Hey Reader!
I’m on vacation this week, so I asked Jessica Best if I could publish a story she shared with me. Thanks Jessica!
“But we don’t have sales data.”
When we first met one of my favorite clients, they kept saying they didn't have sales data. They sell high price tag RVs through dealers, so they don't sell direct to consumer/owner, but they know they need to drive preference and help shoppers choose their brand.
But when I – the lowly email marketing strategist – was looking at their email database, I noticed that some records had product purchased and purchase years associated with them.
When I asked them about it, they kinda dismissed it like, “Oh, that’s just the warranty data.” (!!)
THAT's sales data! Sure, it takes 60 days to get it, so it’s not useful for triggering or stopping nurture journeys, but if we’re talking about attribution… This is the kind of back-our-way-in, vlookup-inspired data I love.
I didn’t even need Excel! Their email platform has a dynamic segment builder, so rather than ask the way-too-busy analytics team to dig in and figure out the matchback, I just used the email segment builder to look up:
- Who owned a "Model X" AND
- had opened or clicked on the nurture series for that same model within the 30 days prior to purchase
I didn’t really need the segment, I just got the count. And it was a big number (considering the total unit sales for that model). If each of those purchases was $200K-400K and even 5% of those sales could be attributed to the emails, then the automated nurture series was a big win and an insane ROI.
Now, because we’re analytics people, I have to share the caveats.
This matchback only works if the person's nurtured email address matches their warranty registration email address. And doesn't even get a chance to work if the dealer skips asking for the email field or writes in their own. In both cases, we’re potentially underreporting the (already big, fun) number.
But the bigger caveat: someone who's actively shopping for an RV is more likely to open/click emails about the model they’re shopping for. It's just as likely that being ready to buy an RV makes you more likely to open/click vs getting 4 nurture emails made you buy an RV.
This is not remotely perfect “attribution” (air quotes necessary), but it DID show correlation to their first-ever nurture email effort. Plus, it helped that sales of that model were UP YoY more than models without a nurture series, so we felt like all the pieces validated the work. Ultimately we liked the results enough that we rolled out email nurture series for 9 more models! This campaign won a Gold award at the data-driven marketing awards that year 🏆
I'm so sorry, I know it's only the end of September. But if you're running any Black Friday promotions, set your tracking up now. GA4 audiences can't be backfilled, so the one you build on November 20th will only ever see people who showed up after November 20th. This one's a free lesson from Practical GA4 and it covers QR codes, UTMs for your offline pieces, and a really useful cohort exploration.
Get ahead of Black Friday →
Articles Worth Your Time
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Fun GA4 User Lifetime Report Tricks
Jude Nwachukwu Onyejekwe skips the "here's how to build it" walkthrough and goes straight to the “what is this used for” questions. I also like that he covers the weird quirks in this report, including how your reporting identity selection and consent modelling can impact what you see here.
Should you use this exploration? Find out!
Automatically Generate Version Information In GTM
I am so excited about this one. GTM now drafts a version name and description from your workspace changes because I know that no one ever fills those out. Don’t tell me that you do, I see these empty version names in my audits! Learn all about it in Simo’s article. And then go back and name your past versions, please and thank you.
Your future self says thanks
Major CIPA Reform Could Wipe Out Thousands of Website Tracking Claims
If you have American clients, or clients with American visitors, pay attention to this one. California's legislature unanimously passed SB 690, which would deal with all these nuisance tracking claims. Akin's write-up is the clearest one I've read on what it does and doesn't cover (thanks to Steve Lamar for sharing it originally!). I’m writing this before I head out on vacation so it might already be signed by the time I get back!
Read the whole thing
Where You Can Find Me
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Inside Google Ads Live: Toronto
Thursday, October 29, 2026 | CN Tower, Maple Leaf Cinema | Toronto, ON
My session is called "Crossing the Valley: Getting AI Out of the Demo and Into Your Day". Get tickets here.
October's coming up faster than you'd think, and tickets are still available.”
That's it for this edition of The Huddle. As always, if you have questions or want to share what you're working on, just hit reply!