Attribution and The Importance of Seeing the Entire Customer Journey

Q> First of all, what is attribution in terms of the digital media ecosystem?

Sergio Alvarez> Simply put, it’s a way of tracking a customer’s journey from the time they see an ad to the time they purchase the advertised product. If we know their media interactions, we can better understand and measure the value of each touchpoint that contributed to a sale. Advertisers are not often aware of the option to track each step of the consumer journey, seeing when the user first saw an ad on Facebook, Googled the product, and clicked through a link to buy what was advertised. They don’t realise it can all come together. Attribution leads to real-time measurement, something that can benefit every advertiser in today’s world of digital advertising.

Q> How does AIMG do attribution differently than their peers?

SA> We bring something a little different.  Our all-click attribution system exposes our clients to every step and behaviour along the path to purchase. A lot of agencies are only able to provide insight into the first time a consumer engages with a brand, and, at the end of their journey, when they make a purchase.  We help our clients track the entire journey, from the first time a consumer interacts with a brand, through all the steps leading up to purchase, whether they respond to an online search ad, organically visit the site, or click on a mobile display ad. Beyond understanding the levers that prompt a consumer’s decision to purchase, we are able to see what media buys and placements are the most effective, providing a much deeper level of insight into consumer habits, and giving us the information we need to run more effective marketing campaigns for our clients.

Q> Are there any issues that are getting more attention than they deserve?

SA> One thing clients dwell on - which we don’t find important - is a view-through conversion or what we also call a voodoo conversion. In other words, if a customer visits a site where we have placed an ad and later returns to buy the product advertised, we do not assume the ad influenced the purchase decision unless they actually clicked the ad before purchasing. The results and metrics we provide are based on real interactions, not assumptions.

Q> What do you say to people with privacy concerns about the data being tracked?

SA> We're not tracking people's personal information, and everything we're doing is compliant with the Internet. It's an IP address containing non-personal information.  For instance, we're working with medical companies that require additional layers of compliance. So if they are okay with it, we're okay across the board. 

Q> When did people start to see attribution as important to their marketing plan?

SA> Since the beginning of the internet. It’s seen as the most accountable medium. Our attribution technology allows our clients to make better-informed, real-time decisions that often result in an improved customer experience and improved results.

Q> What are the benefits of an end-to-end attribution system?

SA> With the ability to track consumer behaviour, in real-time, brands have the opportunity to make quicker, and more insightful decisions on how, where and when they reach consumers online. This can be something as small as not repeating the same banner ad after the customer has already bought the product, or advertising a weather appropriate product if a storm is coming into the area. It also permits our clients to compress the purchase cycle by personalising messaging and focusing only on the touchpoints that most influence the consumer.

Q> Why do you think attribution isn’t making more headway within the industry?

SA> First because the availability of real time digital attribution is not widely known. Also, a fully integrated, actionable attribution model would erode big agency profit margins, and expose the lack of transparency in many agency tracking systems.

Most of the big, traditional media agencies do not have the in-house resources to develop some of the new technologies that brands require to go to market today. We are a smaller agency driven by innovation. The scope of our tracking and attribution technology is not available outside of the Ai Media Group. In place of existing platforms, we developed an end-to-end attribution system that delivers deep insights on how every digital media touchpoint influences consumers on their path to purchase.