TABLEOFCONTENTS

Chapter1:

TheB2BCustomerJourney

Chapter2:

MeasuringtheCustomerJourney:MarketingData

Chapter3:

MeasuringtheCustomerJourney:SalesData

Chapter4:

WhyShouldMarketingCareAboutSalesData?

Chapter5:

HowDoesAttributionConnectMarketingandSalesData?

Chapter6:

WhatAreMarketingAttributionModels?

Chapter7:

WhatIsOmni-ChannelAttribution?

Chapter8:

WhatIsABMMeasurement?

Chapter9:

WhatAretheBene?tsofGoodAttribution?

Chapter10:

HowDoYouDoReportingUsingAttributionData?

Chapter11:

AreYouReadytoGetStartedwithAdvancedAttribution?

Chapter1

TheB2BCustomerJourney

TheB2Bcustomerjourneyismorecomplicatedtodaythaneverbefore.Withmorechannelstoengagewith,andmoredevicestoengageon,trackingthecustomerjourneyisnosimpletask.Betweeno?inechannelslikeindustryconferencesandprospectdinners,andthemultitudeofonlinechannels(search,social,display,referral,email,etc.),accuratelycapturingthecompletejourneyrequiresanumberoftechnologiesandintegrations.

Lookingatourdata,ourclosed-woncustomersengagedwithus36timesonaveragebeforedecidingtomakethepurchase.Andwithsomuchinformationateverybuyer’s?ngertips,Forrestersaysthat90%oftheB2Bbuyingprocesshappensbeforethecustomereverreachesouttoasalesperson.

Closed-woncustomersengagedwithus36timesonaveragebeforedecidingtomakethepurchase.

Here’swhataB2Bcustomerjourneymaylooklike.Noticethatwedidn’tsay“typical”—withsomanydi?erentwaystogothroughthebuyerfunnel,hardlyanyjourneyistypical.

Amarketingmanagerisgoingtoattendamarketingconferenceinaweek,anddecidestocheckoutwhichcompaniesaregoingtobeinattendanceaheadoftime.Henavigatestoyourwebsiteandmaybechecksoutablogpostortwo.Whentheconferencerollsaround,hedropsbyyourbooth,chatswithyoursalesrepsandscanshisbadge,makinghimalead.Aweeklater,heseesyourcom-panynamepopupinaTwitterchatanditoccurstohimthathesawyouattheconference.Butthenthechatgoesonandheforgetsthathewasgoingtocheckoutyourwebsiteagain.ThenextdayheseesoneofyouradsonLinkedIn,remembersthathewasgoingtosearchyourcompanythedaybeforeandtypesinyourcompanynameonGoogle,whereheproceedstonavigatetoanebookanddownloadsit.Atthispoint,asalesrepreachesoutandschedulesademoforthefollowingweek.Afterafewweeksofswappingemailsandansweringquestions,hebringshisboss,theVPofMarketing,intotheconversa-tion.Afterafewmoreemailsandphonecallssheagreestostartatrial.

Su?ceittosay,thereisalotofconsumerdatatotrackandmakesenseof.Justinthishypotheticaljourney,therewasahandfuloftouchpoints,bothonlineando?ine,andmultiplepeoplewereinvolvedinmakingthepurchase.It’stheroleofmarketersandmarketingdatatomakesenseofthis.

Chapter2

MeasuringtheCustomerJourney:MarketingData

GonearetheMadMendaysofmarketing,wherecreativityandintuitioncompletelyoverruledmetricsanddata.Now,theymustworkhand-in-hand.ThisisespeciallytrueinB2Bmarketing.Withsomuchcompetitionandtightmarketingbudgets,marketersareundertremendousamountsofpressuretodemonstratemeasurableresults—datatoprovethatmarketingisdoingitsjobandgettingbettereveryday.

Howmarketingdoesthistraditionallyfallsintotwocategories:activitymetricsandengagementmetrics.

ActivityMetrics

Whenitisthemarketingteam’sturntogiveanupdatetothecompa-ny,howoftendoyouhearsomethinglikethis:“Wepublished15articles,sponsoredtwoevents,contributedtoawebinar,andlaunchedthreenewpaidmediacampaignsthismonth.”

Theseareactivitymetrics.Andalltoooften,thisisallthatthemarketingteambringstothetable.

Whenthatisallyoucanreport,youlosealotofcredibilityintheorganization.That’sbecause,whileinteresting,theseactivitiesareallonthecostsideoftheequation—theydon’tsayanythingabout

contributingtothesuccessofthecompany.

Activitymetricsaregoodtoknowinternally.Theykeepthemarketingteamorganizedanduptodatewithwhateveryoneisdoing.Butwhatthecompanyreallywantstoknowisthesuccessof

theseactivities,theresults.Thisbringsustothesecondcategoryofmarketingmetrics.

EngagementMetrics

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

Ok,soyou’vemovedbeyondactivitymetricsandwanttoshowtheresultsofyouractivities.Didpeoplereadyour15articles?Howmanypeopledidyoutalktoatyourtwoevents?Didanyprospectsfollowupafterattendingthewebinar?And,arethenewpaidmediacampaignse?ective?

Allofthesequestionscanbeansweredwithengagementmetrics:views,clicks,likes,comments,timeonsite,click-through-rates(CTRs),etc.—anythinguptoandincludingconvertinganonymousvisitors(onlineando?ine)intoleads.

However,engagementmetricsonlymeasurethetopandmiddleofthefunnel.Onceavisitor?llsoutaformandbecomesalead,theytypicallygothrougha“qualifying”process.Istheircompanybigenough(orsmallenough)tobealegitimateprospect?Dotheyusethetoolsnecessaryforyoursolutiontomakeanimpact?Dotheyhavetheproblemsthatyourproductsolves?Ifyou’resellingenter-

prisesoftware,anemployeeofathree-personstartupcan?lloutaformanddownloadyourebook,butthatdoesn’tmakethemapoten-tialcustomer.

Assoonasavisitorturnsintoaquali?edlead,theyarepassedtothesalesteam.Theyarenolongerunderthedomainofthemarket-ingteam,andtherefore,nomoremarketingmetricsaretrackedthroughtheremainderofthefunnel.

Engagementmetricsareagoodstepalongthewaytoreportingmarketingoutcomes,buttheydon’tquitemakeitalltheway.Afterall,youcan’tkeepthelightsonandpayemployeeswithleads.

Whenmarketersprioritizeachievingengagementmetrics—thingsthatmeasurethetopandmiddleofthefunnel—theyoptimizeformarketingitself,nottheultimateoutcomeofmarketing,whichiscustomersandrevenue.Thisdata,however,isheldonthesalesside.

Chapter3

MeasuringtheCustomerJourney:SalesData

Salesdataisalotmoreclearcut.Itcloselymirrorsthefunneland,generally,arethemetricsthatthebusinessreallycaresabout.Whenitcomesdowntoit,thenumbersatthebottomofthefunnelarealotmorecriticalthanthenumbersatthetop.

OpportunityCreation

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

The?rst

stepforthesalesteam,oncemarketinghandsover

controloftherelationshipatthequali?edleadstage,isconvertingthequali?edleadintoanopportunity.Wherethisstagetransitionhappensdi?ersalittlebitfromcompanytocompany,buttypicallyitisaroundthepointwhentheleadagreestoademomeeting.Dependingonyourdealsize,thiscouldalsobewhentheleadsignsupforafreetrial.

Convertingaleadintoanopportunityisabigdealbecausethatisgenerallywhenyoucan?rstattachpotentialrevenueintheCRM.Oncetheleadbeginstalkingtoasalesrepresentative,you’reableto?ndoutalotmoreinformationaboutthecompany.Forexample,ifyouareaSaaScompany,you’reabletofeeloutwhatpricingtiertheprospectwouldfallunderbasedontheirsizeandneeds.

Customers/Sales/Revenue

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

Thisisthebigone—theultimatemetric.Generallyspeaking,thisisthebottomofthefunnel.Ane?ectivefunneloperateswiththisgoalinmind:itmovesvisitorstoleads,leadstoopportunities,andopportunitiestorevenue,leakingasfewpeopleaspossibleateachtransition.

Ofcourse,convertingopportunitiesintocustomersisnottrulytheend.Thepost-purchasejourneyincludesimportantstageslikeretention,upgrades,andreferrals.Dataforthesestagesaretypicallywithinthedomainofthesalesandcustomersuccessteams,too.

Fromatechnologyperspective,allofthiscustomerandrevenuedataisheldintheCRM,thedatawarehouseforthesalesandcustomersuccessteams.CRMdataincludesthingslikedealsize,customerengagement,upsellpotential,howlongthey’vebeencustomers,etc.

Ifthesalesteamandthemarketingteamaresiloed,asmanyare,thecustomerconversionandrevenueinformationintheCRMnevermakesitbacktothemarketingteam.

Chapter4

WhyShouldMarketingCareAboutSalesData?

InmanyB2Borganizations,themarketingteamhastheirdata,thesalesteamhastheirdata,andthetwosetsrarelyoverlap.Whywouldthereeverneedtobecross-over?

Marketingshouldcareaboutsalesdatabecausethesalesdataholdstheultimatemeasureofsuccess:revenue.Whenmarketingcanconnecttheire?ortstorevenue,theynolongerhavetoreportonactivitymetricsorevenengagementmetrics.Theycanreportontheirimpactontruebusinessvalue,whichhelpsthemachievecredi-bilitywithintheorganization.Italsohelpsthembemoree?ectiveintheire?ortsbecausetheyareoptimizingfortherightoutcome.

Attheproverbialtable,insteadofsaying,“Thismonth500people?lledoutformsonourwebsite,”whichdoesn’tmeanmuch,themarketingteamcannowsay,“Thismonthwecontributedto20newcustomers,whichaccountsfor$10,000inmonthlyrevenue.”It’samuchstrongerstatement.

Furthermore,themarketingteamcansay,“Thesethreepiecesofcontentcontributedto50%ofournewmonthlyrevenue—let’screatemorecontentlikethat.”Whenmarketinghasaccesstosalesdata,theycanmeasureandoptimizetheire?ortsbasedonwhatreallymatters—creatingbusinessvalue—ratherthanfocusingontop-of-the-funnelengagementmetrics.

Withoutthat?nalrowofinformation,anymarketerwouldconcludethatBlogPostAwasmoresuccessfulandthatsheshouldwritemorecontentlikethat,insteadofBlogPostB.Butwiththat?nalpiece—thesalesdata—it’sclearthatBlogPostBwasmoree?ec-tive.Whenoptimizingcontent,marketersneedtooptimizeforreve-nue?rst,andtheyneedsalesdatatodothat.

Fromtheperspectiveoftheorganizationasawhole,havingmarketersmeasuringtheirsuccesswithsalesdatameansthatthemarketingteamandthesalesteamarespeakingthesamelanguage

—marketingismeetingthesalesteamontheirturf.Thisalignmentmakesthecompanyasawholemoree?ective,asbothteamsknowtheyarereceivingthefaircreditthattheyaredue.

The2015StateofPipelineMarketingReport,asurveyofover

300B2Bmarketers,foundacorrelationbetweenorganizationalalignmentandmarketingROI.ThestudyfoundthatmarketerswhoreportedROIsofgreaterthan1.5xweremorelikelytoperceivetheiralignmentwithSalestobe‘tightlyaligned.’Marketerswhoreportedreturnsoflessthan50centsonthedollarweremorelikelytoreport

being‘seldomlyaligned’withtheirsalesteam.

BLOGPOSTA BLOGPOSTB

Views 2,000 500

CTAClicks 200 50

Revenue-Driven $1,000 $5,000

MarketerswhoreportedROIsofgreaterthan1.5xweremorelikelytoperceivetheiralignmentwithSalestobe‘tightlyaligned.’

2015StateofPipelineMarketingReport

And?nally,fromthecustomer’sperspective,whenpotentialbuyersengagewithyourcompany,theyarenotthinkingaboutwhatdepartmenttheyareengagingwith—it’salloneandthesametothem.Theirexperienceshouldbeseamless,whetherthemarketingteamorthesalesteamisinteractingwiththem.Whenmarketingandsalesareworkingtogether,theyareabletodeliveraconsistentcustomerexperience,whichmakesforamoree?cientande?ectivefunnel.

Nowthatyouknowthatmarketingdoes,infact,haveastrongneedtoconnecttosalesdata,howdoyoudoit?

Chapter5

HowDoesAttributionConnectMarketingandSalesData?

Marketingattributionsolutionsconnectmarketingandsalesdatabytrackingandcollectingcustomerdatafromthevery?rstinteractionwithanymarketingchannelallthewaydowntothe?nalpurchasedata,whichisheldintheCRM.

ForB2Borganizations,attheveryminimum,thismeansconnectingdatafrommarketingchannelslikeAdWordsandLinke-dIn,towebsitedata,andthentotheCRM.Indoingso,adscanbetrackedallthewaytodownstreammetrics,likeopportunitiesandrevenue.

Therearethreemaincomponentsinvolvedinconnecting

marketingdatatosalesdata:

1.Trackingtra?cfrommarketingchannels—thisis

usuallydonethroughUTMparameters

Withattribution,theallimportantsalesdatais

marketingdata.

Usingon-siteJavaScripttotrackvisitorbehavioronyour

website

IntegratingwiththeCRMtoconnecton-sitebehaviorto

salesdata

TrackingTra?cfromYourMarketingChannels

UTMparametersaretagsattachedtotheendofaURL,allowingmarketerstotrackwebsourcetra?c.HerearesomecommonUTMparameters:

utm_medium=(insertchannelmedium,e.g.search,social,email,display)

utm_source=(insertspeci?cchannelsource,e.g.adwords,bing)

utm_campaign=(insertcampaignname)

utm_content=(insertcontentname,e.g.adtitle,addimensions)

utm_term=(insertmorespeci?cterm,e.g.paidsearchkeyword)

Forexample,aLinkedInadforourAdWordsebookguidemayhavethefollowingparameters:

utm_medium=social

utm_source=linkedin

utm_campaign=content-adwords-ebook

utm_content=adwords-strategies

utm_term=adwords-ebook-200x400Inpractice,theURLwouldlooklikethis:

/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_term=adwords%20strategies&utm_content=adwords%20ebook%20200x400&utm_campaign=content%20adwords

%20ebook

Agoodattributionsystemdoessomeofthisworkforyou.Becauseitisintegratedtoyourwebsitethroughon-siteJavaScript(moreonthisinabit),alotofthisinformationcanbepulledautomat-icallythroughreferralanalysis.

UTMparameters,however,givemarketerstheabilitytodeter-minewhatspeci?cmarketinge?ortdroveapersontotheirwebsite.That’swhyUTMparametersareparticularlyimportantfortrackingpaidmediae?orts.

Fromthere,marketersareabletofollowtheiractionson-site,thankstoalineofJavaScriptcode(alsocalledaJavaScriptsnippet).

On-SiteJavaScript

Allwebanalytics(suchasGoogleAnalytics)useaJavaScriptsnip-pettotrackon-sitebehavior.Ittellsthemwhatpageswebvisitorsarenavigatingto,whatbuttonstheyclickon,andevenwhatformstheyare?llingout.

Becauseform?lls(howleadsarecreated)aresoimportantinB2Bmarketing,on-sitebehaviorisacrucialelementofunderstand-ingthecustomerjourney.Webanalyticsanswersquestionslike,“WhenavisitorreadsBlogPostX,dotheybounceordotheyvisitanebookdownloadlandingpage?”

Goingastepfurther,theanalyticsthatmarketingautomationsolutionso?erisgreatatansweringquestionslike,“WhenavisitorreadsBlogPostX,dotheygoonto?lloutaformandbecomealead?Or,”Whentheywatchtheproductvideo,dotheygoontorequestalivedemo?”Basically,ittellsyouwhetheryourcontentisdrivingleadcreation.

Thesearehugetransitionsinthecustomerjourneyandareimportantformarketerstotrack.Butagain,thisalonecoversjustthetopandmiddleofthefunnel.We’renotattheall-importantstu?yet.

Understandingcustomerbehavioronyourwebsiteisn’tparticu-

larlyactionableifyoudon’tunderstandhowitin?uencesthenext

stepinthecustomerjourney.AndthatrequiresintegratingthatmarketingdatawithsalesdataintheCRM.

CRMIntegration

The?nalstepinconnectingmarketingdatatosalesdataisintegratingwebactivitydatawithyourcustomerrelationshipman-agementsoftware,morefamiliarlyknownastheCRM.TheCRMhousesyourpipelineinformation.Whileyourmarketingautomationsoftwaremaytrackandhouseleadinformation,yourCRMhousesalltheinformationfromquali?edleadstosalesopportunitiesandclosed-wondeals.

PuttingItAllTogether

Sowiththesethreesteps—trackingwithUTMparameters,on-siteJavaScript,andCRMintegration—marketersareabletotrackhowspeci?cmarketinginitiatives(e.g.aLinkedInadforanebook)gotsomeoneto?lloutaformontheirwebsite(e.g.todownloadtheebook),andthencontinuedtobecomeacustomerdowntheroad(e.g.afterseveralgreatconversationswithasalesrep,theydecidedthattheproductsolvedtheirneedsandbecameacustomer).

WhilethereissoftwarethatbuildsandorganizesUTMparame-ters,othersoftwarethatdoeswebanalytics,evenmoresoftwarethatdoeschannelanalytics,andstillmoresoftwarethatfocusesonleadcreation,amarketingattributionsolutiondoesallofthisanddoesitinasingleplace.Thiscentralizationisimportant.

It’sacommonbeliefthatmarketerscanhacktogetheranattribu-tionsystemthemselves,usingacombinationofinexpensiveorincludedwebandchannelanalytics,plussomeExcelexpertise.Ifyouhavelimitedmarketingchannelsandarespendinghundredsormaybeacouplethousanddollarsonpaidadvertisingamonth,then

hackingsomethingsatisfactoryisprobablyachievable.However,ifyou’reinvestinganysigni?cantamount,ahackedsolutionwillnotsu?ce.That’sbecausethere’sstilltheproblemofdecentralization.

Whenyouhacktogetherspreadsheetsofchannel-speci?cdata,suchasFacebookInsightsreportsorLinkedInAdsCampaignManag-erreports,theattributiondataforeachmarketingchannelissiloedseparately,whichcreatesthechallengeofdouble-countingcredit.Forexample,ifavisitorclicksonanAdWordsadonMonday,aFace-bookadonWednesday,andthenbuyssomethingfor$100onFriday,bothyourAdWordsdataandyourFacebookdatawillclaim100%conversioncredit.That’sbecausetheydon’tcommunicatewitheachother.Whenyoubringbothdatasourcesintoyourspreadsheetandassociatethatconversionwithits$100value,yourreportwillshow

$200ofrevenue—2xyouractualrevenue—abig,andpotentiallyembarrassing,problem.

Asyoucansee,ifyou’reusingmultiplemarketingchannelswithregularity,asinglesourceofattributiondataisnecessaryforaccu-racyandreliability.

CustomerJourney:

Monday Wednesday Friday

> > >

Reporting:

MarketingReport SalesReport

Sale

$100

Total

Revenue

$100

Adwords

1conversion

$100

Facebook

1conversion

$100

RevenueDriven

$200

Chapter6

WhatAreMarketingAttributionModels?

IntegratingmarketingdatawithsalesdataintheCRMisjustthe?rststepinproducingusefuldata.Next,marketersmustuseattributionmodelstodeterminehowmuchrevenuecrediteachmarketingtouchshouldreceive.Therearemanydi?erentwaysmarketerscanmodeltheirimpactonrevenue,buttheyfallintotwomaincatego-ries:

single-touchmodelsandmulti-touchmodels.

Single-TouchAttributionModels

Theeasiestwaytoapplyrevenuecreditiswithasingle-touchmodel.Asthenamesounds,eachofthesemodelsappliesalloftherevenuecredittoasingletouchpointinthecustomerjourney.Therearethreecommonsingle-touchmodels:?rstclick,lead-conversion

click,andlastclick.

FirstClick

The?rstmodelis“FirstClick”attribution,whichiswhen100%oftherevenuecreditisgiventotheactionthatdrivesthe?rstvisittothewebsite.Forexample,ifananonymousvisitorcomestoyourwebsiteforthe?rsttimefromanadvertisementonGooglethenlatercloses

asacustomerfor$1,000/month,youwouldattribute100%of

thisrevenuetoGoogle.Toaccuratelymeasurethiscustomerjourney,youneedtocookievisitorsthatdonot?lloutaformontheir?rstsession.Whenthesamevisitorreturnstoyourwebsiteand?llsoutaform,thecookieIDcanbematched.Thisconnectsthe?rstanonymoustouchtothelead,enablingyoutogivecredittothechan-nelthatdrovetheinitialengagement.

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

100%

0%

0%

0%

[FirstClickAttributionModel]

Lead-ConversionClick

Thesecondcommonsingle-touchmodelisthe“l(fā)eadconversionclick”attributionmodel.Thisiswhere100%oftherevenuecreditisgiventotheactionthatdrivesthevisitortobecomealead(i.e.giveyoutheircontactinformationby?llingoutaform).

Forexample,ifananonymousvisitorcomestoyourwebsitemultipletimes(browsingyoursite)anddownloadscontentontheir?fthvisit,thechannelthatdrovethe?fthvisitwouldreceive100%oftherevenuecreditwhenthatleadbecomesacustomer.Alloftheothervisitswouldbeignoredandwouldreceive0%oftherevenuecredit.

ThetrickythinghereisthatboththeFirstClickattributionmodelandtheLead-ConversionClickattributionmodelaresometimescalled“FirstTouch.”Whenitcomestomanymarketingautomationsystems,theirviewof?rsttouchistypicallywhentheleadwascreat-

ed,nottheiractual?rstvisittoyourwebsite.Butwhenitcomestowebanalyticsthatarecookie-based,FirstTouchattributionisviewedasthesameasFirstClickattribution.

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

0%

100%

0%

0%

[Lead-ConversionClickAttributionModel]

LastClick

Thethirdsingle-touchattributionmodelis“LastClick”attribution.ThisattributionmodelissimilartotheLead-ConversionClickmodel,butitgives100%ofthecredittothemarketingchannelthatdrovetheengagementwheretheleadconvertedintoanopportunity.

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

0%

0%

100%

0%

ProblemsWithSingle-TouchModels

Althoughthesingle-touchmodelsaretheeasiesttoimplement,theyareactuallyquite?awed.Becauseeachofthesemodelsgive100%oftherevenuecredittoasinglemarketingchannel,theydon’tdoagoodjobofrepresentingthelongandcomplexB2Bcustomerjourneythattypicallyspansmultipletouchpointsandmultiplechan-nels.

Byreducingtheentirecustomerjourneytoasingletouchpoint,theseattributionmodelsgiverisetochannelbias(alsoknownasmodelbias).FirstClickattribution,forexample,gives100%oftherevenuecredittothemarketingchannelthat?rstbroughtthevisitortoyourwebsite,whichisatop-of-the-funnel(TOFU)marketingactivi-ty,anditgiveszerocredittotheothermarketingactivitiesthata?ect-edtheleadfurtherdownthefunnel.Naturally,thisover-valuestheimportanceofTOFUmarketingactivitiesandunder-valuesmiddle-of-the-funnel(MOFU)andbottom-of-the-funnel(BOFU)marketingactivities.

Lead-ConversionClickattributioncreatesasimilarchannelbias,butforMOFUmarketingactivities—e?ortsthatconvertvisitorsintoleads.Itignoresmarketinge?ortsthatfacilitatediscovery,aswellaslower-funnelactivitiesthatnurturetheprospectfromleadtocustomer.

Inordertoeliminatechannelbias,marketersshouldusemulti-touchattributionmodels.Theyarehardertoimplement,buttheyaremuchbetteratproperlyattributingrevenueacrossallyourmarketingchannelstogivecreditwhereit’sdue.

Multi-TouchAttributionModels

Rarely(ifnotnever)willananonymoususercometoyourweb-site,?lloutaform,andcloseasacustomerinonesession,unless

perhapsyouhaveanextremelyshortbuyingcycleorself-serviceproduct.Thisiswherethevalueofmulti-touchattributioncomesintoplay.Inmulti-touchattributionmodels,thecreditforrevenueoutputisdistributedacrossmultipletouchpoints.

Justlikesingle-touchattribution,therearemanymulti-touchattributionmodels.Wewillgooverthemostpopular.

Linear

Linearattributiongivesequalweighttoeverytouchpoint.Forexample,iftherearethreetouchpointsthatleadtoaconversion,eachtouchpointreceives1/3oftheconversioncredit.Iftherearetentouchpointsthatleadtoaconversion,eachtouchpointreceives1/10oftheconversioncredit.It’sasimplewaytoapplycreditovermulti-pletouchpoints,butitoftenoversimpli?eshowmarketingworksbymakingalltouchpointsequal.

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

1/X

1/X

1/X

1/X

Descending(orTimeDecay)

ADescendingattributionmodelattemptstoaddresssomeoftheoversimpli?cationbygivingmorecredittothetouchpointsclosertotheconversion.Itendsuplookinglikeastaircase,wherethetouch-pointclosesttotheconversionreceivesthemostcredit.

FIRSTThereasoningbLeEhAinDdthismodelisOthPaPtOthReTtUoNucIhTpYointCcUloSsTeOstMtoERTthOeUcCoHnversionhadCmOoNreViEnR?SuIeOnNcethaCnRaEtAouTcIOhpNointthatChLaOppSeEned

LessCredit

MoreCredit

[DescendingAttributionModel]

U-Shaped

Oneofthesimplestmulti-touchattributionmodelsisU-Shaped.WithU-Shaped,40%oftherevenuecreditisappliedtoboththe?rsttouchandtheleadconversiontouchwiththeremaining20%beingappliedevenlytoallothertouches.Thebiggestbene?twithU-shapedisitssimplicityandthatitaccountsforthemarketinge?ortsthatdrivevisitsandleadconversion.However,thedrawbackisthatnorevenuecreditisappliedtothedown-funnelmarketingthat’sdonetoconvertaleadtoasalesopportunity,suchasleadnurturing.

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

40%

40%

20%

fartheraway.

W-Shaped

ArguablyoneofthemostaccurateattributionmodelsforanadvancedB2BmarketingteamistheW-Shapedmodel.Itaccountsforandemphasizesthemajortransitionsinthecustomerjourney:the?rstvisit,thelead-conversionsessionandtheopportunity-cre-ationsession.Byattributing30%ofrevenuetoeachofthosethreemajortransitions,marketersareabletoaccuratelymakesmartdecisionsbasedonwhichmarketinge?ortshadabigimpact.Theremaining10%issplitamongthetouchpointsthatwerenotrespon-sibleforanyofthemajortransitions.

Forthemanymarketingteamsthatdolittleornomarketingtoprospectivecustomerswhoarebeyondtheopportunitystage,theW-shapedmodelisthemostadvancedattributionmodelnecessary.

FIRSTTOUCH

LEADCONVERSION

OPPORTUNITYCREATION

CUSTOMERCLOSE

30%

30%

30%

10%

Full-Path

Ifyou’reanattributionproandhavemasteredtheW-Shapedmodel,yourcompanyisreadytolookintoFull-Pathattributionfor

modelingmarketing’simpactonrevenueinrevenuereports.Full-Pathisadeepdiveintoattribution.Ifyou’redoinganymarketingthat’stargetedatpeoplewhoarealreadyinthesalesfunnel,thenyoushouldconsiderusingaFull-Pathmodel.

Full-Pathattributionattributes22.5%oftherevenuecredittothe?rsttouch,thelead-creationtouch,theopportunity-creationtouch,andtheclosed-revenuetouch.Theremaining10%isdistributedamongalloftheothertouchpoints.

Oftheadvancedattributionmodels,thisistheonlymodelthataccountsformarketinge?