How performance measurement boosts client/agency relationships

Year-end planning should include performance measurement. David Sitton, Consultant at The Observatory International, explains why it matters. (This is an excerpt from a longer Opinion piece. Click "View more" to read the full article.)

Right now, many of us are scrambling to sort out a long list of end-of-year jobs and planning for 2021. One of those jobs on the to-do list for many marketers will be to set up performance measurement schemes for the new year.

These will be designed to shine a light on what has happened in 2020 and the results will help them understand which of their agencies truly stepped up to the plate in the most testing of conditions, and which did not. This will show them where they and their teams performed and what needs to be improved or adapted quickly during these turbulent times.

Such metrics are hugely important, not least because they can help build a strong relationship between marketer and agency.

Yet, surprisingly, the research we conducted among ISBA members recently indicated that 15–20% of advertisers do not carry out such work.

That is a huge mistake because, done well, performance measurement sustains relationships by quickly identifying issues and enabling the client-agency partnership to deal with them. Ongoing tracking of trends also provides learning points from past mistakes, which leads to a more productive and constructive relationship.