EUROPE: Marketing attribution of some sort is widely used by businesses across Europe, but it's not always effective and insights gained are frequently not acted upon, a study has said.
The State of Marketing Attribution, a report from Econsultancy and AdRoll was based on a survey of 590 marketing professionals, both in-house and client-side, across the UK, France and Germany.
This found that four in five (79%) organisations were using marketing attribution, but less than one in three (31%) did so on most or all their campaigns and analysed the results.
The vast amount of data generated by customer actions is seen as both a driver and an inhibitor, the study said: more data has increased the focus on attribution, but the volume is adding to the pressures on marketers.
And that is before they get into the more complex attribution models that produce better results. The report found that almost half (48%) were still using last-click models, while a similar proportion (47%) used first-click.
Nearly all appreciated that algorithmic and custom attribution models were more effective, but less than a quarter (23%) were using these.
Lack of knowledge was seen as a major barrier to implementing better attribution techniques and even when organisations did have analysts capable of producing insights from attribution, almost 60% of respondents said that they don't action those insights.
There were sharp country differences in this regard, as 73% of UK marketers regarded insight into consumer and customer behaviour as a major benefit of marketing attribution, compared to just 39% in France and 29% in Germany.
The latter two were more likely to see attribution contributing to a better understanding of how digital channels work together.
Three quarters of all organisations (74%) said that attribution had an impact on spend across digital marketing channels. However, this was more likely to result in decreases in investment rather than increases.
In the US, the Mobile Marketing Association has just announced the creation of a Marketing Attribution Think Tank to look more closely at the various issues surrounding measurement and attribution and to help marketers better choose the partners they work with.
Readers can download a complimentary Warc report on this subject: ROI: New thinking in attribution.
The State of Marketing Attribution, a report from Econsultancy and AdRoll was based on a survey of 590 marketing professionals, both in-house and client-side, across the UK, France and Germany.
This found that four in five (79%) organisations were using marketing attribution, but less than one in three (31%) did so on most or all their campaigns and analysed the results.
The vast amount of data generated by customer actions is seen as both a driver and an inhibitor, the study said: more data has increased the focus on attribution, but the volume is adding to the pressures on marketers.
And that is before they get into the more complex attribution models that produce better results. The report found that almost half (48%) were still using last-click models, while a similar proportion (47%) used first-click.
Nearly all appreciated that algorithmic and custom attribution models were more effective, but less than a quarter (23%) were using these.
Lack of knowledge was seen as a major barrier to implementing better attribution techniques and even when organisations did have analysts capable of producing insights from attribution, almost 60% of respondents said that they don't action those insights.
There were sharp country differences in this regard, as 73% of UK marketers regarded insight into consumer and customer behaviour as a major benefit of marketing attribution, compared to just 39% in France and 29% in Germany.
The latter two were more likely to see attribution contributing to a better understanding of how digital channels work together.
Three quarters of all organisations (74%) said that attribution had an impact on spend across digital marketing channels. However, this was more likely to result in decreases in investment rather than increases.
In the US, the Mobile Marketing Association has just announced the creation of a Marketing Attribution Think Tank to look more closely at the various issues surrounding measurement and attribution and to help marketers better choose the partners they work with.
Readers can download a complimentary Warc report on this subject: ROI: New thinking in attribution.
Data sourced from AdRoll; additional content by Warc staff
