In today’s industry, advertisers are able to see a direct relationship between an ad and a consumer’s purchase decision. However, many advertisers and agencies continue to make the same mistake – placing all the glory on the last ad the consumer clicks on. This shouldn’t be the case.

I believe the most effective ad campaigns draw consumers in every at step of the way and every aspect of a campaign is responsible for the final purchase decision. Credit should be given to multiple touch points before a person converts. This allows rich insights to be obtained into the whole customer journey – What was the person researching before? What sites did the person spend time on prior to making this purchase? What social media channels does the person visit the most?

Attribution and post-click can become a confusing and tricky concept to get your head around, so I’ve pulled together some top tips into this process that will help you stay on top of your online marketing strategy.

Clicks vs. views – what’s more important?

Before even reaching the final click prior to purchase, make sure you haven’t put too much emphasis on clicks in general. If you do, you will miss out on the insights gained from those who view an ad and don’t click on it, then later perform the desired action. Internet users are repeatedly exposed to relevant content through emails, display ads, social media and websites. Tests* have shown that post-impression conversion rates are significantly higher than post-click conversion rates – showing that all aspects of the journey need to be taken into consideration.

Don’t forget about display

This will obviously differ depending on company, audience, campaign and key objectives. Some marketers believe that digital channels outside of display advertising, such as ads on search engines or in emails, provide optimal use of their ad budgets and deliver the best ROI. However, display ads continue to have a powerful impact on campaign results and delivers improved results on an on-going basis.

A multi-touch approach

There is such a huge diversity of advertising channels today that it is quite different from the landscape a decade ago when we didn’t have to account for the various touch points a person could use before they ultimately convert. We’ve now got to take into account display, social media, mobile, video and TV. “Put a pixel everywhere” is a strategy we like to implement at Rocket Fuel as it allows us to pull together all the data necessary across various channels to then evaluate which channel is working best and implement a campaign that maximises value across the right channels.

Track all results

All companies know that bottom-line results, such as sales, need to be tracked on an on-going basis. If companies can track these across each various channels, they will be able to gain insights into sales cycles – Are people more responsive to your ads at night on a mobile? Are you generating a sales peak on a Sunday from an ad on Facebook? Being able to identify and learn from these patterns will increase the value of a campaign and increase your ability to target your messages to the right people at the right time on the right channel.

Attribution is key. Give credit where credit is due and learn from what your consumer’s journey is telling you about their behaviour. Run tests with the technology across various channels, find out how, where and when people are engaging with you and develop campaigns around your learnings from these insights. Then watch your costs go down and your results take off.

For more information about effective attribution strategies, see Rocket Fuel's Attribution Guide.

 

By Dominic Trigg, Managing Director Europe at Rocket Fuel. 

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