• by Bob Sybydlo , December 10, 2014

Attribution helps marketers gauge the effectiveness of marketing activities across channels. And from my experience, I’ve seen attribution tie the cost of specific marketing tactics to key business outcomes, providing important insights about the real value of channel activities. 

I’ve noticed that marketers who have implemented attribution methodologies are seeing big results. But nearly half of all marketers still haven’t incorporated attribution into their strategies. So what gives? Why are marketers ignoring attribution? 

Understanding Attribution

There’s nothing magical about the concept of attribution. It’s actually quite simple. Essentially, attribution gives credit where credit is due, allowing marketing decision makers to accurately identify the impact of channel investments.

In most cases, increased visibility translates into improved digital marketing efficiency. In a recent Forrester study, marketers who used attribution increased their ability to identify waste in their media plans, resulting in 15-30% improvements in digital efficiency during the first year. 

Some of the other benefits of attribution include:

• Improved Budget Allocation – the ability to re-allocate more spend to efficient programs that generate the most revenue

• Cross-channel Optimization – optimization across channels, within channels and across devices for added cost savings

• Insights-based Decision Making – the use of data (not instincts) removes politics and uncertainty from marketing decisions

• Customer Journey Clarity – a clearer perspective about the paths and channels that are most valuable to customers

According to a survey by Webmarketing123, 41% of marketers haven’t implemented an attribution model in their marketing programs—despite the documented benefits and efficiencies.

I’ve noticed that the barriers to adoption are diverse and cover a complex range of factors including a lack of prioritization, uncertainties about implementation or business value, and organizational structures. Since many marketing organizations have separate teams for specific channels, competition and a fear of losing marketing dollars often discourage stakeholders from championing attribution methodologies. 

Tips for Implementing and Improving Attribution

The increased use of attribution can yield significant benefits for your organization. Although attribution models vary based on needs and requirements, there are several things that you can do to either implement or improve attribution methodologies in your marketing organization:

• Tap into attribution expertise: Effective attribution hinges on the expertise of people who know how to develop precise test designs for attribution initiatives. In some cases, this expertise can come from internal team members; in others it will need to be accessed through agencies, consultants or vendors.

• Create a culture of measurement: Everyone in the organization needs to be on the same page regarding analytics and attribution. It isn’t enough for executive decision makers to be onboard—marketing, IT and other stakeholders need to understand why attribution is important and how it will be used to improve channel efficiencies.

• Track the right data: Capturing the right customer information is a prerequisite for attribution success. Develop and implement a channel-wide tracking process that associates source codes with calls to action (e.g. promotional codes, UTMs in HTML or hash tags).

• Identify the right technology: Automated tools can simplify attribution processes, especially when it comes data processing. When selecting technology, focus on aligning your solution with business requirements and the anticipated sophistication of your attribution model.

Like it or not, flying blind and gut instincts don’t cut it any longer. With the competition for budget spend heating up, attribution methodologies are becoming fundamental tools for increased channel efficiency, improved decision making and other markers of successful marketing programs.