Diners Club | Marketing Performance & Attribution Dashboard

Executive Summary

Is marketing driving business growth? Spend through to activated cards and revenue, against target and the Q1 2026 baseline.

Media spend vs activated cards

Monthly, last 12 months. Bars = spend (left axis), line = activated cards (right axis)

Channel status

RAG vs cost-per-activation target

Paid SearchR1,660 / activation

Email & CRMR710 / activation

Paid SocialR2,610 / activation

ProgrammaticR4,640 / activation

Organic SocialEngagement −0.4pt

PR & EarnedSoV 24% (+5pt)

AffiliatesR2,380 / activation

Website CROConv. rate 4.9%

Full-funnel snapshot

Q3 2026 volumes with step conversion

Commentary

Written by the account team each period. Not generated from data.

Top wins	Top risks	Actions next period
Activations up 34% vs baseline, driven by the Lounge Access campaign on Search and Email	Programmatic cost per activation is 2.6× target; viewability below 55%	Move R350k from Programmatic to Paid Search brand and generic travel terms
Application form step 3 redesign cut drop-off from 31% to 22%	Approval rate for paid social leads is 41%, versus 52% overall	Tighten paid social audiences using approved-customer lookalikes from CRM
Matched CRM records rose to 78%, so more of the funnel is attributable	18% of spend still has no UTM tagging (mostly affiliates)	Enforce the UTM governance template and audit affiliate links weekly

Funnel & Business Outcomes

The core chain from marketing activity to commercial outcome: impressions through to cards still active at 90 days.

Product: AllCustomer type: AllLead source: AllCohort month: Jul–Sep 2026

Full funnel

Bar width on a log scale so every stage stays visible. Right column = conversion from the previous stage

Cohort retention: % of activated cards still transacting

Rows = acquisition month, columns = months since activation

Time from approval to activation

Share of activated cards by days to activate

New-account billings by acquisition cohort

Cumulative spend on new cards, R millions

Funnel by channel

Volume, conversion and cost at each stage. Shading = cost per activation relative to target (R1,800)

Channel	Spend	Sessions	App starts	Start rate	Submitted	Approved	Approval %	Activated	Cost / start	Cost / approval	Cost / activation

Website Performance

How the site turns traffic into applications, and where prospects drop out of the journey.

Source / medium: AllLanding page: AllDevice: AllVisitor: New + returning

Sessions by source / medium

Monthly, stacked, thousands

Conversion rate by device

Application starts ÷ sessions

Journey into the application form

Users reaching each step, Q3 2026

Application form drop-off by step

Where applications are abandoned. Step 3 was redesigned on 14 Aug

Form step	Entered	Completed	Drop-off	Avg time	vs baseline
1. Eligibility check	24,860	21,870	12.0%	0:48	−2.1pt
2. Personal details	21,870	19,240	12.0%	2:10	−0.8pt
3. Income & employment	19,240	15,010	22.0%	3:35	−9.0pt
4. Document upload	15,010	15,420	—	1:55	—
4. Document upload (adj.)	15,010	13,960	7.0%	1:55	+1.2pt
5. Review & submit	13,960	15,420*	—	0:52	—

* Includes submissions resumed from saved applications and the call-centre assisted route.

Landing page performance

Top landing pages by sessions. Shading = conversion rate

Landing page	Sessions	Engaged rate	Avg engagement	App starts	Conv. rate	Activations (matched)	Value proxy

Social Performance

Organic and paid social: audience growth, content performance, and the traffic and conversions social actually drives.

Platform: AllContent pillar: AllType: Organic + paidCampaign: All

Audience growth by platform

Followers, thousands

Engagement rate by content pillar

Engagements ÷ impressions, Q3 2026

Reach vs engagement rate by post

Each dot is a post. Top right = broad and engaging; labelled posts are outliers

Brand sentiment

Share of mentions from social listening, monthly

Post	Platform	Pillar	Type	Reach	Eng. rate	Clicks	Sessions	App starts
"5 lounges worth arriving early for"	Instagram	Travel & lounges	Reel	412,000	6.8%	9,840	8,120	612	Top
Dine & Earn: Cape Town chef series ep. 2	Facebook	Dining rewards	Video	286,000	4.9%	6,210	5,300	344	Top
Corporate card: travel policy in 3 steps	LinkedIn	Business	Carousel	94,000	4.1%	3,050	2,740	208	Top
Generic brand awareness static	Facebook	Product	Image	520,000	0.6%	1,120	610	9	Bottom
Card security tips (text-heavy)	X	Security	Image	38,000	0.9%	210	150	2	Bottom

Campaign Performance: Paid, Owned & Earned

Pacing, efficiency and commercial return by campaign and channel.

Channel group: AllPlatform: AllObjective: AllCreative: All

Spend pacing vs plan

Cumulative spend by week, R millions

Cost per activated card by channel

Black line = R1,800 target

Paid, owned and earned contribution

Share of spend compared with share of sessions, applications and activations

Earned media

PR and share of voice, Q3 2026

Media mentions

146

▲ 38% vs baseline

Est. earned reach

6.2m

▲ 22% vs baseline

Campaign performance

Spend through to activations and ROI. Shading on ROI: darker = higher; red = below 1.0×

Campaign	Objective	Budget	Spend	Pacing	Impr.	CTR	App starts	Activated	Cost / activation	Billings	ROI

Owned channels: email, CRM & app

Q3 2026

Programme	Audience	Sends	Delivered	Open rate	CTR	Conversions	Conversion type	Conv. rate
Bank cross-sell: Lounge Access	Existing bank, no Diners	184,000	97.8%	38.2%	4.6%	1,020	Application	0.57%
Abandoned application nurture	Started, not submitted	9,640	98.9%	52.4%	11.3%	1,390	Submitted app	14.4%
Welcome & activation journey	Approved, not activated	7,940	99.1%	61.0%	9.8%	2,180	Activation	27.5%
Platinum upgrade	Classic, high spend	22,500	98.4%	33.5%	2.9%	164	Upgrade	0.73%
Monthly newsletter	All cardholders	96,000	98.0%	27.1%	1.4%	—	Engagement	—

Attribution & Channel Contribution

How credit for activated cards changes by attribution model. The aim is to move beyond last-click as data maturity grows.

Model: Compare allLookback: 30 daysProduct: AllConversion: Activated card

Share of activations credited, by model

Last click overstates Search and Direct; data-driven credits upper-funnel Social and Programmatic

Top conversion paths

Most common touchpoint sequences before activation

Path	Activations	Share	Avg days
Paid Search→Activated	612	13.9%	6
Paid Social→Paid Search→Activated	488	11.1%	14
Email→Direct→Activated	431	9.8%	9
Programmatic→Organic Search→Paid Search→Activated	296	6.7%	21
Organic Social→Paid Social→Email→Activated	244	5.5%	24
Affiliate→Activated	219	5.0%	5
PR / Earned→Organic Search→Activated	162	3.7%	18

Channel credit by model

Activated cards credited, Q3 2026. Variance = data-driven minus last click

Channel	Last click	First click	Position-based	Data-driven	Variance	DDA cost / activation

Next stage: MMM & incrementality

Placeholder. Turned on once 18–24 months of clean weekly data exist

Marketing mix model (e.g. Meridian or Robyn) for budget-level contribution, including offline media and seasonality
Geo holdout tests by province to measure true incremental activations from Paid Social and Programmatic
Platform conversion lift studies to calibrate the MMM priors
Output: response curves and a budget optimiser added to this page

Readiness: 9 of 24 months of weekly data collected (38%)

Baseline & Measurement Framework

The north-star KPIs, where they started, where they are now and where they need to get to, plus the health of the data underneath them.

Baseline period: Q1 2026Target: Q4 2026

KPI tree

How business objectives cascade into marketing KPIs and channel metrics

Business objective

Grow active, high-value cardholders profitably

▼

North-star marketing KPIs

Activated cards

Cost per activated card

90-day active rate

New-account billings

▼

Funnel diagnostics

Application start rate

Form completion

Approval rate

Activation rate

▼

Channel metrics

CPM / CTR / CPC

Engagement rate

Open & click rate

Share of voice

Landing page CVR

Progress to target

Grey tick = baseline, black tick = target, blue bar = current

KPI dictionary

Agreed definitions, so everyone measures the same thing

KPI	Definition	Source system	Owner	Refresh	Baseline	Baseline value
Activated cards	New accounts with first authorised transaction within 60 days of approval	Card platform → BigQuery	Diners Acquisition	Daily	Q1 2026	3,290
Cost per activated card	Total paid media + agency fees ÷ activated cards attributed to marketing	Media platforms, finance	Agency / Marketing	Weekly	Q1 2026	R2,480
90-day active rate	% of activated cards with ≥1 transaction in each of the 3 months after activation	Card platform	Diners CVM	Monthly	Q1 2026	63.0%
New-account billings	Total spend on cards acquired in the period, during their first 90 days	Card platform	Diners Finance	Monthly	Q1 2026	R33.1m
Application start rate	Sessions with a form_start event ÷ total sessions	GA4	Agency	Daily	Q1 2026	3.9%
Approval rate	Approved ÷ submitted applications, by lead source	Origination system	Diners Credit	Weekly	Q1 2026	48.2%

Data health

Readiness of the data behind the dashboard. Fixing these closes the attribution gap

Check	Current	Baseline	Target	Status	Action
UTM coverage of paid spend	82%	54%	98%	Improving	Affiliate links still untagged; governance template issued
Consent rate (POPIA analytics consent)	71%	66%	75%	Improving	Consent banner A/B test live; consent mode modelling enabled
CRM-to-web match rate	78%	31%	85%	On track	Hashed application ID passed from form to origination system
Tracking errors (failed tags / 1k sessions)	1.8	9.4	<2.0	On track	Server-side tagging live since July
Untracked spend	18%	46%	<5%	Off track	Outdoor and radio need geo-lift or MMM to measure; affiliates to be fixed
Offline conversion upload lag	2 days	14 days	1 day	On track	Daily BigQuery export to Google Ads and Meta CAPI

Insights & Actions

The reporting cadence: weekly optimisation, monthly performance pack and quarterly strategic review.

This week's insights

Week 40 (29 Sep – 5 Oct 2026)

Paid Search generic travel terms now deliver activations at R1,390, 23% below target.
Paid Social lookalike audiences built on approved customers lifted approval rate from 41% to 47%.
Programmatic viewability is still 52%. Two low-quality inventory sources were excluded.
Website mobile conversion rate dipped 0.4pt after a page-speed regression on the Platinum page.
Email activation journey reminder at day 7 is converting at 11%, the highest of all touches.

Optimisations

Made this week and planned for next week

Status	Channel	Change
Done	Paid Search	+15% bids on travel terms, Gauteng and Western Cape
Done	Programmatic	Excluded 2 inventory sources below 40% viewability
Done	Paid Social	Paused 3 static creatives with CTR below 0.5%
Planned	Website	Fix Platinum page image compression (LCP 4.1s → <2.5s)
Planned	Email	Add an SMS reminder at day 10 for applicants approved but not yet activated

Weekly pacing

Budget pacing by channel, month to date

Monthly performance pack: contents

Issued by the 5th working day of each month

1. Executive summaryScorecards vs target and baseline; commentary

2. Funnel & cohortsStage conversion, cohort retention and billings

3. Channel deep divesWebsite, Social, Campaigns (pages 3–5)

4. AttributionModel comparison and conversion paths

5. Baseline progressKPI bullets and data health

6. Test & learn logHypotheses, results and decisions

7. Next-month prioritiesAgreed actions and owners

Test & learn log

Every test has a hypothesis, a measured result and a decision

Test	Hypothesis	Period	Result	Significant?	Decision
Form step 3 redesign	Splitting income questions reduces step 3 abandonment	14 Aug – 11 Sep	Drop-off 31% → 22%	Yes (p<0.01)	Roll out
Lounge vs dining message	Lounge-access creative drives a higher Platinum mix than dining	Jul – Aug	Platinum share 38% vs 24%	Yes	Scale lounge
Approved-customer lookalikes	CRM-seeded audiences improve approval rate	1 – 30 Sep	Approval 41% → 47%	Directional	Extend 4 wks
Programmatic geo holdout	Programmatic drives incremental activations in KZN	Oct – Nov	In flight	—	Pending

Next-month priorities

Reallocate R350k from Programmatic to Paid Search and the CRM activation journey Owner: Agency
Close the affiliate UTM gap, taking untracked spend below 10% Owner: Diners Digital
Launch the festive Dine & Earn campaign with a geo holdout cell Owner: Agency

Quarterly review vs targets