Reverse Tracking

Reverse Tracking

Reverse Tracking is a process of determining, or sometimes guessing, how current customers became customers. In some marketing situations, where no Forward Tracking (Classical Tracking) has been done, Reverse Tracking may the only practical alternative.

How You Do It

Sometimes you can use sales records. If they routinely contain information on the sources of sales leads, you will be in good shape. This is more probable if your Sales department uses contact management software, customer relationship management software, or online sales applications – as opposed to paper records.

But if you find little or no lead information in the sales records, you may need to resort to surveying customers.

This is not as daunting as it may sound, because you don't have to survey all customers. You can get a representative sample by using ten percent – as long as you make a reasonable attempt to spread the selections over regions, over sizes of customers, and over the product lines they bought.

Of course, if you want to report your data by product line, take a sample within each line.

Then you email, mail or telephone (or a combination) to the contact(s) listed in the sales files. Keep the questions few, and be empathetic.

Strengths

If you have no records of leads in the sales files, this is your best bet, for better or worse. (If you do find extensive and detailed lead information, you are in effect doing a delayed form of Forward Tracking on the old leads.)

Reverse Tracking, like Forward Tracking, is evaluative – it can help you determine the profitability of your marketing.

Weaknesses

The two major weaknesses are pretty obvious:

1. It's time-consuming. And on the day you finish doing it, you'll probably be determined to start setting up a Forward Tracking system.

2. It's not as accurate as Forward Tracking, because you are relying on customers' memories. The customers may wish you well, and they may be helpful to you, but they may not remember. Or, the contact who would have remembered may have left the company or retired.

The bottom line: recognize that this is a rough tool. In most cases, Forward Tracking is preferable.

Return from Reverse Tracking to Measuring What They Did

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