Cross channel attribution has been a hot topic among marketers and agencies recently. But why is everyone suddenly so interested? For years, marketers have been measuring campaign performance with metrics like last click attribution, an approach where marketers were giving 100 percent of the credit for a conversion to the last advertising touchpoint that the user was exposed to.
But as technology has advanced and more thorough measurement techniques made available, marketers are beginning to realize just how many marketing dollars are wasted by optimizing based on out-of-date metrics. Smart marketers are now making strides towards cross-channel attribution based measurements and are pushing their agencies to do the same.
True multi-channel attribution actually splits the credit for a conversion and gives an appropriate portion of that credit to each and every advertising touchpoint the user was exposed to. In the past, we didn't have the technology to process the terabytes of user level impression data and compute how much each channel was responsible. Now, the advanced database technology and data mining algorithms that find accurate the weight for each touchpoint are available.
For marketers and agencies that want to start using cross-channel attribution, but are unsure of how to start, the following steps will help you successfully implement it:
Define your goals
Define why you need attribution-based measurements. Is it for improving your brand metrics or increasing conversions? Do you want to reduce the CPA or increase revenue? Are you aiming to improve the average life time value of your customer base? It may be one or all of the above, but whatever it may be, it must be clearly defined so you can benchmark your success.
Secure executive buy-in
Any successful strategy requires the approval and interest of executives, as well as a culture change that has to be led from the top down. Using a new set of metrics to measure the performance is a change that may attract resistance within the organization or agency, so top level endorsement may be required to get everyone on board.
Understand what data you have
Only once you know what data is available to you will you know exactly how you can put it to use. Make a list of all your advertising channels (such as search, display, email, TV, radio, and print) and determine what type of data you can get from each channel.
Find the right technology provider
Any successful attribution strategy will be supported with a technology that will support your efforts. But in order to be successful, it's vital that you find the right provider for you, based on the amount and kinds of data you have, what your budget is, who will use the technology, and other similar factors.
When you look for an attribution and optimization provider, be sure to ask the following questions:
- What attributes do they measure (e.g., engagement type, offer type, day part, time lag to conversion, creative type, placement type, etc.)?
- How do they give weightage? Does the tool find the accurate weight for the attribute values of each attribute, and are these weight-fixed, or will they self adjust based on the changes in your business?
- Does the tool use 100 percent of the user-level-data or does it use sampling?
- Does the tool integrate all channels (including on- and offline), and if so, is there a standardized set of metrics?
- Does the provider collect user-level data from all channels where possible? What methodologies are used when the user-level data is not available?
- Can the tool provide optimizations and recommendations, and can these be integrated with your agency's operational tools? This is important for making your attribution-based insights actionable.
Put the results into action
Once you've set up your marketing attribution strategy, put it to good use. Your marketing team needs to put the optimized recommendations from the attribution-based engines into action in a timely manner. This way you'll get the most out of your strategy and technology and meet the goals you mapped out at the beginning of the project.
Measure the results and optimize
Continuously measure the performance of your campaigns and optimize the media to keep your return on marketing investment (ROMI) higher while keeping your spend lower. Remember that it may take time to see positive results and/or dramatic changes based on how you optimize your campaigns, but patience will pay off: marketers -- from those with less than $1 million in budget, all the way to the largest spenders -- have increased their ROMI an average of 18 percent year over year.
To give an example, a major financial marketer increased its conversions about 16 percent and revenues by 22 percent within one year after it started optimizing media using attribution-based metrics. The marketer also has improved its brand metrics, average order value, and average customer lifetime value, all with 1.5 percent less budget to spend than the previous period.
Anto Chittilappilly is president, founder, and CTO of Visual IQ.
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