• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 13, 2014

Voice search, Sitelinks and click-to-call features from Google and Bing make it easy for consumers to research information online via a mobile phone. New attribution models and tools make it easier for marketers to understand the overall value of mobile campaigns to their company's business.

Marketers at 1-800-Flowers and Shutterfly found that analyzing the results from some of these features revealed unexpected conversion increases and return on investment.

In addition to the tools, it takes a shift in thinking. Shutterfly -- the parent company to brands Shutterfly, TinyPrints, WeddingPaperDivas, and others -- recently began measuring cross-device conversions in AdWords to understand sales of products that consumers begin on one device and complete on another.

Cross-device conversion data helps Shutterfly properly attribute sales driven by AdWords marketing dollars. Measuring the cross-channel conversions revealed some valuable data that will help marketers better understand how consumers search and shop for their products.

Shutterfly discovered that overall conversions from AdWords ads rose 15% when factoring in cross-device conversions, and 60% in mobile conversions when factoring in mobile-to-desktop conversions. They also revealed a 19% increase in AdWords desktop conversions when factoring in cross-browser conversions. All of the clicks came from the company’s non-brand terms on Google.

Having the ability to better understand cross-device conversions helped Shutterfly uncover 15% more in overall conversions for non-brand terms, 60% in mobile conversions for non-brand terms, and 19% increase in desktop conversions for non-brand terms when factoring in browser-to-browser conversions.

Since the switch, Shutterfly has made several changes based on the company’s cross-device statistics. The company moved all the keywords in campaigns, so they show up on mobile devices. They also chose to increase mobile bids to become more competitive in the auction.

Marketers at 1-800-Flowers had a similar experience. They wanted to understand the value of AdWords search ads, analyze the impact of click-to-call ads, discover how their customers transact across devices, and allocate desktop and mobile spending based on conversion data.

Research results showed a 7% increase by analyzing click-to-call and cross-device conversions -- those that began on one device and ended on another. Having the tools to assign value to mobile clicks allowed the company to use this data to make better budget and merchandising decisions. It also achieved a 4% increase in mobile-initiated conversions, one-per-click; and reported between 8% and 10% of overall revenue from AdWords resulting from click-to-call.