Mapping The Sphere of Influence

by Phil Leggiere, Feb 13, 2008, 12:00 PM

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Most behaviorally savvy marketers know full well that the "single-click theory" of consumer behavior, which hypothesizes that conversions are best attributed to the last click a consumer makes before purchase, is fundamentally flawed. They understand that purchase behavior spans a myriad of touch-points preceding that last click. Yet in practice the single-click theory still guides most behavioral targeting campaigns, simply because marketers remain overwhelmed with data and lack the means of finding meaningful patterns amidst all those touch-points. In the conversation below, Alan Osetek, Connexion.a's executive vice president, sales & marketing, discusses how marketers can move beyond the single-click model by mapping and measuring what he calls spheres of influence.

 

BI: What does Connexion.a think is the missing variable in today's measurement, planning and optimization for marketing?

Osetek: Without understanding the full spectrum of marketing touch-points influencing consumers' behavior, it's impossible to truly measure the attributes of a successful marketing campaign. Most marketers are giving 100% credit to the 'final click' in a campaign -- as opposed to understand[ing] all of the touch-points a consumer had with the brand. Smart marketers are measuring the 'sphere of influence' of multiple media touch-points within a campaign across multiple online, offline, and mobile channels and then measuring the impact these channels have on consumer behavior and the decision process.

BI: Who is using Connexion.a to better understand their audiences reaction and behavior? How does Connexion.a help businesses understand consumer behavior in regard to the 'sphere of influence'?

Osetek: Connexion.a currently works with 14 clients, including four of the top 10 U.S.-based digital agencies and eight Fortune 500 advertisers.

The multiple-media touch-point phenomenon has significant impact over consumers' behavior, and their ultimate purchasing decisions; however, it's very difficult for most organizations to measure this on their own. The reason is, there are more and more sources of marketing data from disparate sources. As a result the data is disjointed and impossible to integrate without lots of IT hours or crunching numbers in spreadsheets. By unifying marketing data and results from online, offline, and mobile channels, Connexion.a provides organizations with a simple consolidated view of the consumer's behavior, supplying businesses with the information they need to direct and refine their marketing strategies and tactics to make the greatest impact with their audience.

BI: What are the benefits of having insight into a consumer's behavior across multiple marketing touch points?

Osetek: Having a unified source of behavior data across marketing touch-points leads to benefits such as increased relevancy of campaigns, lower cost of customer acquisition, and ultimately an increase in top-line revenue. The advertiser is able to best understand the types of message, creative, offer, and media channel that will have the greatest impact on an overall marketing campaign.

BI: What are some of the key steps to enable advertisers to better track, analyze, and predict online consumer behavior, and use marketing intelligence tools to help find the most attractive prospects and customers?

Osetek: One of the first steps we recommend to advertisers is to figure out where they want their 'digital dashboard' and marketing data warehouse to reside. This warehouse should store all historical media, Web site, and customer data to better understand consumer behavior and optimize future marketing campaigns. Three possible data warehousing choices include your agency, in-house, or a third-party provider (Connexion.a falls into this third category)

Secondly, we recommend advertisers spend a little more time defining their overall business and campaign goals. This includes interviewing the business users who will be reading these dashboards, as these are the only people who can determine the relevancy of specific business data to their decision-making process.

Lastly, the final step is to assign key performance indicators (KPIs) to each campaign. These key metrics will allow you to evaluate campaign performance. If available, integrate historical campaign data and metrics into the mix to better understand performance over time.

BI: How does Connexion.a differentiate itself from the competition?

Osetek: Connexion.a provides a complete dashboard reporting and data warehousing solution for all digital, offline media, Web site, and customer data. We wrap this offering together via software as a service model. That way clients gain access to the technology, software, and services they need without having to buy an expensive technology infrastructure and hire additional people. Typically our implementation time frame is four to six weeks. Thus, advertisers are able to see an immediate benefit in the first three months of using the platform.

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