Mastering MultiChannel Attribution

Accurate marketing attribution (connecting a customer’s behavior to the impact of marketing efforts) remains an ongoing challenge for many businesses, especially bridging the online and offline world. Building an integrated, omnichannel attribution model remains the ultimate goal, but for most brands, this remains a dream at best.

According to a study from Econsultancy, only eight percent of companies have successfully tied together customer data from disparate channels, critical for an attribution model that crosses the “digital divide”. The clear majority—68 percent— have only started to connect the dots, and they don’t have any regular process in place that resembles omnichannel attribution.

Now, eMarketer’s Marketing Attribution 2017 study laid out the top challenges and priorities for businesses looking to implement a holistic attribution model and it clearly shows that marketers are just beginning to understand the need for an audience-centric approach that follows consumers as they move from one channel to the next.

Michael Cohen, head of data and analytics at Converto, an attribution firm owned by AOL, said,“We recognize that if you start with the consumer as the building block and you build the model around that, even if you don’t have data available at the level you need, modern science allows us to integrate the data. If you start with the consumer, you can fill in the gaps when the data comes available.”

There is No Perfect Solution

The lack of an easy, one-stop solution has made it harder for eager marketers to implement the changes needed to facilitate cross channel attribution. According to eMarketer, 48 percent of companies cited an “inability to experiment” as their greatest barrier to success, more than any other limitation.

Developing these holistic models will require some trial and error, which can turn off executive leaders. But marketers have a hard time improving attribution on their own because of their need for data coming from many sources outside of their own domain knowledge. “Often the data needed to understand the efficacy of various marketing channels and tactics are in silos among multiple platforms, departments, vendors, or agencies,” says Alan Beiagi, senior director of products for demand-side platform DataXu.

Without collaboration and data-sharing internally and partner organizations, accurate cross-channel attribution can’t take place. eMarketer’s report suggests that successful marketing departments understand how to advocate for shared data and silo breakdown to business leaders. But for other companies, it remains the second-highest barrier to success.

For marketing teams that haven’t secured executive buy-in, this is a critical step to breaking down data walls that inhibit attribution. No amount of tech solutions or partner data-sharing will be able to overcome these internal challenges.

Vendors and Agencies Can Fill Your Attribution Gaps

Marketers understand that no vendor can entirely solve their attribution problems and customization of these solutions are key. But vendors do have a role as a partial solution for holistic attribution and eMarketer notes that although companies are making a concerted effort to build attribution teams in-house, they do recognize the value of bringing in third-party vendor solutions and services for the critical experience and brain power required.

“Building the right team in-house allows us to stay on top of what our customers are asking for and to respond to that much more quickly,” says Melissa Studzinski, head of customer engagement and loyalty for Rue La La. “You have a much deeper understanding of what the customer wants, what her pain points are, and what’s going to make her happy.”

In many cases, even holistic attribution remains an imperfect product. But companies shouldn’t let this lack of perfection hold them back from producing the strongest attribution solution possible.

Switching to an audience-centric approach gives you the right template for attribution going forward while improving your performance metrics today. As technology and strategies evolve, you’ll be better positioned to improve your operations and increase the accuracy of your customer attribution.