Using Cross-Channel Attribution and Analysis
The only way you can keep up with today’s multi-screen, multi-device audience is if you incorporate an integrated multi-channel approach. This basically means nurturing and advancing prospects down the conversion funnel using coordinated marketing channels. This leads us to the challenge of measuring and apportioning the role of each of these channels to determine their impact and performance, or attribution.
The Econsultancy Marketing Attribution Guide defines attribution as the practice of allocating partial value to different touchpoints within the customer journey, which have influenced a sale or a desired outcome. Cross-channel attribution measures interactions across various offline (TV, outdoor, direct mail, etc.) and online channels (display, organic search, social, email, etc.) and help determine the efficiency of marketing function.
Why Attribution?
Attribution takes the guesswork out of marketing and gives you a holistic picture of your marketing performance as opposed to silo-ed channel-specific one. A simple way to determine if you need attribution or not is to check the Path Length report section in Google Analytics. Check whether a substantial part of your conversions have a path length which is greater than one. If they do, it means that attribution is not being done optimally, and will most likely be ignored in the last click attribution model (discussed below).
Common Attribution Models
These are some of the most common attribution models used by marketers:
Last Interaction or Last-click Attribution Model
The last interaction model assigns all credit to the last touchpoint that led to conversion while ignoring all previous interactions and touchpoints. This is a conventional model used to measure marketing impact. However, it is now less preferred because it dismissed other channels.
First Interaction or First Click Attribution Model
The first interaction model assigns all credit to the first touchpoint from where the prospect enters the conversion funnel. This attribution model again largely ignores all other channels and is thus considered quite limited in its analysis ability.
Linear Attribution Model
The Linear Attribution model assigns equal credit to all the interaction points across the channel regardless of when it happened during the customer’s buying journey. This model is relatively more democratic and fairer of the lot since it gives all channels due credit, but it is also limited in helping you determine how to apportion your budgets depending on the outcome.
Time Decay Attribution Model
The Time Decay Attribution model assigns most of the credit to the touch-point closest to conversion and then proceeds to apportion less credit to the second-closest touchpoint and so, based on a formula. The advantage of using this model is that it allows you to set half-life of decay which refers to the time gap used for apportionment, which then can be entered based on your sales cycle and your understanding of the time it takes for your customers to complete their buying journey.
With the buyers’ journey becoming more and more complex, the importance of this science is only increasing. Using any or all of the above-mentioned cross-channel attribution models will help you measure cross-channel marketing impact and help you understand marketing ROI.
