Why HockeyStack's Latest Report Is Telling Us the Obvious (And Why That's Dangerous)

A recent report by HockeyStack which has made waves by revealing that the number of impressions needed to generate a website visit and the number of touchpoints required to turn someone into an MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) have both increased. Shocking? Well, not really.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to completely trash the report—there’s some validity to the data. But I do think it’s dangerous to rely on these stats for strategic decisions. Why? Because it’s a little too obvious. Of course the number of impressions and touchpoints has gone up. That’s the nature of the content-overload world we live in. Everyone’s pumping out more content, so naturally, it’s going to take more to break through the noise. But here's the real question: What are we doing with that information?

The Trap of Obvious Data

The report tells us that people need more interactions with your brand to eventually convert. Okay, but should this come as a surprise? If you’ve been in marketing for more than five minutes, you’ve already felt the shift. More content, more competition, more noise. Focusing too much on increasing impressions and touchpoints leads to a dangerous game of chasing vanity metrics that don’t move the needle. “It’s harder to win the lottery, so let’s just buy more tickets.” That’s not a strategy—it’s wishful thinking.

The 5% Rule That Everyone Ignores

Here’s where I think HockeyStack missed the mark: At any given time, only 5% of your target audience is in the market to buy. No matter how many touchpoints or impressions you throw at the remaining 95%, it’s not going to move them closer to buying. This is where the disconnect happens. If we’re only looking at the number of impressions or touchpoints as a measure of success, we’re missing the bigger picture. More touchpoints won’t convince someone who’s not ready to buy. And yet, we keep pushing more content, expecting a miracle.

Instead, what we should be focusing on is timing. If someone’s not in the market, you can serve them a buffet of content, and it won’t change a thing. Marketing is not about flooding the field; it’s about showing up at the right time, when that 5% is ready to make a decision. Serving 15 pieces of content to someone who's not ready to buy is as effective as shouting into the void.

Chasing Touchpoints

How many times have you personally engaged with a brand multiple times before deciding to buy? Probably a lot, right? But were you ready to buy every single time you engaged? Absolutely not. Let me give you an example.

Say you’re scrolling through LinkedIn, and a company you kind of know keeps popping up in your feed—ads, posts, videos, the works. Maybe you like a post or click on a link out of curiosity, but you’re not in buying mode. They keep showing up, racking up touchpoints, but to you, it’s just background noise. Now, six months later, your business needs a solution, and you remember that company. You do your research, check them out again, and maybe, just maybe, you decide to buy.

But here’s the key: It wasn’t the fact that you saw them 15 times that convinced you. It was the fact that you needed their solution when you were ready to buy. And that’s what we need to understand as marketers. It’s not about how many times someone sees your brand; it’s about whether they’re in the market when they see it.

So, What’s the Right Move?

Instead of chasing touchpoints, marketers need to shift their focus to building trust and staying top-of-mind for that crucial moment when the buyer is ready. It’s not about how many impressions you can rack up; it’s about creating meaningful interactions that will stick when it actually matters.

Stop obsessing over quantity and start focusing on quality. Instead of adding more touchpoints, ask yourself: Is the content I’m putting out helping build trust? Is it positioning my brand as the solution to a problem that 5% of my audience is ready to solve today? If not, you’re just contributing to the noise.

We’re Obsessed with the Wrong Metrics

Our obsession with impressions, clicks, and touchpoints is holding us back. Marketers are so focused on making numbers go up that they forget those numbers aren’t the goal—they’re just noise unless they lead to real engagement at the right time. And this is where many brands fall short.

HockeyStack’s report tells us the same thing we’ve been seeing for years: More touchpoints, more impressions. But what we need to ask ourselves is, are we playing the right game? Instead of increasing the quantity of interactions, we should be prioritising quality and timing. If we keep chasing the wrong metrics, we’re setting ourselves up for failure.

Conclusion: Let’s Stop Playing the Numbers Game

If marketing becomes a game of "who can get the most impressions," we’ve lost. What really matters is creating value, showing up when the buyer needs you, and not just flooding their feed with more content.

So, while HockeyStack’s data might be valid, the real takeaway isn’t that you need more touchpoints. It’s that you need the right touchpoints at the right time. After all, marketing isn’t about making noise—it’s about being heard when it counts.