Today’s hyper-competitive world breathes ROI.
Every marketer conducts a thorough analysis of which channel (social media, paid searches, ads, email and others) works best in delivering leads and achieving revenue goals.
In reality, this is easier said than done. Even though we admit that social media has become ubiquitous, a recent study conducted by Abode Digital Index analyzed data from 1.7 billion visits to media, retail and travel sites. The study revealed that marketers are still not utilizing social media to its maximum capacity to generate leads or drive revenue.
The answer to the less-than-effective use of social media lies in how the marketer measures the impact of various channels to prioritize marketing investments.
Most marketers measure conversion on a last-click attribution basis. For example, let us assume a consumer conducts a search for “handbag” and from the search engine results, clicks on a paid search ad and makes a purchase. The marketer, observing the different incoming sources, assumes that the paid search ad drove the sale.
Such a measurement, though convenient, does not tell the entire story and does not take into consideration the customer engagement process. For example, the customer who clicked on the ad may have first noticed the same brand on a friend’s Facebook page, which showed up when the friend liked the brand’s social media page. But the customer might naturally prefer the paid ad to another similar ad. In real life scenarios, the prospect may have engaged with the brand through several mediums before landing on the paid search ad.
How can a marketer take a holistic measurement of the ROI from each channel?
One way is to measure using the first click attribute, or assigning a score to the channel where the prospect initially connected with the brand. With this measurement, the channel where the customer first saw the brand or deal (in this case, Facebook) gets the credit for attracting the lead. The rest of the interventions are all different engagement initiatives that aim to convert the lead or prospect.
Are you scoring your customers effectively for each medium?
