an attribution journey by adam proehl

#SMX #31C @adamproehl

A brief in progress journey

An Attribution Journey


§ Digital Marketer since 1998

§ Specialize in Complex & Omni-Channel sales

§ Partner at NordicClick Interactive – a Minneapolis based agency

§ Past Instructor at Online Marketing Institute, University of San Francisco, and Instant E-Training

§ Hopeless MN sports fan

About Me


A Curmudgeon’s Rant

“I got a lot of problems with this whole ‘attribution’ thing”


#1: Lots of Good Stuff…..Lots of Junk


#1: Lots of Good Stuff…..Lots of Junk

•Canned formula fractions

•Useless data


#2: Attribution: Many week links

§ Crumbling cookies (Thanks Apple!)§ Do not track settings§ Multiple devices§ Offline Marketing Activity


“And in applying the time-decay methodology, your first-click PPC non-branded accounts for 40%.....

• Too smart for your own good?• Over complicating things?

#3: This can happen


#4: Lot’s of Hair Pulling

• Tracking Issues

• Data Sources

• Internal Cultural Challenges


#5: No Testing to Validate Attribution • Display Ads

• Social Targeting

• Assumptions / Sampling

• Accounting for external factors


THIS?

Determine what (and ultimately “who”) gets credit for the conversion based on some formula?

#6: Last – What Are You Really After?


OR THIS?

Where should we spend our time, money, and resources?

#6: Last – What Are You Really After?


Attribution Realities• Budget

• Bandwidth

• Organizational Sophistication


Attribution: My Goals

Which marketing tactics:• Move the needle?• Improve the performance of other tactics?


An Attribution Story


National Home Furnishings Retailer

X 120


§ Upscale Products

§ Top 10% earners

§ High LTV, low purchase frequency

§ E-Commerce - 12% of overall business

Background


C-Level: Understand the effects that digital marketing has on in-store sales

Key Challenge


§ Store managers HATE E-Commerce

§ Old, old, legacy systems

§ Recent botched E-Commerce migration

§ Entirely new digital team

§ They’re cheap

Complications


Audit Analytics:

§ Traffic double counting

§ Improperly configured goals & events

§ Referral tracking issues

§ Excessive Bot traffic

Attribution Journey: Part 1


Attribution Journey: Part 1Inventory of Available Data

ü Adwords data (Search, remarketing, GDN, Shopping)

ü Facebook data

ü Retail store foot trafficü In store sales numbers (by zip code)üEmail dataüAnalytics


Piecing it together:




Analytics Canvas

Retail Store Sales

Retail Foot

Traffic

Analytics

Adwords

Email Data


Examples


Closer View


Old School Test & ValidationMarketing 101 still works : Geo Control Tests§ In Market Audience Display Advertising

§ Offline Advertising

§ Similar Markets

§ Site Link Extensions / Headlines

§ Social Advertising


Direct Traffic – Ad period Test Market

Direct Traffic – Ad period Control Market

Old School Test & ValidationMarketing 101: Geo Control Tests


Extensive Validation§ Test vs. control markets

§ Other media conditions consistent

§ Validated several different times

§ Year over Year

NOTES


§ CFO overjoyed. Really!

§ Significant budget increase

§ Bing getting more love

§ Directive: Go deeper yet

So What Happened?


Attribution Journey Part 3: Brand Measurements • Branded & Product Based

Search Queries

• Causation/Correlation of Media Buys

• Accounting for seasonality, external events, etc.


Attribution Journey Part 3:

Additional Onboarding

Next: Repeat exercise


§ “Culture of Attribution”

§ Success looks different for different platforms

§ Validation efforts are validated

§ Not as slick and easy as made out to be

Lesson’s Learned (So far)


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THANK YOU! SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX