

4. Act on the Insights

• Use survey data to adjust spend allocations in real time.
• Optimize underperforming channels by identifying discrepancies between survey data and existing attribution models.
• Share insights with other teams—product, creative, and customer experience teams can all benefit from understanding customer touchpoints.

Final Thoughts: The Future of Measurement is Unified

The days of relying on a single measurement model are over. To truly understand marketing effectiveness, brands must take a unified approach—leveraging the strengths of MTA, MMM, incrementality testing, and surveys.

As Ron summed up, “Asking customers directly for information is a no-brainer. It gives brands an advantage in understanding their audience while mitigating the risks of relying on third-party data.”

Ready to learn more about Rockerbox’s approach to Unified Measurement? Contact us today.