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Sales or Conversions data is the foundation for all Forvio marketing mix models (MMM). This is because the main objective of MMM is to understand how marketing activities influence the target variable, which typically pertains to sales or conversions at specific points in the sales funnel. To ensure the effectiveness of your marketing mix model(s), it's essential that the sales or conversions data is granular on a daily level, as recent as possible, and of high quality

You can get this data from your POS, ERP, CRM, or web page tracking tools like Google Analytics. We recommend modelling several categories separately, like online and offline conversions, for more precise insights. Furthermore, splitting your data by country or region can yield improved results. In complex scenarios, an overarching business model can be assembled from individual models for a comprehensive understanding of your marketing impact.

Marketing activities data: Forvio provides native integrations to the most widely used marketing platforms such as Meta Ads, Google Ads, and Google Search Console. Keep in mind all paid marketing activities should be included using exposure metrics (e.g. impressions or views) along with their corresponding spends.

Here are some recommended metrics for different channels:

• Digital activity: Focus on impressions; avoid using clicks
• TV and Radio: Utilize metrics like Gross Rating Points (GRPs) or Target Audience Rating Points (TARPs) or Impressions for Display
• Print (e.g. newspapers or magazines): Utilize readership metrics

Similarly, organic/non-paid marketing activities can be added in a form of exposure metrics, for instance tracking the number of emails sent.

Non-Marketing Variables: Keep in mind that marketing mix modeling is designed to quantify the incremental sales impact and ROI resulting from both marketing and non-marketing activities on a pre-defined KPI.

Non-marketing variables can greatly influence company sales, but they are not directly connected to marketing efforts. In order to avoid misattribution of results to media activities, MMM needs to account for the effects of these variables. These non-marketing factors may include promotions and discounts, macroeconomics factors, weather, competitor activities, and potentially, COVID-19 data.

Yes, Forvio includes automatic currency conversions across all data sources. When using Forvio’s native integrations, currency is automatically detected. For other manually loaded data sources, you can easily select the correct currency for each media during the integration step.

The final model’s reporting currency is configured within the model selection, ensuring that all data is calculated and presented in the chosen currency. For currency conversion, Forvio employs the European Central Bank exchange rate, which is updated daily.

Measuring long-term brand effects can be challenging. In Forvio, we address this by default by including organic search impressions data from Google Search Console in every model. This data serves as a proxy to represent brand presence in searches.

Media mix modeling (MMM) is most effective with a substantial volume of data for analysis. The minimum number of conversions isn't fixed; it varies depending on media channel diversity and data variability. Nevertheless, a widely accepted guideline recommends a minimum of several hundred conversions (200-500) for a meaningful analysis. Fewer conversions could compromise the model’s robustness, potentially leading to unreliable results.

Similar to the question above, there isn’t a fixed minimum spend requirement for effective MMM. The key is to distribute your spending across various media channels over time, allowing the model to identify patterns and estimate the impact of each channel. Generally, the more diverse and extensive your media spend, the more dependable your results from MMM will be.

Please be aware that in the USA, the cost of online impressions tends to be higher than in Europe and other regions, which may necessitate a higher spending threshold.

Yes, we strongly recommend including discounts and other promotional activities in your MMM. These factors can have a significant impact on customer behavior and, consequently, conversions. Integrating these factors into your model provides a more precise view of your media spending’s effectiveness.

The importance of weather as an external factor depends on the nature of your business and the nature of your products or services. For some businesses, weather might have a significant impact on sales (e.g., hospitality businesses or retailers of rain jackets), while for others, it might not matter as much. If you suspect weather might be a factor, it can be included in your model as an external variable.

Absolutely, campaign level data is suitable for MMM. In fact, granular data often provides deeper insights and allows for a more accurate estimation of the impacts of distinct media channels. We recommend organizing your campaigns into meaningful channels that represent distinct marketing tactics (e.g. Brand, Product, Awareness, Remarketing). Typically, these channels should account for between 5% and 20% of your overall spend. Forvio offers powerful data transformation capabilities to facilitate categorization of different marketing tactics.

The quantity of historical data needed can fluctuate based on the nature of your business and variations in your media spending. As a general guideline, having a minimum of two to three years of historical data is advisable. This timeframe allows for the capture of seasonality effects and provides a substantial dataset for modeling.

However, the exact amount of historical data needed may be influenced by your specific circumstances. In some cases, reliable models can be developed with as little as six months of daily granularity data.

A Forvio "workspace" is a dedicated and organized work environment within our platform designed for managing and conducting your marketing mix modeling (MMM) projects. Workspaces enable collaboration among team members, facilitating tasks such as data import, model development, and insights visualization. For agencies and freelancers, we recommend having dedicated workspaces for each client.

In the context of Forvio, a "media channel" refers to a specific platform or avenue used to deploy your marketing strategies and engage your intended audience. These channels encompass a wide array of mediums, such as TV, radio, online ads, social media, print media, and more.

To provide clarity, consider Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads as distinct media channels. It's worth noting that a single media channel can consist of various sub-channels where users ca split media into smaller elements.  For instance, within the realm of Facebook Ads, there exist sub-channels like branding campaigns for both Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads. Each of these sub-channels contributes to your overall usage limit.

A "stored model" refers to a previously created and saved marketing mix model that encapsulates your configurations and insights and relevant scenarios. Once you've input your data, adjusted parameters, and generated insights, you can save this model for future reference. This allows you to revisit and compare different models, track changes in your marketing strategies, and assess the performance of various scenarios over time. Stored models enable you to make informed decisions based on historical analyses and ongoing optimizations.

The Scenario Planner uses all calculated results from created model outputs and  is used to optimize budget allocation across your media mix for the next 7, 30, or 90 days. It helps you maximize your current allocations impact and experiment with scenarios of increased or decreased spending. This flexibility allows adaptation to varying market conditions while ensuring optimal budget distribution.

Forvio's pricing is designed to offer flexibility and value to our users. Our pricing is based on three key factors: the number of media channels you analyze, the number of stored models you build, and the number of scenarios you create within the platform. This ensures that you pay for the specific resources you use, allowing you to scale your usage based on your needs.

Forvio accepts payment via wire transfer or via credit card.

Forvio Enterprise packages are customizable and depend on the scope and complexity of your MMM needs. Please contact sales@forvio.com to discuss Enterprise package offerings that align with your requirements.

Yes, subscriptions are set to automatically renew. To prevent renewal, users need to initiate the cancellation process before the renewal date. Contact support@forvio.com if assistance is needed.

Forvio operates with a no-refund policy. Due to the nature of our platform and the resources required to set up and manage subscriptions, we are unable to offer refunds once a subscription is purchased. We recommend taking advantage of our trial period and reaching out to our team with any questions before committing to a subscription.

Yes. If you decide to discontinue using Forvio, you can initiate the cancellation process from within your account settings. Please note that once the subscription is cancelled, you'll retain access until the end of the current billing cycle.

At Forvio, we support a range of identities for accessing our Cloud services to facilitate a broad spectrum of user needs. We currently support native cloud user identities based on two widely used platforms: GSuite and Microsoft’s Azure authentication system. For additional flexibility, we’ve integrated OAuth, a secure authorization protocol that allows users to approve application interaction without sharing their password. You can find more details on OAuth support in Firestore authentication and security.

Yes, Forvio offers Single Sign-On (SSO) that simplifies user access across multiple systems. Our SSO system is compatible with the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), a standard protocol for web-based single sign-on that enables users to use their credentials across different services. Each user can revoke access anytime to Forvio or revoke access to marketing data extracted by Forvio.

All user data managed by Forvio is stored within the Google Cloud Services’ EU West region, specifically in Belgium. We have deliberately selected this location for its robust infrastructure, which aligns with our unwavering commitment to maintaining the highest standards for data safety, security, and privacy.

Yes, all data stored by Forvio are maintained in a High Availability (HA) configuration within the EU West region. This arrangement ensures that your data remains accessible and safe, even in the unlikely event of a component failure or other unforeseen incidents.

Data backups are crucial for data security and integrity. Forvio backs up all data to the EU North region, specifically in Finland. This location was selected as a geographically separated region from where the live data is stored, providing an additional layer of data protection.

Forvio prioritizes the strict isolation of each customer’s data, ensuring robust data management practices. To achieve this, we utilize Google’s BigQuery database, which provides dataset-level security. With our system in place, each client can exclusively access their dedicated data partition. This guarantees there is no cross-client data visibility or access, preserving the privacy and security of each individual’s client’s data. You can trust that your data remains completely isolated and protected within our system.

When a client discontinues our services and their workspace is closed, we follow a stringent data exit procedure. All client data is automatically deleted from our systems within 14 days of the workspace closure. This process is automated to ensure a consistent and secure way of handling data post-client relationship.

Recognizing the significance of maintaining robust security measures, Forvio has scheduled a comprehensive penetration test for early 2024. Additionally, we encourage collaboration with clients who wish to organize their own penetration tests, as we firmly believe in fostering a transparent and cooperative approach to ensuring the utmost security of our services.

Yes, our service is fully GDPR compliant. We do not use or handle an Personally Identifiable Information (PII). All data processed through our services are aggregated at the daily level, ensuring compliance with GDPR guidelines.

We ensure that your data is secure both in transit and at rest. We use Google Cloud as our exclusive hosting provider. All data stored at rest within Google’s BigQuery are encrypted using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 256-bit key, known for its high level of security. We leverage Google Cloud’s managed keys (default) to maintain encryption integrity and security. All data in transport are using TLS 1.2 protocol.