How do you get stakeholders to actually trust funnel and attribution data?

[jarrell43]

I run into this a lot and curious to see how others handle it. Even when the numbers are accurate, stakeholders will often question funnel drop-offs or channel attribution. It feels less about the math and more about how much confidence people have in the way the data is configured and/or presented.

How do you deal with that? Do you show the rules and assumptions up front, compare against other tools, or do something else that helps build trust?

Would love to hear what’s worked (or not worked) for your teams.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Trust can be a hard thing to build.

The longer you are with a company the more people tend to trust... there will always be the concerns of "can you confirm this?" or "are you sure this is accurate"... and sometimes there really is a mistake that needs to be dealt with.

However, I find that trying to be transparent in what you are doing, and admitting to mistakes when they do happen goes a long way to building trust. I also always make sure I make myself available to walk anyone through the report, how it was built, the logic of the segments, and even show the an end to end run through the site showing them what information is being captured to help put their minds at ease.

Basically, don't brush people off... take the time and effort to walk through the concerns, the more you do that (and the more you show why the numbers are what they are), the more they will trust you.

[Vinay_Chauhan]

Agree with @Jennifer_Dungan 

Building trust in funnel and attribution data is less about the math and more about transparency and consistency. A few practices that help -

• Set expectations early - Document the rules, lookback windows, and assumptions up front so stakeholders know how the data is being attributed.

• Cross-validate - Where possible, show alignment with other trusted sources (CRM, media platform data, finance) so it’s not just “Adobe says so.”

• Be transparent - If there are known limitations (e.g., cookie loss, cross-device gaps), call those out instead of hiding them.

• Walkthroughs - Sitting down with stakeholders to show how a funnel or attribution path is constructed often builds more confidence than the numbers alone.

Over time, this combination of clarity and openness tends to build credibility and reduce the “are you sure?” questions.