Direct advertising and lead generation may be the most intrusive form of marketing, but it is the strategy with the easiest ROI to track. Here is an example.
Someone is targeting Facebook ads (sending emails, providing context) to an audience of 10,000 people for $5,000, which is projected to result in 100 new customers, who are expected to generate $12,000 in LTV. This is easy to achieve by looking at the results in Google Analytics. But the picture is more complex if you are using other iceland consumer email list marketing strategies whose exact results are difficult to calculate in Google Analytics:
If someone finds your brand in a search engine, the session will be recorded as an Organic Search.
If someone types your brand into their browser and visits your site, the session will be recorded as a Direct visit.
If someone sees your website on a Facebook page, the visit will be counted as Social Media.
If a reporter at a conference sees you and writes an article about you, the traffic will show up as Referrals.
What does this mean? It is impossible to determine in Google Analytics what exactly influenced the result of marketing activity.
The fault of the Google Analytics marketing platform is that it tracks the source of traffic, but not the cause. If Google Analytics could isolate direct traffic, social media traffic, and referrals from other sites, such as those generated by a conference or any other marketing strategy, it would be invaluable.