The links in the purchase funnel (display ads, search, etc.), however, still manage to escape similar scrutiny. Imagine if you rewarded your ad server with the bulk of your media budget, simply because they are closest to the ad’s final placement. Last-click attribution essentially takes the same approach. While reluctantly accepted for its simplicity, the model’s strengths end there. Currently, a substantial number of our advertisers are applying a last-click attribution model for their campaigns. Advertisers are well aware of its shortcomings, which have fueled the debate about display attribution models for years.

Recognizing these challenges, DataXu’s Advanced Analytics Group frequently works with customers to analyze their unique attribution data and develop customized strategies for their display campaigns. Taking a look at this data for six campaigns, the team identified some interesting trends.

Our analysis above shows the cumulative volume of conversions from the first exposure to the ad. In each campaign, consumers received one or more additional impressions as the campaign progressed.

Data Highlights

• For all campaigns, last click attribution ignored 97% of spend driving conversions — which often results in over-spending in search and re-targeting, and under-spending in display that drives demand creation.
• The recommended attribution period for short consideration products, such as CPG, is two weeks. In the campaign shown above, this window includes 90% of impressions that converted.
• The recommended attribution period for long consideration products, such as Insurance and Autos is five weeks.
• The length of time it takes to attribute 90% of conversions varies by 250%; each product requires its own distinct attribution model.

Ultimately, no two campaigns are alike, and what drives their success is tough to predict at the outset, but incredibly valuable to understand.

“With more powerful measurement and analytical tools now available to marketers, the emerging best practice is to create an attribution model specific to the item advertised and use the model to measure and pay media partners based on their respective value creation,” said Sandro Catanzaro, VP of Analytics & Innovation at DataXu. “Current attribution models misalign value creation with value capture.”

These results have many implications for display campaigns. Similar to the analysis in our previous MarketPulse, a key conclusion is that one size does not fit all when it comes to attribution models. At DataXu, we offer a range of unique analytics and technical capabilities to help our customers uncover the real value drivers of their campaign across its lifetime, from use of third-party data to impression-level optimization to attribution models. By putting these powerful insights to work, our customers can achieve superior media efficiency and ROI.

Billions of ad messages are displayed daily to consumers, yet almost every online Attribution provider is suggesting we ignore display and only count clicks.

Jeff Greenfield is the Co-Founder and COO of C3 Metrics, a media attribution firm that does indeed account for impressions.

On Thursday, October 1, Eastern Daylight Time, marketers and advertisers have a unique opportunity to learn more about The American Attribution Index (AAI), the first-ever attribution management index that measures the relative effectiveness of each online advertising source and influence factor on consumer purchases and conversions.

Search Marketing Now will host a webcast “The American Attribution Index: Using Advertising Attribution Management to Improve Media Mix Allocation” at 1 PM EDT on October 1.

This webcast is free; registration and more information are available at Search Marketing Now .

Recently announced by ClearSaleing, Inc., leader in advertising analytics and founder of the Attribution Management Forum, and Vetra Analytics, the AAI will ultimately help advertisers to improve the effectiveness of their media mix allocation.

There are three versions of the American Attribution Index: the Aggregate Index, representing average attribution indices across all participating companies and all of their respective industries; Vertical Industry Indices, which represent an industry-specific attribution index across all participating companies in that respective industry; and Company-Specific Indices, developed for a specific company.

Using the AAI, advertisers will be able to discover the relative importance of online media sources in influencing purchase decisions and to benchmark against competitors using the vertical attribution indices. The AAI can also be customized, enabling an individual company to improve the allocation of its online advertising investments.

The introduction of these indices will allow marketers to gain further insight into advertising ROI, and help marketers more profitably allocate advertising budgets across available online options.

Following the main webcast presentation, attendees will have the chance to participate in a live question and answer session about the AAI.

Just a warning and disclaimer.  This is ‘Do It Yourself’ .. as in ‘DIY’.  This typically means more heavy lifting .. more math (lots more) and always the risk of things not working out at all.

Part 1 involves looking at Google Analytics in a completely different perspective.

Instead of the typical ‘last click’ — first click or first exposure will provide completely different insight.

Direct from Google:
If a visitor clicks on ads from multiple campaigns before converting for a goal, which campaign gets credit for the conversion?
Google Analytics will attribute the most recent campaign information to a conversion. For example, a visitor may initially reach your site through a CPC ad and not make a purchase. Later, this visitor may return to your site via a tagged link in an email to make their purchase. In this case, Google Analytics will attribute the more recent campaign information to the resulting sale – the tagged link in the email.

This behavior can be modified by adding the following to the end of all of your tagged links:

&utm_nooverride=1

When Google Analytics detects this variable, it will retain the first campaign’s information, regardless of which links the user later followed to arrive at the conversion. In the example above, the conversion would be credited to the CPC campaign, if both links were tagged with the nooverride variable.

Of course — this is only where your problems begin.

So now your analytics are going to tell you where people originated from and not last click … and only if you tag them properly.  (Remember what I said about the ‘heavy lifting’)

Depending on your industry — first click vs. last click may be more important to you.  So for some of you .. that’s all you need and you are smiling.

But for most .. you want first click and last click.

And here’s where the REAL math comes in.

Sign up for another Analytics provider — there are tons of free ones (Clicky, Piwik, etc) and they all measure last click.  Most important — just be certain they allow export to a CSV file.

Now you are able to track 1st click and last click.

This is DIY — never said it would be easy!

As marketers, we know the value of ‘generic/upper funnel’ keywords – as that’s where the purchase cycle begins, but since Google and the other PPC companies only provide you insight into the ‘last click’, those keywords alway show very little in terms of conversions and always have the highest CPA.  As a results, those keywords are the first to be dropped by most marketers.

Turns out — big mistake.

According to Goldberg:

“….by using attribution management, the company was able to increase their number of visitors by 222% and, most importantly, increase their net profit by 131% over the course of 24 months.”

Clearsalesing will also be holding a Webinar on October 1st where they will be discussing the Attribution Management Index.  The Index measures the relative effectiveness of each online advertising source and influence factor on consumer purchases and conversions.  In this webcast, speakers Adam Goldberg and Purush Papatla will share more about the AAI and how advertisers can use this new index to improve the effectiveness of their media mix allocation.

There are three versions of the American Attribution Index: the Aggregate Index, representing average attribution indices across all participating companies and all of their respective industries; Vertical Industry Indices, which represent an industry-specific attribution index across all participating companies in that respective industry; and Company-Specific Indices, developed for a specific company. The introduction of these indices will allow marketers to gain further insight into advertising ROI, and help marketers more profitably allocate advertising budgets across available online options. Details are here

For additional research on this subject, C3 Metrics has an impressive White Paper called “The Hushed Hidden Gaps of Online Media Tracking”. Written by industry insiders, it addresses this issue of Attribution Management in PPC and actually goes as far to call it a ‘flaw in Google’s reporting mechanism’.

Logic361 (logic361.com) has been integrating text and display ad statistical confidence scoring since earlier this year – a major new feature of its search engine advertising analysis software application for Google Adwords and Yahoo Search advertisers.

Forget pulling data into Excel spreadsheets - Logic361 ’s statistical scoring software automates the analysis of A/B ad testing and speeds analysis by systematically calculating the statistical relevance of competing text ads.  It provides search advertisers with the unique ability to quickly evaluate their entire ad inventory and make valuable changes with unprecedented confidence.

Logic361’s newest functionality combines years of best practices expertise from companies that include GM, Home Depot, ING Direct, Real Networks, Niemen Marcus, and Wine.com with the expertise of Harvard and Berkeley statistical and mathematical PhD’s.

“Statistical scoring of search engine text ads is long overdue,” said Stephen Schramke, chief executive officer, Logic361. “Google and Yahoo have been explicit in their efforts to reward quality ads with lower costs per click, better placement and increased impression share while correspondingly penalizing poor performing ads.”

Search engine advertisers  can review, at a glance, multivariate statistical scores ranging in confidence from 51% to 99% for pairs of text or display ads. Google Adwords and Yahoo Search advertisers can modify or pause ads instantly within the Logic361 analysis application.

“Search advertising costs are rising and competition is increasing. We have to work harder and faster to cost-effectively deliver results,” said Chris Gilpin, search marketing director, BuyAutoTruckAccessories.com. “I rely on Logic361’s analysis software to quickly test and evaluate new ads. The results have been impressive; quality scores have improved, conversions have increased and our average cost-per-click has decreased.”

ClearSaleing has teamed up with Vetra Analytics to launch an attribution management index which they are calling American Attribution Index (AAI).  The goal of the AAI measures the relative effectiveness (purchase attribution) of each media source and influence factor on online consumer conversion.

In addition to the aggregate AAI that represents an overall average index for all companies and industries, ClearSaleing and Vetra are also releasing industry-specific versions of the AAI for target verticals. The vertical industry versions of the American Attribution Index serve as important industry-specific benchmarks for CMO’s and other marketing executives. The vertical AAI indices help executives make informed media selection and budget allocation decisions by pinpointing, on a relative basis, which media sources are working and which sources should be avoided. In essence, online advertising budgets should be allocated in proportion to each media source’s AAI for the respective vertical industry. The media selection and allocation process for large-spending advertisers should be repeated over regular intervals to keep budget allocation decisions synchronized with changes in the indices.

The ability to generate vertical industry attribution indices is the newest development from ClearSaleing’s leading advertising analytics and attribution management platform. The delivery of the indices is made possible through their partnership with Vetra Analytics, who has built the sophisticated attribution models that are the foundation of the indices. “We are incredibly pleased to be partnered with Vetra to fill this huge void that exists in the marketing intelligence and web analytics world. By delivering actionable, industry-specific versions of the American Attribution Index, we will help CMOs make better media selection and allocation decisions that will positively impact both their top and bottom lines,” says Randy Smith, ClearSaleing’s co-founder and President.

“ClearSaleing and Vetra Analytics will use the data generated by the ClearSaleing platform to measure how different advertising channels influence sales in a particular vertical industry,” says Dr. Purush Papatla, President of Vetra Analytics. “This report of attribution indices by vertical sector will be of great value to advertisers and agencies in determining what marketing channels are working within their particular industry, and what relative value each marketing element contributes to a conversion or sale,” Papatla adds.

“Industry benchmarking of the relative influence of each media source on a customer purchase fits neatly with ClearSaleing’s main objective, which is to help marketers more accurately determine which marketing investments are delivering a profitable return. Vertical industry benchmarking will provide more insight into ROI and help marketers more profitably allocate media budgets across available online options,” says Smith.

ClearSaleing and Vetra will publish the general American Attribution Index (AAI) on a quarterly basis using a widget application. They will also publish relevant attribution management news and items of interest along with the Indices. Subscriptions will be available beginning in the 4th quarter to select industry versions of the AAI, where the subscription will provide an initial set of indices and quarterly updates thereafter. Having regular, ongoing access to the AAI is critical as the indices are dynamic due to several key factors: (1) the continual addition of more and more data from the new companies who join the AAI membership, (2) changes that occur in macroeconomic environmental factors, and (3) changes that occur in media options and measurement technology.

ClearSaleing and Vetra would like to encourage advertisers to become members of the AAI group and are offering special charter member subscription rates through October 31, 2009. The more advertisers that participate in the AAI from select verticals, the more accurate and beneficial the AAI becomes over time.

Written by By Mark Hughes, Author, Consultant & Marketing expert & Jeff Greenfield, COO & Co-Founder of C3 Metrics™ , addressing these three issues:

1. Does the online media industry have a flaw in its reporting?
2. Is there over counting and double paying for conversions?
3. How do we properly attribute a sale with multiple media sources?

As someone who led online customer acquisition for a subsidiary of the #1 auction site getting 8 million customers in three years, I thought I knew everything. As someone who helped an online property grow from 1 million to 15 million unique visits a month with 18 million annual downloads, I thought I knew everything. That was until a client asked three questions…..

Download here