The data you need is often unavailable, untrustworthy, or incomplete. And sometimes that problem isn’t one you have time to fix.
“Our email campaigns aren’t working. What do we need to do?”
I love problem-solving, except I had no access to their email metrics since they just sent everything from Outlook. Aside from the many issues with sending business emails from Outlook, this wasn’t rare. It taught me that often when you need to diagnose what’s wrong, the infrastructure just isn’t there.
Most marketing advice doesn’t account for this. It assumes you have access to the metrics that matter. But what happens when you don’t? When IT has a 6-month backlog, when the previous marketer failed to set up tracking, when you’re working with legacy systems that don’t talk to each other?
Whether you’re working with a small business, a siloed organization, or resource constraints, waiting for those problems to resolve themselves often isn’t an option.
Solving Your Own Problem
First get clear on what you’re actually trying to prove or fix. Before you worry about what data you don’t have, get specific about what you need to know.
Are you trying to prove a campaign drove results? You need attribution data. Trying to fix low conversion? You need user behavior data. Trying to show email is worth the investment? You need engagement plus downstream metrics.
Write down the ideal metric. My client wanted to know why their emails weren’t working. Ideally, I’d see open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe patterns. I had none of that. So I reframed: What CAN I measure that would signal email health?
Inventory what you DO have access to. You probably have more signals than you think, you just have to be creative.
Form submissions. Sales team feedback. Email list growth (even without engagement rates). Product sales (even without attribution). Manual tracking you set up yourself. Anecdotal customer feedback.
A partial signal is better than no signal. Don’t dismiss imperfect data just because it’s not perfectly attributable. I didn’t have email analytics, but I could see list size and manually track replies. Not perfect, but it was something.
Build your own workarounds. If the infrastructure isn’t there, create your own micro-infrastructure for the campaign or project at hand.
Can’t access GA? Build a dedicated landing page on Unbounce or HubSpot where you DO have tracking. Can’t track email clicks? Use a unique promo code or email address per campaign. Can’t see form attribution? Add a “How did you hear about us?” field.
This isn’t ideal, but it gives you direction and shows you’re resourceful enough to create measurement infrastructure where none existed. I often built separate landing pages for specific campaigns using a landing page tool. Not ideal, but it gave me isolated data and worked with my timelines.
Document what’s missing. You need stakeholders to know you’re operating with constraints without sounding like you’re making excuses.
Frame it like this in reports:
“Based on available data (email list growth, manual reply tracking), we’re seeing positive signals. Note: We’re currently working without engagement analytics. Requesting access to strengthen future recommendations.”
“Conversion data suggests this is working. Limitation: Can’t currently attribute conversions to specific campaigns. Recommended next step: Implement UTM tracking.”
This sets realistic expectations. It shows you know what should be measured. It keeps the door open for future access without nagging every week. It protects you if results aren’t conclusive.
Context matters when you’re presenting data. Working with imperfect data increases your time to diagnose and the risk that your solution isn’t the right fix. By stating the facts—that you’re not working with direct metrics—you preserve your credibility while setting realistic expectations for what you can deliver.
Strategic marketers work with what they have and build toward what they need. Perfect data is a luxury.
You’re demonstrating that you can create your own measurement systems when the infrastructure isn’t there. This is internal visibility work. Showing stakeholders you can operate strategically despite constraints builds more credibility than perfect dashboards from day one ever could.
The trap to avoid: Don’t let missing data become a reason not to run campaigns or report impact. Sometimes the infrastructure just isn’t there yet, and that’s okay. Your job is to work with what you have while advocating for what you need.
Before Your Next Campaign
List the ideal metrics you’d track if you had perfect infrastructure. List the metrics you actually have access to right now. Identify one creative workaround to close the gap (unique URL, promo code, manual tracking, separate landing page). Add a “limitations” note to your reporting template so stakeholders know what you’re working with.
The mindset shift: You’re not “making do with less.” You’re demonstrating resourcefulness, which is actually more valuable than inheriting perfect dashboards.
Missing data is a constraint, not a stop sign. Strategic marketers don’t wait for perfect infrastructure. They build what they need to prove impact anyway.
I’ve worked with missing data more often than perfect data. It’s made me better at finding clues in unexpected places—which turns out to be one of the most transferable skills in marketing.
Elizabeth Humphries helps internal-facing marketers translate expertise into influence—so your work shapes strategy, not just supports it.
With 25+ years of B2B marketing experience, she teaches the frameworks that turn invisible work into undeniable impact.📧 Weekly insights on visibility, value framing, and strategic influence:
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