Google Attribution has come to solve the lives of marketers. One of the biggest challenges in digital analytics and attribution marketing is correctly attributing sales. Omnichannel is no longer just a buzzword, but an unavoidable reality: users maintain complex relationships with the brand through multiple channels, and “last click” attribution models fall very, very short.
Luckily, Google has launched a new tool to solve this problem: Google Attribution. Today I want to tell you what it is, what it can bring to your company and the most effective tactics to launch your renewed attribution strategy.
What is Google Attribution and how can it help your company?
Google Attribution is a new Google tool that allows measure the impact of each touchpoint across multiple channels and devices, so that we can better guide our digital marketing decisions. This tool will be free for all advertisers and will have multiple benefits:
- It allows you to see the entire consumer journey. With Google Attribution you will finally be able to understand the impact of your marketing on different devices and through multiple channels. If you follow a multi-channel strategy, it may be very difficult to determine which conversions are attributable to each of them. Furthermore, given that each user uses different devices, such as computers, tablets and mobile phones, it is very common to lose track of them. Google Attribution solves these problems to give a comprehensive view of the consumer journey.
- Truly measure the impact of each touchpoint. If you don’t know with certainty which channels are generating results, it can be difficult to decide where to invest. Therefore, it is very important to be able to clearly visualize the consumer journey. Thanks to its machine learning algorithms, Google Attribution can determine which results are due to which channels, from the first consumer contact to the final conversion. It also allows you to compare the journeys of users who convert and those who don’t, so you can easily identify pain points.
- Facilitates decision making. If you have better metrics, it will be easier for you to optimize your marketing. And since data is only useful if it is converted into actions, Google Attribution is integrated with other tools like AdWords and DoubleClick, so you can update your bids or distribute budget between channels based on the results. This integration also extends to third-party tools.
- Streamlines access to results. Another key promise of Attribution is that it allows you to access your metrics and analytics with just a few clicks. In order to carry out correct attribution, you need your data to be unified and well organized. But setup can be a real headache and lead to many errors. Because Google Attribution is integrated with other tools, it’s much easier to import your data cleanly and quickly access the metrics that matter most to you.
A success story: Lenovo
Let’s see all this in practice with a small case study with Lenovo.
Lenovo is the world’s leading computer manufacturing company and a market leader in personal technology, with a presence in more than 160 countries.
With a broad digital marketing presence, Lenovo faced the classic challenges of attribution marketing. For example, a rules-based measurement system made it possible to attribute the same sale to multiple channels. Each channel reported its results separately, but when trying to obtain a global vision, the accounts didn’t add up. In fact, the metrics were inflated to the point that the attributed results were 371% of actual sales.
Another problem was user attribution. Since Lenovo markets multiple products (computers, tablets and mobile phones), it was essential to know the purchasing profile of each user.
Lenovo used Google Attribution 360 to understand the overall results of its marketing program, optimize spend across channels, and optimally allocate budget to increase sales. Thanks to this tool, they were able to achieve key takeaways for your business:
- Direct browsing and organic search were the strongest channels, thanks to Lenovo’s brand awareness.
- Multichannel matters: 75% of revenue came from trips that included multiple channels.
- Consumers make comparisons through specialized search engines, so it was interesting for the brand to continue investing in this channel.
- The channels that close are not the only ones that matter. By taking a more holistic view of the consumer journey, Lenovo was able to recognize the importance of the initial and intermediate steps in conversion.
- Brand display works: up to 5% of profits could be attributed to this previously overlooked channel.
10 tactics to optimize your attribution marketing
- Define the results you are looking for. To get the most out of your marketing, the first step is to be clear about what you want. So sit down with your team and define what you want to get from your campaign and how you are going to measure the results.
- Unify your metrics. Each channel uses different indicators, but if you want to have a global vision of what is happening, you need to agree with those responsible for different channels to have comparable results.
- Establish a clear methodology. To work as a team, it is necessary for everyone to row in the same direction. Therefore, it is necessary for the entire team to agree on the steps to follow at all times.
- Be clear about what is feasible and what is not. No matter how refined your tools are, you can’t know absolutely everything. It’s better to focus on a handful of really relevant metrics than to try to cover everything.
- Involves the IT team. Your IT team is key to the success of your attribution marketing, so you should collaborate from minute one. They can help you decide how to obtain and store data and resolve any technical issues you’ll encounter along the way.
- Be prepared for changes and unforeseen events. As you develop your attribution marketing, you’ll need to experiment with new tools, change site tags, or even start from scratch. Don’t let changes catch you unexpectedly and always try to have a margin for them.
- Coordinate those responsible for each channel. This is not a competition to see who gets the most conversions, but rather a team effort to improve the benefits for everyone. Therefore, it is necessary that the people in charge of each channel work in sync.
- Decide actions and those responsible. As we mentioned, results are only useful if they lead to actions. So aim to leave each meeting with a clear plan of what the next steps are and who is going to take care of them.
- Establish clear rules for data management from the beginning. Data governance policies are responsible for formalizing where data is stored, how it is integrated, in which cases changes will be made, and how these changes will be communicated. It is a very good idea to have all these points defined from the beginning.
- Organize regular meetings and reports. Good monitoring is essential to guarantee results over time. Create a process for each team member to regularly report on results achieved and actions taken, as well as to create global results reports and determine next steps. Luck!