Are We Close To Solving The Age Old Problem of Conversion Attribution?
Conversion attribution in marketing is akin to dark matter in astrophysics, we know it exists and we can see its effects all around us but direct observation has eluded us for a while. Well, one tech giant (Google) may be close to finally finding the answers to our attribution problem.
What is the attribution problem?
Most businesses rely on more than one form of advertising channel to promote their products. Traditionally, conversion has been attributed to channel that generated the converting click (a.k.a. Last Click attribution model) but this model is inaccurate as no credit is given to channels that generated awareness of the brand or product/service which also contributed the conversion.
Okay, so how’s Google solving this problem?
At Google Marketing Next (May ’17), Bill Kee, Google’s Group Product Manager Attribution announced the arrival of a new product called Google Attribution, and most importantly that it was going to FREE (although there will also be a Paid version for some the largest advertisers).
Great, but you could already change the attribution model in Google Analytics, how is this any different?
So the attribution models that have existed so far have allowed us to switch conversion attribution from the default option of ‘Last Click’ attribution to one of the below:
- First Click: Only the channel that generated the first click is credited with the conversion
- Linear: All channels are given equal credit for a conversion
- Position based: where first and last click channels are given relatively higher weighting than the ones in between
- Time Decay: The last click channel gets the most credit for a conversion with all previous channels getting progressively reduced weighting the further away they are from the last click
The reason why Google Attribution is a game changer is because it uses data-driven machine learning to analyse your customers’ unique conversion patterns so that it can attribute credit to different channels based on historical performance and patterns in conversion paths.
Sounds good, how do I sign-up?
Google Attribution is in limited Beta at the moment in USA and hasn’t been rolled out in the UK yet. You can sign-up to be the first to hear about the release date by registering your interest with Google.
We for one are definitely looking forward to trying this product for our clients and help them make smarter marketing decisions. We will share our learnings via this blog as soon as we get our hands on it so stay tuned.
