The attribution problem - How marketers assess ad performance in a fractured digital environment - Digiday
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
+ The attribution problem How marketers assess ad performance in a fractured digital environment
What’s inside
3 Introduction
4 Attribution in its ideal form
5 Putting the last touch first
6 The first touch
7 The multi-touch compromise
8 The offline element
9 Metrics, metrics, metrics
10 The all-important KPI
12 The bottom line
The attribution problem 2Introduction
It seems obvious: Marketers constant access to scores of data signals SURVEY SNAPSHOT
that reveal all aspects of consumer
need to know which of their
behavior—but organizing that data, and
marketing efforts actually making sense of consumers’ increasingly
worked. This is much easier non-linear paths to purchase, is anything 1. Last-touch attribution, which focuses
on which channel a customer was active
said than done. That’s why but straightforward. As a result, most
on directly before a conversion, is used by
brands have only scratched the surface
advertising “attribution” has when it comes to managing attribution
a plurality of marketers for both online (41
percent) and offline (31 percent) channels.
become increasingly vital to and identifying effective campaign tactics. Nonetheless, the largest contingent of
their efforts. respondents (44 percent) personally preferred
We surveyed 197 brands and agencies, the last-touch approach, which focuses on
when and where a customer was first exposed
Simply defined, attribution is the process along with 44 publishers, in January 2018
to a brand.
of determining which advertisements to explore how expectations vary when
and media channels are responsible it comes to attribution. We also dove 2. Fifty-two percent of respondents said
for driving ROI. More and more, into which KPIs marketers use to measure that sales metrics were most effective in
organizations are challenging their campaign success, and which strategies evaluating campaign performance, while 36
marketing teams to provide consistent, most effectively follow customers percent pointed to traffic metrics such as
accurate metrics linked to meaningful through their journeys across devices and average time spent on a page. Nonetheless,
50 percent wanted a stronger focus on traffic
business results. channels. Finally, we interviewed industry
metrics.
experts from Diane von Furstenberg,
But challenges abound. Today’s brands Huge, Essence Global, 3. Offline attribution remains crucial; only
and agencies market across an immense Fusion Media Group and one percent of respondents said it wasn’t
number of channels and platforms, Discover Financial. important to them.
both online and offline. This gives them
4. There’s a disconnect between brands and
agencies when it comes to identifying key
KPIs. A sizable 38 percent of marketers said they
don’t feel completely aligned with their partners
on delivering consistent and accurate metrics.
The attribution problem 3Attribution in
its ideal form
Marketers can drill down into insights from attribution tools in multiple ways.
Some marketers work with web analytics platforms, some establish their own
internal attribution models and some choose to focus on a handful of key
metrics. A significant majority of respondents (63 percent) said that the ideal
state of attribution means being able to track customers throughout the full
63%
marketing funnel.
That’s impossible to do, of course, unless marketers can consistently track
the customer throughout their entire purchase journey, from building brand
awareness all the way down to conversion. Marketers would also need to know
what considerations customers take into account along the way and which of
those considerations ultimately led to a conversion. That’s a tall order.
of marketers say the
ideal state of attribution
means being able to track
customers throughout the
full marketing funnel
The attribution problem 4Putting the
last touch first
As much as they’d like to, most marketers director of data science for the digital
41%
aren’t able to track customers throughout agency Huge. “The reason why so many
the entire funnel. According to our survey, people prefer last-touch is just because
the “last-touch” approach is the most it’s instant [...]That really misses the of marketers are most commonly
widely-used attribution method. With the whole cumulative impact of sequential
last-touch model, marketers simply take messaging, multiple channels and all
using the “last-touch” method for
a look at which channel a customer was virtual brand perceptions.” their online attribution
active on directly before a conversion. For
instance, if a user clicks on a Facebook Actually, a lot of the marketers who
ad and immediately buys the product, use last-touch attribution would prefer - B U T -
that ad gets full credit for influencing a different approach. When it comes
the purchase. All told, 41 percent of to digital attribution strategy, most
respondents said that the last-touch respondents (44 percent) said a first-
method was their most commonly used touch attribution model was more useful
attribution approach for online channels. for measuring digital campaigns. (The
A narrower plurality, 31 percent, said last-touch model still won out when it 44%
they most commonly used the last-touch came to offline attribution, with a 43
method for offline attribution as well. percent plurality.) Clearly, there’s a
disconnect between what marketers
There’s a problem here: Many industry are doing and what they think is most say that a “first-touch” model
experts say the last touch approach can effective. “We get addicted to fast is more useful for measuring
be overly simplistic. “Last-touch, which results,” said Horn.
digital campaigns
is where most people are starting, is
wrong,” said Michael Horn, managing
The attribution problem 5The first touch
As its name would suggest, the “first-touch” model
isolates when and where a customer was first
exposed to a brand.
“That first click really shows you where your brand power is,” said
Conor Shea, who served as managing director of global marketing
“
at Discover Financial until shortly after being interviewed for this
report. The first touch, in other words, is part of a potential customer’s
research process; it works as an affirmation tool to confirm or deny the
customer’s initial thoughts on a brand.
[The first click] shows
“It shows where people are first having a touchpoint with your brand,”
said Shea. Needless to say, it’s important for brands to establish a
where people are first
positive first connection with a lead; a bad impression may mean there’s having a touchpoint with
no second chance for the brand to redeem itself.
your brand.
Conor Shea
former managing director of global marketing,
Discover Financial
The attribution problem 6The multi-touch
compromise
A “multi-touch” model—one that analyzes Either way, marketers need to gather
customer behavior throughout the journey a hefty sample of conversions and
to purchase—provides a lot more data impressions, and then they need to do a
than first-touch or last-touch alone. But it’s whole lot of math. The process can take as
also more labor-intensive and takes much long as two or three months—and it can
longer to produce actionable insights. be as long as six months to a year before
marketers can actually implement the
First, marketers have to decide what, findings into a future campaign. “Multi-
exactly, they’d like to study. Maybe touch is never a fast solution,” said Huge’s
that means diving into how customers’ Horn.
interactions with display ads differed
from, or were complemented by, their True. But it also provides for a much
interactions with search ads. Or maybe richer data set.
it means formulating an algorithm
to determine what the incremental
contribution for each interaction was.
The attribution problem 7The offline element
However sophisticated and accurate sales staff to capture personally identifying
today’s digital attribution tools are, the information,” said Michael Crooks, DVF’s
offline element remains crucial. In fact, senior director of global marketing.
only one percent of respondents said
that offline attribution wasn’t important Of course, “offline” attribution often
to them. Offline attribution relies on data needs an online element. By collecting
The biggest mistake that marketers collect from non-digital customers’ personal information in-store,
a company can make sources, often at the point of sale. and then using that information to track
whether that customer saw a specific
[...] is to underestimate “The biggest mistake a company can digital ad before walking through
make [...] is to underestimate the value of the doors, brands can develop an
the value of offline offline conversions and offline interaction,” accurate sense of whether or not their
conversions and said Felipe Araujo, senior director of ads were effective.
e-commerce at the fashion brand Diane
offline interaction. von Furstenberg (DVF). Plus, once they assemble a large database
of personally identifiable info, brands
Felipe Araujo First and foremost, that means collecting can target customers more precisely
senior director of e-commerce, basic sales data: what the customer with future ads. Just as importantly, the
Diane von Furstenberg bought and where they bought it. But information helps marketers build up
brands often dive far deeper, collecting an accurate picture of which types of
information such as names, email customers—based on age, gender and so
addresses, phone numbers, social media on—are most receptive to which ads.
profiles or even demographic info such
as age or gender. “It’s very important for
The attribution problem 8Metrics, metrics, metrics
52%
Marketers use a variety of metrics Nonetheless, 50 percent of at last-touch attribution. Though
to measure the success of their marketers most commonly use the last-touch model tends to
campaigns, and those metrics are traffic metrics to assess the gloss over important elements of said sales metrics such as
often the fundamental building performance of their digital an overall campaign, it does shed conversion rates and return on
blocks of their attribution models. campaigns. In fact, 50 percent said some light on what ultimately
ad spend (ROAS) were the most
that they wanted their brand or drove sales—more so, in any
More than half of marketers (52 agency partner to place a stronger event, than the first-touch model. effective metrics when evaluating
percent) said that sales metrics focus on traffic metrics, while only a campaign’s success
such as conversion rates and 17 percent of marketers wanted a A multi-touch model, of course,
return on ad spend (ROAS) stronger focus on sales metrics. would incorporate a healthy
were the most effective when mix of sales and traffic metrics,
evaluating a campaign’s success. Ultimately, marketers need to take eliminating the blind spots that
a hard look at what their goals arise from focusing on just one
Traffic metrics (such as unique are. If their primary aim is to build or the other. But marketers often
visitors, click-through rates and brand awareness, they’re likely to don’t have the time to focus on
average time spent on a page) find great value in the first-touch everything at once.
came in second with 36 percent. approach, which allows them to 36%
It’s not hard to see why decent zero in on the the moments when That’s why it’s crucial for them
traffic metrics can be appealing: customers first interact with the to figure out what metrics they
Brands and agencies want to know brand. Traffic metrics factor heavily need to focus on before they craft
that their ads are actually being into first-touch attribution models. their attribution models. As it said traffic metrics such
viewed. But marketers should be stands, there’s often a discrepancy as CTRs and average time on
wary of relying on those metrics On the other hand, when brands between where marketers see
value and what they’re actually
page were the most effective
too heavily, since they don’t want to focus on concrete sales
necessarily indicate consumer metrics—on whether their ads doing. metrics when evaluting
purchases or even engagement drove conversions or overall ROI— campaign success
with the brand. it doesn’t hurt to take a close look
The attribution problem 9The all-important KPI
Brands and agencies don’t “In defining KPI, we say, ‘Let’s figure
out the one most important thing that
always see eye-to-eye on
we’re trying to accomplish with this
which metrics should campaign,’” said DVF’s Felipe Araujo.
be factored into their “‘Is this a campaign to drive brand
attribution models. awareness? To drive traffic? To do X?’
And then we measure that.”
Indeed, a sizable 38 percent of marketers
said they don’t feel completely aligned
Anant Mathur, EVP and global head of
analytics at Essence Global, had similar
advice. “People are often at loggerheads
38%
with their brand or agency partner in terms of the KPI that they are looking
when it comes to delivering consistent at,” he said. “The first order, then, is to
and accurate metrics. get them to focus on what actually drives
economic value.” For a news site, for
But before brands and agencies can instance, a “sale” means driving up ad of marketers say they
identify their ideal attribution models, revenue by getting people to engage
first they need to isolate which KPI they
don’t feel completely aligned
with your content; the site visit is the
should focus on. That’s not always easy conversion event. But if you’re on the
with their brand or agency partner
to figure out, but it’s monumentally brand side of that equation, selling, when it comes to delivering
important to try. say, handbags, it’ll probably make consistent and accurate metrics
more sense to focus on traditional sales
metrics.
The attribution problem 10It can be tough, of course, to stick with just So which KPIs are actually
one KPI. But trying to do so “can be helpful
being used?
at the briefing stage,” said Lindsey Eckert,
vp of media strategy at Fusion Media A slim plurality of marketers (31 percent)
Group, which owns sites such as The said that, if they could align with their
Onion and Deadspin. Brands, agencies, brand or agency partners on a single
and even publishers must be aligned on KPI, their attribution models would best
their ultimate objectives if they want their be served by a stronger focus on sales
“
campaigns to succeed. metrics like conversions and ROAS. But a
nearly identical number of respondents
“When we get our RFPs in, there are (30 percent) said that bounce rate was the
usually several different metrics,” said most important KPI to focus on. Coming
Eckert. “When we’re briefing our creative in at a close third was click-through rate
When we get our RFPs in,
teams, we really have to narrow it down to (27 percent). That’s not exactly a runaway
the one key thing, the one key takeaway victory for any individual choice. there are usually several
that we need to communicate.”
In addition, most marketers weren’t
different metrics. When we’re
When marketers fail to identify a clearly- exactly confident about what they briefing our creative teams,
defined KPI at the outset of a campaign, wanted out of their KPIs in the first place.
they wind up being stuck with KPIs that are A whopping 82 percent cited the need we really have to narrow it
irrelevant to their business models. Just as to organize data as the biggest reason
down to the one key thing,
damaging, it becomes nearly impossible why they’re not using their preferred KPIs
to formulate an attribution model that more consistently. Marketers may want the one key takeaway that
effectively identifies the successes and
failures of their campaigns. Without
to get into the weeds, but they don’t
necessarily have the time or resources
we need to communicate.”
narrowing things down to one KPI at the to make it a reality.
outset, marketers will leave themselves Lindsey Eckert
scrambling to overanalyze every vp of media strategy,
Fusion Media Group
conceivable data point, without a clear
idea of what they’re actually trying to
get from the data.
The attribution problem 11The bottom line
Brands, agencies and even publishers are struggling to identify which metrics should be factored into effective
attribution models. And frequently enough, they disagree with each other on the best approach. So at the
beginning of any given campaign, marketers would be wise to align with their partners on a clearly defined KPI.
First, they’ll need to take a holistic look at their business models and figure out which goals are most important.
Here are some best practices to help you set more accurate
and effective goals for future campaigns:
1 2 3 4 5
The last-touch approach can Marketers should place a A multi-touch attribution Don’t neglect offline Marketers should agree
be useful when analyzing heavy emphasis on first- model can be extremely attribution: It’s still with their partners on one
basic sales metrics, but touch attribution when time-consuming to assemble, extremely important, clearly defined KPI at the
it often omits important they’re focusing on brand but it’s worth the investment especially when combined beginning of any campaign.
information. Marketers awareness. if marketers have the with online data.
should rarely base their necessary resources: It offers
entire attribution strategy them the richest possible
around the last-touch data set.
model.
Only by establishing clearly-defined objectives at the outset can marketers hope to accurately assess
the success or failure of a campaign through any of their attribution efforts. Then, armed with the
attribution model that best suits their campaign goals, marketers will gain a greater understanding
of their customers, honing and refining their process and results for future campaigns.
That’s a surefire recipe for maximizing ROI.
The attribution problem 12About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice connects brands and retailers to consumers, so that every shopping
experience feels personal. From search and discovery to purchase and advocacy,
Bazaarvoice’s solutions reach in-market shoppers, personalize their experiences,
and give them the confidence to buy. Each month in the Bazaarvoice Network,
more than 900 million consumers view and share authentic content including
reviews, questions and answers, and social photos across 5,700 brand and retail
websites. Across the network, Bazaarvoice captures billions of shopper signals
monthly - data that powers high-efficiency digital advertising and personalization
with unmatched relevance.
Founded in 2005, Bazaarvoice is headquartered in Austin, Texas with offices in
North America, Europe, and Australia.
For more information, visit www.bazaarvoice.com/advertising.
PRODUCED BY CUSTOM FOR DIGIDAY AND BAZAARVOICE
Custom is a creative content agency that translates tech-speak into human-speak.
Our journalists, strategists and artists help companies in disrupted industries stand out.
Want to work with us?
Contact Digiday SVP Drew Schutte, drew@digiday.com
© DIGIDAY MEDIA 2018You can also read
