As digital marketers, we are charged with the task of figuring out what is the most creative and effective way to achieve our client’s goals online. In my experience, all companies have the same end goals: generate more customers, increase sales, increase margin and retain existing customers. They may tell you that they are a DR client (read: ROI) or a Brand client but it’s really different means to the same end. When you doing direct response advertising, you’re aiming to capture the user when they’re looking to buy or you’re enticing them to take immediate action through a promotion or sale or what not. When you’re doing brand advertising, you’re building mental equity in the consumer’s mind and driving a message you hope they will associate your brand with. At the end of the day, when that consumer does make a purchase, you hope that your branding efforts had something to do with it.
In the last few years, the rise of web analytics and the trackable nature of the web has given rise to the thinking to that all of your online marketing can be measured accurately. The most basic example is that most companies measure their marketing effectiveness by attributing conversions to the advertising that generated the last click before that conversion occurred. AdWords and other SEM engines are built upon the foundation that a click, especially the last one, is what matters most … nevermind the flurry of other advertising that could’ve driven a user to finally click that Google ad. I know what you’re thinking — Of course we have to draw the line somewhere, there’s really no efficient way we can’t account for all media channels in developing an attribution model of advertising effectiveness. To a large degree, that is very right. After all, even we as consumers ourselves are not really sure WHY we choose to buy certain products from certain retailers at certain times and certain prices. We may think we do but when you think about it, how many times were you exposed to an advertiser’s logo, advertisement, pitch before you made that purchase. The hidden motivators remain hidden and there are infinite combinations of motivational factors that drive a purchase. In short, there is no sureshot answer to attribution.
Smart companies and smart agencies have always known this and in many cases have begun to look at online advertising outside of the silo that it has existed in for so many years. Changes in consumer behavior such as using Search Engines as a navigational tool means that Search is given more credit that it probably deserves. Some clients and companies may understand, but are hesistant to challenge the attribution model since it makes attribution less black and white and more grey and fuzzy. 3rd Party ad serving presents companies with a new slew of data, the most important of which is view-based conversion data. Simply speaking, view-based conversions are conversions that are tracked to a user who has viewed an advertisement but did not click on it. Many marketers and companies simply disregard all view-based conversions since it doesn’t seem logical to assume that just seeing an ad is causal just because someone viewed an ad and ended up making a purchase. However true that may be, taking a stance to completely ignore view-based conversions seems to also be illogical since you have to assume an impression is worth something (isn’t that what offline media is about?).
The point is, just because it can’t be measured accurately does not mean you should disregard the possible contributions of a specific channel. If you only value what you can count, then the end-result is that you optimize against advertising that’s closest to the final purchase path (search engines, price comparison engines, etc.). The purchase funnel does not get fed and your overall business suffers. Your marketing may look more efficient but you start to “miss the forest for the trees” when it comes to achieving business objectives. Many online marketers have flocked to this medium because of the very “accountable” nature of the medium yet as the industry matures, we find that motivation cannot be simply measured by a last action.
Some of the best companies I have worked with have taken the leap of faith in trying to better understand attribution models online. Experiements can be conducted to measure banner impresssion impact on segemented test groups online against control groups who see non-branded banners. Measuring in-store lift in specific geo-markets from geo-targeted online campaigns can provide insight into in-store traffic driving effects from highly targeted online programs. At the end of the day, as a smart online marketer, you have to ask yourself: What is my client’s business goal? Take a step back and look at how your client has fared since you’ve been brought on board and figure out whether or not your advertising programs have had a positive contribution on the business as a whole. In short, view-conversions are as real as offline is real, the question that needs to be answered is, how much do we accept and how do we look at our client’s business from the position of a business partner.
