The Complete Guide to Marketing Attribution
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Complete Guide to Marketing Attribution A MARKETER’S GUIDE TO REBUILDING MARKETING ATTRIBUTION www.queryclick.com Contents 04 Marketing attribution: the basics 09 Marketing attribution models explained The problem with current attribution 15 solutions Why your data is the foundation for your 18 attribution success Marketing attribution: a guide to your 26 choices A new approach to attribution: visit-level 33 attribution The powerful data views you need to 38 accurately drive marketing ROI 40 Closing thoughts ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 3 The purpose of attribution is deceptively In this guide, we are going to take a close Overview simple: to most fairly share the value of a goal look at some of the key aspects of attribution conversion across all touchpoints that may including: have influenced that conversion. However, in the real world the complexity of touchpoints • What marketing attribution actually is and media opportunities in marketing create • Why it matters more now than ever an attribution challenge, even in a perfect • An introduction to the main attribution world of data availability. models including some of their limitations The customer journey is now very often • Why data is key to all of this – and some of a highly complex one. And being able to the challenges and opportunities around attribute the impact of specific marketing collecting data across websites, offline touchpoints is crucial, as pressure from media, social platforms and CRM/CDP/ERP internal stakeholders - including finance and • How techniques like Machine Learning and the boardroom - to link marketing to revenue, Deterministic and Probabilistic matching and prove ROI intensifies. Unravelling the can help overcome limitations in current impact of specific touchpoints on conversion attribution approaches is priority number 1 for marketers. • How all of this provides effective attribution In fact, its relative importance was summed at a Channel, Campaign and Impression up when Google’s marketing evangelist, level to better focus and optimise your Avinash Kaushik, described solving attribution marketing efforts so that they are more to identify incremental value across all media closely aligned to the customer journey channels as the biggest problem facing itself analytics in 2020. So, attribution matters. Marketing attribution: the basics ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 5 Marketing So, what is marketing attribution: the attribution? Display Put in its simplest context, marketing Paid Search basics attribution is the process of determining Email which marketing touchpoints and activities Social are contributing to conversions – which could come in a variety of shapes and sizes ??% ??% ??% ??% from sign-ups, to downloads, to purchases of a product or service – or some other An attribution model, or combination of meaningful conversion types. models, is a defined set of rules that helps you determine how conversion credit is given In a complex marketing environment where to these different marketing touchpoints marketers are using an ever-increasing mix of across the customer journey. They come in all channels simultaneously it is about unpicking shapes and sizes – but are split broadly into the impact that channels, campaigns and two types: single-click and multi-click. But even individual creative executions are having more detail on those later. across media like Display, Paid Social, Search (Organic & Paid), email and offline media. What’s important to state here is that, if you don’t have effective marketing attribution in place, then it’s a fairly safe bet you don’t know what is – and just as importantly, what isn’t – working across your marketing mix. So accurately assessing and improving “true” marketing performance isn’t really possible for you. ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 6 Why marketing attribution matters. More than ever before. So, attribution matters - and it always has. and digital is a growing part of the mix. By 2021 the volume of data in silos involved in At the most fundamental level the sheer delivering just digital marketing, will have scale of current investment in marketing increased in complexity 32-fold compared to demands effective attribution. In the UK alone a decade previously. marketing spend will top £21.3bn in 2020 The figures are staggering and, as a result, many businesses are struggling to sustain Marketing spend Vs Silo complexity (Global, US$ BN.) growth while maintaining or reducing media $900 80% spend budgets. Which – and to echo Avinash $800 70% Kaushick - makes solving attribution the $700 60% largest opportunity any marketer can engage $600 50% with today. $500 40% $400 But there are also a number of other key 30% $300 reasons why having an effective marketing 20% $200 32x increase in silo complexity by volume attribution solution in place is more important 10% $100 than it has ever been, as it enables you to: $0 0% 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Traditional Ad Spend Programmatic Ad Spend Facebook Revenue Amazon Revenue Other Digital Ad Spend Traditional %age of Total Digital %age of Total Source: eMarketer Global Digital Marketing Report & Statistics. ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 7 Link marketing spend directly to growth and Prove your value to the business and build revenue stakeholder trust Which is non-negotiable now. The pressure Effective attribution builds credibility and for marketers to spend accurately, efficiently trust with the key stakeholders closest to the and to prove marketing effectiveness in marketing function including the boardroom, driving growth is greater than ever. And finance – and, perhaps most importantly, is only going to intensify, so directly tying sales. Securing the buy-in needed to support activity to revenue is no longer a “nice-to- your marketing vision and fast-track future have”. It’s essential. plans. Keep full control over the nature of marketing Secure and ring-fence budgets based on spend sound marketing analysis Not only is there broad evidence that internal Marketing budgets are under the microscope “Internal stakeholder pressure restricts my option to stakeholder pressure on spend - from outside more now than any time previously. By employ marketing activity that has a longer payback of marketing - is increasing but there are also accurately being able to show how marketing period than last-click measures.” worrying signs that it is directly influencing is contributing you have the capability to Strongly agree 24% the nature of spend. In fact, research carried ringfence and even grow your budget. out by QueryClick points to the fact that Somewhat agree 43.5% 67.5% of Marketing Directors report that Improve your marketing ROI internal stakeholder pressure actively restricts No opinion either way Ultimately, effective attribution helps you the option to employ marketing activity with 19% drive improved marketing ROI by finding the longer term payback. Somewhat disagree parts of your program that are working - and 11.5% those that are not. This the allows you to Strongly disagree redirect spend to where it is going to have the 2% Base: all respondents, n=200 biggest revenue impact. ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 8 Reduce reliance on perceived short-term Take control of marketing complexity media ‘fixes’ Finally, better attribution enables you to For many businesses, media like Pay-Per Click take control of what is ultimately a more is the main channel. In fact, everyone loves it challenging and complex media environment. because it provides immediate results. Switch it on and revenue flows when you spend. But Where customer journeys are taken on and it is no longer the panacea it once was. High offline, and research can be done across a spending competitors are not only eroding multitude of devices including smartphones, market share but driving up CPAs. So, ROI is tablets, work and home PCs, and mobile, being driven downwards. Effective attribution effective attribution enables you to bring opens the door to wider media opportunities, together the data silos across this complex with longer payback cycles – because you environment to define a single, data-driven can pinpoint the data you need to make the view of the customer journey. business case for it more effectively. And confidently build your marketing approach around it. Marketing attribution models explained ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 10 In this section we are going to take a closer Single-channel attribution Marketing look at attribution models. These models are relatively simple, and work attribution One of the key things to understand upfront on the basis of allocating 100% of the credit about attribution models is that there for a revenue conversion or other customer models isn’t a definitive, one-size-fits-all answer behaviour to a single touchpoint with the for everyone. And, in practice, identifying explained customer, either at the beginning or the end which model is right for your brand or your of the customer journey. All other touchpoints business is going to be impacted by a range in between are ignored for attribution of different factors from the stage, scale and purposes. maturity of your marketing activity to how much time, budget and effort you are able to Works well Where you have a simple funnel apply to it. environment with very few marketing activities. And businesses who are scaling from a low base may well employ them early in their growth. Below we take a whistle-stop tour of each in turn. Including where they might work well Possible limitations However, they oversimplify and where they also have limitations. and ignore the impact of multiple touchpoints on complex, longer customer journeys. In broad terms they split into two broad types There are two types of single channel models – single-channel attribution and multi-touch – First and Last-touch attribution. attribution. Let’s look at these in turn. ATTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK 11 First-touch attribution Last-touch attribution 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% Built around the premise that the first Similar to First-touch attribution, Last-touch touchpoint with the customer is the crucial is predicated on allocating 100% of the credit determinant in a customer’s decision to do for conversion to a single touchpoint.