How We Source Every Number
The rules behind our benchmarks pages: named sources, publication dates on every figure, quarterly re-verification, and what we refuse to publish.
Free · no signup · last reviewed August 29, 2026
Benchmarks pages exist to answer “is my number normal?”. And they are the easiest place on the internet to lie with statistics. These are our rules; every benchmarks page on this site follows them.
- Named source, in the sentence. Every figure names its publisher and publication date next to the number, not in a footnote. If we can’t re-find a source, the number comes down.
- Publishers, not hearsay. We cite organizations that publish methodology (platform data aggregators, industry surveys). Never “studies show”, never other people’s roundups of roundups.
- Dates are load-bearing. Ad costs drift constantly. Each page shows when we last re-verified, and our build system forces a review every 90 days. The page literally cannot ship stale past its interval.
- Averages get caveats. A national average blends industries and geographies that differ by 10x. We say so, every time, and point you to computing your own numbers instead of adopting anyone’s average as a target.
- What we refuse: unsourced figures, our own client data (client work product is never published. House rule), and precision theater (a “$4.37 average” from a methodology that can’t support cents).
Corrections, when needed, are visible on the page (“Corrected [date]”). Never silent. If you find a number that fails these rules, we want to know.
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Everything here is free to use yourself. That’s the point. If you’d rather a senior marketer just handle it, in your accounts and your name: 20-minute call, no pitch deck.