Measuring marketing success is trickier than ever.

Only 38% of marketing leaders are confident in their ability to measure the impact of their marketing activities. The era of data privacy and the sunset of third-party cookies have thrown traditional measurement into chaos. On top of this, the customer journey is getting increasingly complicated, with more touchpoints across different channels.

Marketers have been left scrambling, unsure of how to quantify the impact of their campaigns and understand their customers on a deeper, more meaningful level. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you’ve landed in the right spot.

We’ve joined forces with Yan Pallada, Partnerships & GTM at Fathom.video, to guide you through this evolving landscape, offering a comprehensive guide on merging quantitative and qualitative data to enhance your understanding of your audience and marketing performance.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Definition of qualitative data and the different types
• Methods of qualitative data collection
• Definition of quantitative data and the different types
• Methods of quantitative data collection
• The importance of combining quantitative and qualitative data
• Tips to combine qualitative and quantitative data

💡 Pro Tip: Combining qualitative and quantitative data provides a well-rounded picture of effectiveness.

For example, quantitative tools like Ruler provide the “how” by tracking your visitor journeys, revealing the specific touchpoints leading to conversions and revenue. Qualitative solutions like Fathom.video bring the “why” by adding valuable context through recording lead conversations, allowing you to uncover the emotions and any hidden motivations behind their decisions.

Skip here to see how Ruler and Fathom.video can work together to unlock deeper customer insights and validate your marketing’s effectiveness.

What is Qualitative Data in Marketing

For marketers, qualitative data encompasses the rich, descriptive insights gathered from customer interactions across various touchpoints. It’s the words that come out of your customers’ and prospects’ mouths, and what you can’t see on a data spreadsheet. Unlike quantitative data, which quantifies customer behavior through metrics like website traffic or conversion rates, qualitative data offers a deeper understanding of the customer’s journey, their pain points, motivations, and preferences.

Methods of Qualitative Data Collection:

1. Customer Interviews: In-depth conversations with customers about their experiences, outcomes, and satisfaction levels.
2. “How Did You Hear About Us” Fields: Reveals customer acquisition channels and initial brand interactions.
3. Sales & Success Interactions: Recorded calls, meeting notes, and follow-up emails can provide insights into customer needs and the perceived value of your solution.
4. Product Feedback Sessions: Collect direct input from users about specific features or updates.
5. Support Ticket Analysis: Examining customer support interactions to identify common challenges.
6. Social Media Engagement: Analyzing comments, direct messages, and public posts reflecting sentiment towards your brand.
7. G2 and Review Sites: Unfiltered insights into customer satisfaction and product performance.

💡 Pro Tip: Use tools like Fathom’s free AI meeting assistant to capture your calls and automatically sync them directly into your CRM and other workflows.

Best Practices for Collecting Qualitative Data:

• Integrate across touchpoints.
• Encourage open feedback.
• Analyze for actionable insights.
• Close the feedback loop.
• Benchmark and measure impact.

What is Quantitative Data in Marketing?

Quantitative data is any information that can be quantified, meaning it can be counted, measured, and expressed as numerical values. Think numbers, statistics, and hard facts.

Types of Quantitative Data:

• Discrete Data: Countable data such as the number of conversions, product units sold, or click-through rates.
• Continuous Data: Measurable data such as revenue, customer lifetime value (CLTV), or product return rates.

Methods of Quantitative Data Collection:

1. Analytics Tools: Tools like Google Analytics and Mixpanel to collect data regarding website traffic and user behavior.
2. Marketing Attribution Tools: Tools like Ruler, which track user sessions and touchpoints across various channels to quantify conversions and measure marketing efforts.
3. Heat Mapping Tools: Visual data tools that track user actions to understand engagement patterns and pain points.
4. Closed-Ended Surveys: Surveys with predetermined options for respondents to select from, allowing for statistical analysis.

💡 Pro Tip: Ruler is a next-generation measurement solution that uses first-party click tracking and machine learning impression modeling to help marketers measure and validate marketing impact on revenue and optimize for maximum performance. Book a demo to see more.

The Importance of Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Data

Both qualitative and quantitative data are key for making smart decisions. Quantitative data highlights trends and correlations, and qualitative data delves deeper into motivations, experiences, and sentiments behind the numbers.

Imagine you’re using Ruler to track user sessions on a website. The quantitative data shows that a visitor went through different pages, eventually converting into a lead. It pinpoints the marketing touchpoints and pages they interacted with along the way. But understanding the motivations and emotions behind those actions remains a mystery.

Why did they come to your website in the first place? What problem are they trying to solve? Why did they convert?

Simply relying on quantitative data paints an incomplete picture. This is where qualitative data steps in. Through the use of qualitative methods, like open-ended fields in web forms and video note-taking tools like Fathom, you can capture the nuanced details and emotions that quantitative data misses.

Combining both types of data allows you to:

• Prove the value of your marketing actions and budget allocations.
• Measure the trackable (and untrackable) interactions leads have with your brand.
• Identify challenges and new key themes to incorporate into your messaging.
• Optimize your marketing to drive maximum traffic and revenue.

Tips to Combine Qualitative and Quantitative Data

1. Define Clear Objectives: Establish your goals and align them with the appropriate data sets.
2. Plan Your Approach: Ensure that your data collection methods align with your objectives.
3. Get Buy-In Early On: Involve your marketing, sales, and product development teams in the planning process.
4. Create a Holistic Analysis: Use your qualitative findings to enrich and explain quantitative trends and vice versa.
5. Communicate Effectively: Present your findings clearly and focus on stakeholder needs and preferences.

Final Thoughts on Combining Data

While both quantitative and qualitative data offer valuable insights, their true strength lies in their synergy. Quantitative data provides the “what” and “how much,” while qualitative data illuminates the “why” and “how.”

Just like looking at a picture through different lenses provides a more complete view, combining both types of data leads to a deeper understanding.

For those seeking to generate high-quality qualitative data through marketing attribution, book a demo with Ruler. If you’re ready to enhance your qualitative data collection through video note-taking, consider signing up for Fathom.video.

Additionally, Msquared.club offers an in-depth Marketing Attribution Course that covers advanced techniques and tools for combining qualitative and quantitative data, ensuring that your marketing measurement strategies are robust and insightful. Sign up today to elevate your marketing measurement skills and stay ahead in the ever-evolving marketing landscape.