Season 2: Episode #2 | Top 3 Major Marketing Blind Spots in 2025
🚨 Is your marketing strategy suffering from blind spots? In Episode #2 of Season 2 of The Data Crunch Podcast, Vadym and Ievgen uncover the hidden gaps holding marketers back in 2025 and reveal how to fix them.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ How disconnected systems and siloed data obscure your marketing ROI—and the simple solution to unify your data with OWOX BI.
2️⃣ Why the cookieless future is a reality and how server-side tracking can help you stay ahead.
3️⃣ How to balance acquisition vs. retention efforts and focus on actionable metrics that truly matter for growth.
💡 Key takeaways for marketers in 2025:
• Blend backend data with analytics tools to see the full picture of marketing performance.
• Switch to server-side tracking with OWOX BI Streaming to prepare for the cookieless era.
• Ditch vanity metrics and focus on customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV).
Let’s eliminate those blind spots together! 🚀
Podcast listing
Vadym: Hello, and welcome to The Data Crunch Podcast, where we simplify the complexities of data analytics so you can focus on what really matters: driving business growth and results.
I’m Vadym, your host, and joining me today is Ievgen with a knack for turning ideas into strategies. Welcome, Ievgen!
Ievgen: Thanks, Vadym! Excited to be here and tackle today’s topic together.
Vadym: So, today I want to talk to you about hidden areas in marketing, in business data, in digital analytics, something that we can’t see all the time, but we would like to. Because we want to see the full picture.
Let’s start simple, Ievgen. What are those blind spots in marketing in 2025?
Ievgen:
Oh, that’s a great topic. I have too many things to talk about.
First, it might be an inaccurate attribution, or a wrong attribution model, ok?
Or the bad website tracking, which leads to gaps in the customer journeys,
or misaligned budget allocations because of bad data, not trusted reports.
So these gaps inflate costs, obscure ROI, and make decision-making harder. Well, marketers still make decisions. They just can’t be data-backed.
And we all know, if decisions are not data-driven, the chances of being wrong are significantly higher.
So addressing those hidden areas isn’t just about better analytics; or better data, or better marketing. It’s about maximizing the value of every marketing dollar spent, therefore - more revenue generated for the business.
Vadym: That’s a big deal! Let’s break this down into manageable pieces.
What are some of the most significant blind spots marketers are dealing with?
Ievgen: I would say that first, it comes down to disconnected systems. Not having suitable reports, or, having siloed reports.
It’s a traditional problem.
Marketers often rely on some analytics tools, like Google Analytics, to measure digital performance – like clicks and conversions. What else do they have to measure, right? It’s the #1 analytics tool.
But C-level, business owners, care about business outcomes, which are represented with some real-life objects like clients, orders, qualified leads, and closed deals. This kinda objects.
But Google Analytics doesn’t have this.
And there is no linking between sales reports or finance reports somewhere in Quickbooks on the one hand, and Google Analytics on the other hand. They are completely disconnected.
Without linking some sort of backend data (from ERP or CRM system, from the website) to analytics systems such as GA4, marketers don’t have the instruments to attribute campaigns to real business value.
It’s like judging a race by just the starting line.
Vadym: That’s fascinating. How does OWOX BI help bridge this gap?
Ievgen: Look, OWOX BI is an analytics tool with templates and pre-built models inside. In the hand of a smart marketer, a pretty techy one, or a data analyst, it takes a few clicks to run a simple data model and connect your own data so then it all is working. Like blending data from website tracking, GA4 yes with ad campaigns, with sales or leads from the CRM.
This data model creates a single source of truth for all the organization's data. Then you can just build reports, share across teams and stakeholders, get clear insights from the data, and put them back into campaigns.
Vadym: Can you give an example? How can I find which campaign was the most profitable over the lifetime?
Ievgen: So, for example, if a marketer wants to find which ad campaign leads to high-value sales, or was the most profitable over the lifetime, all you have to do is just run the templated data model for your industry,
specify your own GA4 account and connect a few tables: like clients and orders.
You might need to tweak it a bit, but basically, it’s a matter of minutes to launch.
Vadym: That’s definitely a game-changer for proving ROI, for reaching business results.
But while we’re focusing on driving results…. there’s another big challenge marketers face daily: privacy.
So cookie expiration time, ad blockers, regulations, fines, no tracking data….
Let’s talk about that. Cookies are disappearing, and I know that’s causing anxiety for marketers. What’s the core challenge here?
Ievgen: So basically, it all comes down to the attribution. But why?
Without traditional, browser-based third-party cookies, marketers lose visibility into user behavior across sessions and devices. For example, if someone clicks a Facebook ad today but converts eight days later, traditional tools may fail to link the conversion to the ad.
If the user is using Safari - he won’t be tracked tomorrow. 24 hours. That’s it.
Vadym: That sounds like a tough situation. How can marketers adapt to this change?
Ievgen: All you have to do is to track on your side. Using your server.
Ok, it might be not yours directly. I mean, the tracking should not be done by the browser. So you just need to switch to the server side.
We do that out of the box with OWOX BI Streaming,
Then there is a little bit more complicated in setup and maintenance Server-side Google Tag Manager, Stape, and a lot of other solutions on the market.
So we basically, set another cookie for you, which is extended. So the cookie lifespan is up to a year, not 24 hours.
This type of web analytics setup ensures marketers can see the full conversion path, even in a cookieless world.
Vadym: Ok… That’s proactive and essential for staying ahead. Another critical area is balancing acquisition and retention.
Many businesses pour resources into acquiring new customers but neglect retention.
Why do you think is this such a common issue?
Ievgen: Well, it’s super specific for each business. Because based on the industry it might be way cheaper to retain or to re-activate than to acquire a new customer. But basically, It’s because of the acquisition metrics, like website sessions, clicks, or sign-ups, they are just easier to measure. Retention, however, involves a deeper understanding of the customer lifetime value (CLV), churn rates, net retention rate, and loyalty—which require deeper analysis.
Plus, it’s typically out of the marketing department for many businesses. Sometimes it’s customer success, or that’s a happiness department. You name it.
Vadym: That makes sense. What’s your advice for striking the right balance between acquisition and retention?
Ievgen: The best advice - listen to your data.
Collect the data from advertising platforms, web analytics, and CRM systems. Map that all together with the templated data model from OWOX, build reports that are specific to your business - and get a clearer view of side-by-side acquisition and retention efforts. Just figure out what it costs to retain a $1, what it costs to get a new dollar in. that’s it.
Then you can apply some of the classic methods like RFM analysis or Cohort Analysis. We’ve recently updated our free pivots & charts generator and it now builds cohort reports.
Vadym: That’s really actionable, Ievgen! Beyond acquisition and retention, another aspect is focusing on vanity metrics—we always hear about these. Why is it so complex to track what matters the most? What’s the problem?
Ievgen: Look, vanity metrics create a false sense of success.
Like website traffic. It’s great to have it, but it doesn’t bring revenue, right?
Or social media followers. It looks impressive but doesn’t necessarily drive even engagement. I am not even talking about revenue or growth.
The real problem is that nobody really teaches this. There are not so many videos or courses about the KPIs. About what are the right metrics to track, and what to focus on. We know a lot about that from working with our customers.
This episode is not about metrics, but we definitely need to create one.
Vadym: That’s a great point. How can marketers avoid this trap?
Ievgen: Start by defining clear business goals, and the department KPIs, they drive metrics to measure. Data folks should have a process for interviewing different teams about what’s important to them.
For marketing folks, there are really 2 main metrics - customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value. I think we have a video about how to define the KPIs actually. Let’s leave a link in the description.
Vadym: That’s great practical advice!
Well, today’s discussion was packed with insights! So, if you had to summarize, what are the top three takeaways for our listeners?
Ievgen:
- Connect your backend data with your analytics tools data so you can gain a full view of marketing performance.
- Prepare for the cookieless future by adopting server-side tracking (you can use OWOX BI Streaming for example).
- Focus on actionable metrics that align with business outcomes, and avoid vanity stats.
Vadym: Solid points, Ievgen! Thank you for sharing them with us!
And for those looking to eliminate their own blind spots, head to the OWOX website at owox.com and explore our tools for better data integration, advanced analytics, and actionable insights. Get started free now and start making data-backed decisions with confidence.
Ievgen: Thanks for having me here today, Vadym.
Vadym: Thanks, Ievgen, and thank you to our listeners! Be sure to subscribe for more actionable tips on analytics. Take care and keep optimizing!
We look forward to seeing you in the next episode!
