Measurement and attribution have been a hot topic in the programmatic advertising industry over the past few years. As more and more money is funneled into programmatic buys, it becomes increasingly important to be able to accurately measure the success of those campaigns. There are a number of different measurement and attribution models available that you can use to understand how your digital marketing campaigns are performing, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, so it is important to understand which one will work best for your business In this blog post, we will discuss first-touch, last-touch, view-through, offline and footfall, and multi-touch measurement and attribution models to help you better understand how they work and which one might be the best fit for your business.
The first thing to understand about measurement and attribution is the term attribution window. This is essentially how far you’re willing to look back to give credit to views or clicks on an advertisement. A lot of default windows are set at 7 days for clicks, and 30 days for view-throughs, but these are always updating. Based on your business, the length of your sales cycle, and other marketing efforts you’re engaging in, these windows might be different. If you’re not sure what attribution window to set, MGN Ads can help you look at your data and give you a recommendation.
Next, we’ll briefly touch on the various attribution models available and the pros and cons of each.
First-touch measurement and attribution looks at what touchpoint in the customer journey led to the conversion. This model is often used by businesses that have a longer sales cycle as it can help to identify which touchpoint in the customer journey was most important.
Last-touch measurement and attribution looks at what touchpoint led directly to the conversion. This model is often used by businesses that have a shorter sales cycle as it can be more effective in identifying which campaign or touchpoint had the biggest impact on the conversion.
View-through measurement and attribution looks at how many times an ad was seen before the conversion happened. This model is often used by businesses that want to measure brand awareness or reach as it can help to identify how many people saw the ad before they converted.
Offline and footfall measurement and attribution models look at conversions that happen offline, such as in a store or over the phone. It is often used to track how many people came into a store after seeing an add. This model is often used by businesses that want to track the offline impact of their digital campaigns.
Multi-touch attribution, like the name implies, uses multiple touchpoints throughout a consumers journey, and gives credit to each of those touchpoints as a factor that led to a conversion. It can be a little more complex to set up and track, but it does a great job at giving a bigger, clearer picture of the whole conversion process, and crediting each impression or action appropriately.
Which measurement and attribution model is best for your business will depend on a number of factors, such as the type of product or service you are selling, the sales cycle, and what you want to measure. If you are not sure which model to use, talk to a measurement and attribution expert who can help you choose the right one for your business.
Measurement and attribution models can help you better understand how your digital marketing campaigns are performing and make more informed decisions about where to allocate your budget. If you want to learn more about measurement and attribution, contact us today. We would be happy to chat with you about your specific needs and help you choose the right model for your business. Thanks for reading!