Let’s just come right out and say it—attribution is hard. No matter how good your models are, it may feel like something is missing in your data.
It’s hard to prove the role your website played in pre-purchase research or how a display ad may have influenced customer behavior. And when your data doesn’t show what you know in your gut to be true, it can be uphill battle to figure out why.
The problem is also the solution
When it comes down to it, the problem, and ultimately the solution, lies with identity.
Identity is the foundation of everything.
Without the ability to weave together all online and offline activity back to a single profile, your view of the customer’s story will never be complete, and understanding what truly influences a conversion will remain elusive.
How one auto brand solved for attribution
Recently, one of our clients in the auto industry was getting pressure from their board to cut investment in their website. The board’s belief was that the site didn’t drive purchases—most of which occurred in store.
To disprove this theory and protect their budget, they needed to show that the unauthenticated visitors to their website actually influenced a significant portion of in-store purchases.
We were able to show that 40% of their customers were going to the site to read product reviews or find discount codes before going into a store. Because we had the capability to identify the people coming to their website (authenticated or not), we illuminated each customer journey leading up to a purchase and could confidently assign value to upstream marketing.
It completely changed the internal narrative about marketing’s impact, elevated the digital team to rock star status and guaranteed increased funding for the website in the future.
Final thoughts
How can you measure the value of any of your channels if you can’t see the entire journey from digital ads, to direct mails, to emails and purchases? It’s all there in the data, but you must be able to see it and align it back to a single person.
That’s what matters when it comes to attribution; uncovering the customer’s story from the start of their journey to the end, and every sporadic move in between.
It all begins with accurately recognizing your customers, leveraging that identity to align all behaviors into a single profile, then using the insights to make data-driven decisions within your brand.