Whether you’re using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, online ads, or vanity 800 numbers on your website, you need to know which channels are the most effective. This is where campaign attribution comes into play. Read on to learn what campaign attribution is, how it works, and how you can use it to bolster the effectiveness of your marketing.
What Is Campaign Attribution?
Campaign attribution involves analyzing the effectiveness of different marketing channels to ascertain which ones are producing desirable outcomes and which ones may be underperforming. The kinds of campaigns you examine are less important than how you collect metrics regarding the performance of each. These methods may need to be different depending on the type of campaign you run.
For example, if you’re using vanity toll-free numbers and online advertising, the ways you gather data may be different. However, each advertising method, regardless of the kind of channel it uses, can earn equal credit if you use the right campaign attribution model.
How Does Campaign Attribution Work?
Campaign attribution works by assigning value to different marketing campaigns when they produce effective customer interactions. In a way, your different marketing campaigns are competing against each other, and a campaign attribution system provides a level playing field for them to do battle.
The way campaign attribution works depends on the models you choose. Here are some of the most common attribution models.
First-Touch Model
Within the first-touch model, 100% of the credit gets assigned to the first campaign to catch the eye of a lead. In a sense, with this model, you’re prioritizing the initial interaction, putting it above other steps in the sales funnel.
For instance, if you use a combination of vanity toll-free numbers, Facebook ads, and LinkedIn ads, you may find that 800 vanity phone numbers result in more first-touches than Facebook and LinkedIn campaigns. If, over the course of a month, you received 836 first-touches from local vanity phone numbers, but the customers later clicked on either Facebook or LinkedIn ads, only the 800 numbers would get the credit. This occurs regardless of what happened after they went to the other ads.
Last-Touch Model
The last-touch model is, in many ways, the opposite of the first-touch model: 100% of the credit goes to the last campaign a lead interacted with before converting to a customer.
For example, even if a customer clicked on a LinkedIn ad that brought them to a piece of gated content where they then entered their email address, but only became a customer after calling an 800 number on your website – all of the credit would go to the 800 number. One downside of this method is it disregards the impact of the other channels that may have played a significant role in moving the lead through their journey.
Weighted Multi-Touch Model
The weighted multi-touch model gives a method of advertising more credit if it gets more clicks or uses. For instance, if you use pay-per-click advertising and you have two ads, you can test which is the most effective based on how many times it gets clicked on by leads.
One downside to this method is a customer may click on an ad multiple times but only purchase after seeing a different ad which may skew your stats in the wrong direction. On the other hand, this is a great model for testing the ROI on ads meant to generate clicks.
Linear Model
The linear model assigns credit to all of the different forms of advertising used within a multi-faceted campaign. For example, if during August, you run a campaign with Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and a pay-per-click ad that brings leads to a toll-free number, each of these elements would get credit for successful conversions.
The linear model is best for when you’re trying to compare one campaign to another over comparable time frames. For instance, if you ran the above campaign in August and a different one in September, you could make a head-to-head comparison of these two campaigns by examining the data from a linear model attribution test.
Campaign attribution is an effective way to determine which advertising methods are doing the best job of converting leads to customers. By establishing a vanity phone number, you can reach more customers, especially because it makes it easier for them to contact you. Connect with 800.com today to see how a vanity 800 number can improve the effectiveness of your marketing.
