Global Adoption Of Marketing Attribution Has Increased Even As A Majority Of Businesses Still Struggle To Act On Insights, According To A Survey By Econsultancy

AdRoll, the performance marketing platform, has published its 2017 State of Marketing Attribution report in partnership with Econsultancy. Based on a survey of nearly 1,000 brand marketers and agencies across North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific, the report provides detailed insight into a marketer’s perspective on the changing dynamics of attribution.

Now in its second installment, this year’s report provides a global comparison, expanded from the European report released in 2016.

Econsultancy’s Head of Commercial Research Services, Monica Savut said, “There’s increased recognition of the role marketing attribution can play in helping companies to maximise their business outcomes, but knowledge and confidence surrounding the use of various methods could prove to be a stumbling block. This year’s research shows that companies need to take a more holistic and nuanced approach to attribution, constantly adjusting and refining until the correct balance is achieved.”

The customer journey is becoming increasingly complex and fast-paced with multiple devices and touchpoints. It is essential that marketers understand the effectiveness of their campaigns and how each channel contributes to bringing customers to their businesses in order to effectively spend their budgets.

To do this, attribution continues to be a top priority for marketers. AdRoll’s 2017 report shows almost four out of five organizations are using marketing attribution, and 51 per cent of responding companies in North America are carrying out attribution on all or most of their marketing activities, compared to 39 per cent globally.

Shane Murphy, VP, Marketing, AdRoll, said, “Attribution continues to be one of the hottest topics in the industry for a reason: it has huge consequences, such as lost revenue and wasted ad budget, if not done properly. The State of Marketing Attribution report gives a sense of how marketers are dealing with this challenging topic. Marketers are being held to higher standards of measurement and accountability than ever before, and attribution models have the ability to show the true impact our discipline has on the bottom line of a business.”

When asked about primary motivations of attribution, 70 per cent of company respondents say better allocation of budget across channels was the No. 1 benefit; followed by 64 per cent citing a better understanding of how digital channels work together. With the added visibility into where marketing dollars are performing across specific channels, 32 per cent have increased their spending on digital marketing channels. Many marketers are seeing the benefits of attribution; however, 70 per cent of respondents still struggle to act on insights, citing defining the online customer journey as the most significant barrier to more effective usage.

Key global findings from the report include –

• Single-click attribution models are still the most commonly used: 44 per cent last-click and 39 per cent first-click for brand marketers, and 58 per cent last-click and 33 per cent first-click for agency clients
• Of the 25 per cent of marketers using a custom attribution model, 48 per cent deem it to be very effective
• 59 per cent of marketers that have not yet implemented an attribution model say that a lack of knowledge is the main obstacle
• Joining online and offline attribution is increasing: the report shows 60 per cent of marketers today are using multi-channel attribution, compared to 45 per cent in 2016
• Marketers are split in how they execute marketing attribution: 43 per cent rely on spreadsheets while an equal 43 per cent have turned to vendor technologies.
• 71 per cent of marketers describe their attribution model as very flexible (can easily apply multiple models to data), or somewhat flexible (multiple models exist but it is time consuming to change them)

Currently, AdRoll provides its performance marketing platform consisting of high-performance tools works across devices, helping businesses attract, convert and grow their customer base. The company is home to the world’s largest opt-in advertiser data co-op, the IntentMap™, with over 1.2 billion digital profiles. AdRoll’s goal is to build the most powerful marketing platform through performance, usability and openness.