Path to conversion is a path of events leading up to conversion and it should help marketers view a comprehensive picture of how all their online advertising campaigns work together with a single marketing objective, rather than as channels competing against each other.

 

An analysis of the strategy of consumer behaviour does not imply one easy lesson of ‘how to win and influence customer’. But it does imply a more thorough understanding of the basic motives of prospect when behaving as a consumer.

 

This consumer behaviour refers to the reason(s) that caused a consumer to fill out a form online and submit their initial order. More that is understood about the initial consumer motivation, the better an advertiser can determine what a lead is worth and how best to process the lead.

 

There are number of points that need to be taken into consideration when measuring channels performance.

  • What was behind the consumer taking action?
  • Was the action planned or impulsive?
  • What specifically attract the consumer’s interest?
  • Was the consumer genuinely interested in the product/service from the advertiser or was it an incentive that caused the action to be taken?
  • How relevant is the message? Is it matching buyer’s need at that point in time?

 

Let’s ask a very important question. Question to which answer will help prioritise leads and funnel them into the most cost proficient conversion channel and help achieve desired return on investment by increasing quotas for high performers and lowering it for less effective business associates.

 

“What factors are most important factors to determine the success of the campaign?”

 

Return on investment on its own is the ultimate metric to determine the success or failure of any campaign however this is very broad metric and for better understanding of advertising cost additional key performance indicators (KPI) should be taken into consideration.

 

In campaigns where prospect is passive and not actively searching for product/service, number of delivered impressions should matter the most because those campaigns  are aiming to attract attention of the unacquainted audiences for the first time and make first contact; audiences which probably are not in the market but maybe they are. (Contextual, Interest Categories, Behavioral, Experian, Rome, Social, etc.)

 

On the other hand campaigns where prospect is taking proactive action, number of clicks should matter the most because usually this sort of ads appear on the sites where prospects are actively searching or comparing product/service and know what they want. (PPC, Affiliate, Retargeting, Email)

In campaigns without direct link with the cost number of direct clicks leading to the site should matter the most. (Social, Natural Search,)

 

Other factors that can be taken into account include frequency, ad size, recency, ad format, interaction, and order. Considering these experiential factors enable to learn from previous campaigns, and modify communication strategy while campaigns are still in progress.

 

Attribution Modelling

 

Attribution Modelling it is a practice of understanding touch points within the customer journey which includes but is not limited to display, affiliate, mobile, social media, natural search, paid search and direct traffic.

 

Despite recognition from marketers and web operators regarding the value of attribution, many proposed solutions are still based purely on clicks.

 

Actions of converted customers measured purely on clicks are not always delivering the best insight. There is a lot of paths to conversion were display ads appear but are not being clicked, however they still are having impact on later events on the path (brand awareness, going directly to  site, etc.). The vast majority of the data based on customers who were exposed to impression of ads must not be neglected. In situation where average CTR on average online retail site is between 2% and 5%, means that 95% of total visitors won’t fall into attribution model.

 

 

 

Model One – Frequency/Recency/Time

 

To attribute appropriate credit to each individual campaign frequency, recency and time on site should be taken into consideration.

 

Frequency – number of times prospect was exposed to any marketing communication channel (click or impression) in specific period of time. 30 days recommended.

Recency – credit is awarded in ascending order from last click to the last click.

Time on site – credit is awarded to each communication channel leading to the site.

 

 

 Campaign 1 is not being taken into consideration because it occurred outside recommended 30 days window.

 

Model Two – Last (-1)

 

Consumers follow path to awareness, interest, desire and action (AIDA). This marketing concept indicates that different campaigns have different objectives and in result should be judged based on different KPIs.

 

To attribute appropriate credit to each individual campaign and measure its performance last click in path to conversion should be ignored because this click is nothing more than the result of previous campaigns – awareness and interest.

 

Campaign 1 is not being taken into consideration because it occurred outside recommended 30 days window.

 

 

Model Three – Acting/Reacting/Converting (ARC)

 

Based on Conversion Funnel concept to attribute appropriate credit to each individual campaign and measure its performance whole path to conversion should be considered in three areas.

 

– Acting – characterised by passive prospect and for that reason campaigns in this area must work harder and deliver more impressions to build awareness of the brand proposition and make first contact.

 

– Reacting – characterised by proactive prospects which know what they want and actively search for desired product or service. Campaigns in this area are all about serving closely relevant messages matching prospects’ need at that point in time.

 

– Converting – these campaigns are ‘closing deal’ and are a result of previous two stages.

 

 

Campaigns from one area should compete among themselves and not be compared with campaigns from other areas as each step of communications should have a clear and concise objective, whether moving someone to the next stage, or driving another desirable action.

 

Logic behind this model would work well when connected with two first models.