Last-click, Multi-channel, Data-driven? 5 things for Marketers to Consider about Attribution

Last-click, multi-channel, data-driven, U-shape, W-Shape – whatever attribution model you choose for your organization, one cannot deny the complexity of the attribution problem at one end of the spectrum, and the maddeningly simple desire to ‘just know what worked’ at the other. These 5 classic considerations, however, will help you have a more balanced approach to choosing the right attribution model for you, no matter what.

Two developments have led to the present state of confusion and with ‘attribution’ challenge.

• The customer takes a convoluted path to purchase.

• The number of touchpoints is increasing, and so is the need for a seamless brand experience.

Attribution is difficult. But here are six pearls of wisdom gleaned from our awesome Guest Authors on MTA, that marketers should keep in mind while building their attribution models, irrespective of how sophisticated the technology gets:

1. Attribution is a process: In a recent article on MTA, Adam Berke President and Chief Marketing Officer, AdRoll wrote that Attribution is a process problem, not a product problem. That is, by framing attribution as an end-state instead of a continually ongoing process of improving decision making over time, we are painting ourselves into a corner.  Iterative technologies such as machine learning too will better serve those with a more process-oriented mindset. Because digital marketing itself is constantly evolving, attribution is just not something that will be ‘solved’ with one giant technological leap.

2. There are ‘soft’ aspects to attribution: you would expect the Senior VP of Analytics and Technology at Performics, Ramendra Singh, to be among the most data-numerics-quant driven persons on the planet. And yet, in an article on MTA, he says that attribution has a human element to it that cannot be ignored. Be it the variables and ‘context’ at play that ‘lead up to’ a desired response from a prospect, to better understanding the roles of all the teams involved in marketing, as stakeholders in the attribution process.

3. It’s not just the channels- it’s the devices too. Using one model for all campaigns may be inadequate. Using multiple-models on one campaign may also deliver conflicting results. While there are multiple models to choose from- first-click, last-click, multi-touch, liner, time-decay, U-shaped, W-shaped and the catch-all ‘custom’, Chris Miglino Chairman and CEO, SRAX, in his article that defines all those models, also cautions marketers that the proliferation of the Internet of things (IoT) has made it crucial for marketers to “glean insight not only from multiple channels but multiple devices” too.

4. Offline attribution is as important as online: millions of offline vendors across all industries saw the merits of building a digital/ online sales model. Nowadays, we see several online-only players building offline models as well. In his article outlining the options for marketers wanting to track offline attribution, Maciej Zawadzinski Co-founder & CEO, Piwik PRO cites Forrester Research which says that by 2021, the web will influence 46% of offline sales. There are increasingly new technologies to make the connection between online marketing and offline sales – from geofencing to card-linked tracking tools – and marketers will want to think about building a model from the start that helps them go all the way on the purchase path.

5. Prepare for the future: Let us assume that multi-touch attribution is here to stay. Marketers then need to prepare for what Nancy Lim Director Marketing, CallRail, calls ‘long-term attribution tracking’. While ‘a growing arena for analytics tools give brands full access to every consumer touch point’, it is important for the teams within marketing to collaborate and work together to build a sustainable attribution model that can address the increasing complexity of customer engagement.  Building a team-wide attribution mindset will help ‘champion tracking investments’ that will serve the needs of today – and tomorrow.

Today, attribution technology has changed exponentially and in a very short time since some of these articles were published. AI will probably change the game almost completely in the near future. In my mind, though, these 5 considerations above still hold true when it comes to defining your attribution game plan.

Because under all the complexity/ sophistication, lies this maddeningly simple desire: you want to stop spending on stuff that doesn’t work and optimize spends on stuff that does work.

Hopefully, upcoming technology will help you do that at scale, and for ‘segments of one’, without a care in the world for omnichannel, multi-touch complexities. Until then, reviled as it may be, I won’t be surprised if there remain several ‘closet’ last-click attribution users amidst us!

Read More https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/performance-and-attribution/lastclick-multichannel-datadriven-5-things-for-marketers-to-consider-about-attribution/