How ON24 turned marketing data into executive confidence
ON24's marketing funnel was, by most measures, healthy. Strong campaigns. Steady lead flow. No shortage of dashboards or data points. The gap wasn't information; it was knowing which numbers actually mattered, and how to turn them into a story leadership could trust.
Executive summary
ON24 had the right technology in place with Marketo Measure, and no shortage of reporting. What the team lacked was a clear way to prove marketing's influence on pipeline, and to answer high-stakes questions without stitching together several reports first.
Attributa validated what had been built, interviewed stakeholders across the revenue organization, and turned the findings into practical recommendations for process, technology, and reporting. ON24 came out of the engagement with its highest funnel conversion rates in three years and executive dashboards that leadership now uses every day.
At a glance
- Client
- ON24, a digital engagement platform for webinars and events (recently acquired by Cvent)
- Featured voice
- Xenia Escalante, Senior Director of Marketing Operations
- Tools in place
- Marketo Engage, Marketo Measure (formerly Bizible), Salesforce, Domo
- Engagement focus
- Marketing attribution validation, executive reporting, and pipeline measurement
The challenge: plenty of data, not enough clarity
ON24's marketing funnel was, by most measures, healthy. Strong campaigns. Steady lead flow. No shortage of dashboards or data points. The gap wasn't information; it was knowing which numbers actually mattered, and how to turn them into a story leadership could trust. As Xenia put it:
“Our biggest challenge wasn't generating pipeline; it was proving marketing's true impact on pipeline. We needed a clearer way to measure both sourced and influenced revenue so leadership could see the full value marketing was creating.”
The team had reporting tools and dashboards already in place, but those tools couldn't answer simple, high-stakes questions on their own, like “Are we on track for our pipeline goals?” or “Where are conversions improving or breaking down?”, without piecing together multiple reports. Without that clarity, ON24 risked making budget and investment decisions on instinct rather than evidence.
The turning point
The shift came when ON24's new CMO recognized the team needed an outside perspective. ON24 already had the right technology in place with Marketo Measure. What they needed was a partner with deep multi-touch attribution expertise to validate what had been built, identify opportunities to optimize it, and confirm they were measuring the right things.
The engagement: a collaborative deep dive
Attributa's process brought in stakeholders from across ON24's revenue organization: marketing, sales (including SDRs and Account Executives), customer marketing, and partner marketing. The engagement combined a technical audit with direct conversations across the business:
A comprehensive review of ON24's Marketo Engage configuration, Marketo Measure implementation, Salesforce data model, and Domo reporting
Interviews with members of the sales organization to understand how the data was actually being used day to day, not just how the systems were configured
Synthesis of those findings into clear, practical recommendations for process, technology, and reporting improvements
As Xenia described it, the engagement felt less like hiring a consultant and more like adding a trusted extension of the team:
“What really stood out was how they synthesized all of those findings into clear business recommendations... Very quickly, they felt less like consultants and more like an extension of our team.”
The results: confidence, backed by data
Highest funnel conversion rates in three years
Executive dashboards became part of ON24's daily operating rhythm: the foundation for program planning, budget allocation, and strategic conversations with leadership
Marketing and executive leadership gained a shared, trusted view of pipeline performance, replacing guesswork with data-backed decisions
After ON24's acquisition, the marketing reporting and attribution dashboards were shared with the acquiring company's leadership team, and were met with strong, positive reception
For Xenia personally, the engagement changed how she approaches data and stakeholder communication:
“I developed a much stronger understanding of attribution and how to think about marketing data, not just collecting it, but using it to answer the questions leadership is really trying to solve.”
Xenia Escalante, Senior Director of Marketing Operations at ON24, on what changed.
Advice for other marketing leaders
Asked what she'd tell a peer facing similar challenges (messy funnel data, misaligned teams, numbers no one quite trusts), Xenia pointed to partnership over process:
“If someone is considering an engagement like this, I'd look for a partner who brings expertise but also builds trust. The technology is important, but the real value comes from someone who can understand your business, earn your team's confidence, and help everyone make better decisions. That's what Attributa did for us.”
The biggest impact wasn't just better dashboards; it was giving our team the confidence to tell marketing's story with data and make smarter business decisions because of it.
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