Data is the buzzword right now, how to collect it, manage it, store it, and leverage it. Data Stacks, Data Lakes, First Party Data, Etcetera.
- Without data, you are just another person with an opinion
- Without an opinion, you’re just another person with data
That’s because data doesn’t have any intrinsic value on its own. It is useful only when it is interpreted correctly and used to create positive changes within your company.
Data can help transform your business for the better but that requires having a data strategy, including getting the right tools in place and the people to help you navigate the journey.
Attribution is the analytical science of determining which marketing tactics are contributing to sales or conversions. Attribution reporting can be used to help you make better business decisions, decrease costs, increase profit, and improve the customer experience. When you can track your shoppers from a website visit through to a conversion, and all the actions they take throughout their shopping journey – you can take actionable steps to improve your business in dozens of ways. Here are a few ways attribution can help you:
- Improve and test new CTA’s with actionable results
- Validate ROI on marketing
- Identify where customer journeys drop off or convert most often
- Connect your sales and marketing teams to work collectively
- Increase efficiency of your marketing dollars
- Shorten buying cycle
- Save time compiling reports from multiple vendors
There are several key components an attribution tool must have in order to be a useful tool in your data strategy: accuracy, relevancy, transparency, and adaptability. (For more information on Attribution check this out.)
ACCURACY
The value of data is significantly reduced if it isn’t coming from a source of truth. Most websites and analytic accounts are not optimized for clean data reporting. Your tag structure, as well as your website & analytics configurations – might not align with best practices, making the possibility of inaccurate data higher.
Accurate data means that your decisions are based on facts. Making decisions based on dirty data can lead to poor outcomes. Start by auditing your analytics account and website to repair any problems prior to pushing your data into any tool for measurement and attribution.
Contact sales@smedia.ca for more information on conducting a full Analytics Audit.
Interested in investigating the health of your tagging structure?
Click here for a free Tag Audit.
RELEVANCY
Attribution allows you to connect your marketing efforts with your sales floor.
Don’t settle for a pre-baked list of conversion options. Tracking should be based on personalized goals.
- What is driving your business, or should be?
- Is there a conversion you need to track more closely?
- Do you need to validate a new website tool, CTA button, or a form?
Attribution setups are not one size fits all. Your business needs are unique, make sure your attribution tool is too, by selecting a vendor that allows you the flexibility to customize your tracking goals.
TRANSPARENCY
Insights from an attribution tool should not be limited to what your vendors consider relevant. To tell a story specific to you, reporting should be agnostic and lead to actionable steps for improvement. Building and executing a data strategy requires a full understanding of what is being measured, why, and what the desired outcomes are.
Insights should include actionable information – not only what it took on average to move a unit, but what it took to move a specific unit.
ADAPTABILITY
Your story will change. So will your needs and your website. The tracking goals you have today will not be the same 2, 6, or 12 months from now. As your data story changes, your tool should evolve with your needs. That means you need to be able to make changes to your trackable goals monthly.
At the end of the day, attribution ties offline results to your digital marketing and gives you a holistic view of your efforts, enabling you to make informed decisions about budgets and vendors. Look for a vendor that will work with you to evaluate your strategy monthly and empower you to make changes to tracking in order to keep up with your needs and continuously improve.
CHOOSING AN ATTRIBUTION VENDOR
There are many attribution vendors out there, and we encourage you to investigate the option that works best for you. If you agree that accuracy, relevancy, transparency, and adaptability are important factors to consider – some of your options will address these needs, but only one addresses them all.
DataSherpa from sMedia addresses your needs for Data Cleanliness, Data Integrity, and Data Maturity.
THE DATASHERPA PROCESS
AUDIT
We start with an audit to identify any issues you have with your tagging, website, and analytic configurations. This gives you a roadmap to clean data. Starting with clean data is vital, but you also need to keep it clean. Maintaining accuracy is why our DataSherpa customers receive regular audits at no cost.
IMPLEMENTATION
During implementation, we fix all the issues identified in the audit. We work with you to identify the marketing, sales, and fixed operation conversions that are meaningful to accomplishing your goals, and we track them. Every setup is custom and based specifically on your needs.
However, the implementation does not end with the initial setup. As your needs change, so should your tool. DataSherpa gives you one goal change every month at no cost. This means your tracking will be relevant and adaptable, and allow you to evolve your tracking along with your strategy.
LIVE REPORTING
DataSherpa offers the ability to link your sales data with live reporting so you can get relevant insights. Evaluate, adjust, and improve weekly, instead of once a month.
There are 6 attribution models that help you determine what’s pushing buyers to your site, keeping them there, and getting them over the finish line. All your sources have a role to play and some are in the messy middle, DataSherpa will help provide the transparency to understand your customer journey.
Validate your marketing, vendors, and true ROI with big picture views. Then dig in and discover your ad spends on a specific unit. Yes, you can get that granular.
Need to know more? Check out DataSherpa here.
