Gone are the days of single-touch attribution models stealing the spotlight in B2B marketing scenery. The customer’s journey is now multi-channel, with various interactions and touchpoints before making a purchase. These journeys tend to abandon their linearity. The sales cycle on the other side has become more complex with multiple decision-makers across the board.
In today’s post, we’ll point out the necessity of using a multi-touch approach. The post will explore the significance of analyzing data from multiple attribution models so that B2B marketers can grasp the touchpoints that contribute most to conversions.
Understanding Multi-Touch Attribution
Multi-touch attribution is a marketing measurement tool that evaluates the impact of each touchpoint leading up to a conversion. Unlike single-touch models that credit only the first or last interaction, multi-touch attribution provides a comprehensive view of the entire customer journey. This approach allows marketers to understand how different marketing channels and touchpoints contribute to driving conversions.
The importance of multi-touch attribution cannot be overstated in today’s complex marketing landscape. As customer journeys become increasingly multi-channel and non-linear, it is crucial for marketers to have a granular understanding of how each interaction influences the final conversion. By using a multi-touch attribution model, marketers can gain insights into the effectiveness of their marketing efforts across various channels. This enables them to make informed data-driven decisions, optimize their strategies, and ultimately improve their ROI.
Understanding the Limitations of Single-Touch Attribution
Here are several limitations and obstacles that come with a single-touch attribution approach compared to a multi-touch attribution approach:
- Miscalculation of Conversion Credit: Single-touch attribution relies on basic, non-dedicated platforms that fail to provide an accurate assessment. These platforms lack the sophistication needed to effectively capture the entire picture of a conversion. Last-touch attribution assigns full credit for a conversion to the last touchpoint a customer interacted with before the conversion, simplifying the analysis of customer journeys and potentially misrepresenting the significance of earlier interactions.
- Hyperfocus on Terminal Points: In single-touch attribution models, prioritizing only the touchpoints that immediately precede the conversion can lead to inaccurate credit allocation.
- Fragmented View of the Customer Journey: One-touch attribution ignores offline interactions such as phone calls or in-store visits. Even though these interactions can significantly incentivize the purchase decision.
- Unwise Cost Allocation: Focusing solely on the touchpoints that directly resulted in a conversion can lead to an unbalanced cost allocation. A single-touch attribution approach often overlooks earlier interactions that also played a crucial role in driving the overall sale.
The Importance of a Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) Approach
Multi-touch attribution helps marketers understand how much influence each touchpoint has on the final sale, allowing them to optimize their marketing strategies and improve customer experience by focusing on the most effective touchpoints.
Multi-touch attribution makes it possible for B2B marketers to identify which channels serve as primary conversion drivers and which act as assisting ones; it also tells the whole story about channels that collaborate seamlessly to achieve campaign objectives.
By assigning values to each touchpoint that influences a buyer’s decision, Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) enables more effective budget allocation. It also lays the groundwork for improving lead nurturing and enhancing campaign performance.
Different Multi-Touch Attribution Models
- Linear.
- Time decay.
- U-shaped (Position-based).
- W-shaped.
- Algorithmic.
- Custom.
Using the appropriate model for a specific business provides insights into campaigns that drive engagement, touchpoints that convert leads, and spots where ROI exists.
Outcomes of each Multi-Touch Attribution Model
Linear attribution model
This linear attribution model assigns equal credit to all touchpoints, delivering a balanced view of all interactions but lacking insight into which touchpoints were more significant in driving conversions.
It is the best candidate for small enterprises that retain straightforward client journeys with a few stages.
Time decay model
With time decay modeling, interactions closer to the conversion event get the most credit, which may be underestimating upper- and mid-funnel tactics.
The time decay model is perfect for grasping the impact of recent interactions and is mainly useful for shorter sales cycles.
U-shaped (Position-based) model
The position-based model, also known as the U-shaped model, gives 20% of the total credit to the intermediate touchpoints, with the first and last touchpoints accepting 40% a piece.
It aligns with businesses aiming to highlight the value of the initial and last encounters while also honoring the intermediate interactions.
W-shaped model
Using this model, the first, middle (lead creation), and last touchpoints receive 30% each, while the remaining 10% is distributed among additional touchpoints.
It fits businesses with longer, complicated sales cycles where mid-funnel actions like product demos or consultations play a decisive role.
Algorithmic model
This model uses machine learning algorithms that consider multiple factors before assigning credit to touchpoints accordingly.
Implementing such a model requires pools of data and technical expertise, which is appropriate for large businesses with access to advanced analytics tools.
Custom model
Custom models can be blended to develop a fully customized model that achieves the unique requirements of a business.
Although designing, monitoring, and tweaking this model may be daunting, it is the best choice for businesses with specific marketing objectives that don’t work with standard models.
Using a Multi-Touch Approach to Measure ROI in the Customer Journey
The ROI for your business can be accurately measured with a multi-touch approach. This is done by following these steps:
- Select the multi-touch attribution model that best fits your business. Multi-channel attribution evaluates marketing effectiveness by analyzing various marketing channels that contribute to customer conversions.
- Implement data governance techniques to guarantee data accuracy.
- Monitor touchpoints that directly impact your business goals.
- Use machine learning to fairly assign credit to various touchpoints.
- Modify the model based on performance data and fluctuating customer behavior.
Conclusion
In summary, single-touch attribution falls short in capturing the complexities of the B2B sales cycle. This highlights the need for a multi-touch approach, which allows for more effective budget allocation by recognizing and crediting all the touchpoints that significantly contribute to conversions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does multi-touch attribution help estimate ROI more accurately?
Multi-touch attribution splits the customer journey, offering value to each interaction rather than giving all credit to the first or last touchpoint. Doing so clarifies how each channel, campaign, or content piece contributes to driving sales. It helps understand the interactions across multiple channels in the customer journey, making it essential for optimizing strategies and accurately identifying effective channels.
What typical obstacles do B2B marketers encounter in the absence of multi-touch attribution?
They struggle with inaccurate ROI assessments, as single-touch models lead to over-crediting one channel while overlooking the others, resulting in inadequate budget allocation and missed opportunities.
What tools can B2B marketers use to deploy multi-touch attribution?
Google Analytics, HubSpot, Marketo, Bizible, and many more tools are there to provide insights into customer journeys, track touchpoints, and assign credit across different channels, enabling marketers to improve ROI tracking and decision-making.
Partner with Avid Demand for Cutting-Edge ABM Strategies
Seeking to dive into your client’s journey? Reach out to Avid Demand to implement the multi-touch attribution model that best fits your business. This way, you can rest assured that every penny is well spent to drive more conversions based on insight, not fortune.
Don’t Miss a Beat!
Receive current information, expert advice, helpful tips, and more…
* Your privacy is important to us.
Bassem Salem is a Senior Paid Media Manager at Avid Demand. He has extensive experience managing successful campaigns across nearly all ad platforms.