The Hidden Opportunities Behind Attribution Standards ith IT industry analysts at Forrester Research predicting that multichannel e-commerce will be the biggest growth area in 2011, it’s only natural that the performance marketing community is focused on figuring out a way to seize this opportunity. The definition of multi-channel is still somewhat amorphous given how many customer touch points it encompasses online and in store. Yet for most e-commerce providers, it has come to represent more than two channels of interaction with a customer during the sales process. For example, it can include a customer purchase made in-store based on an online deal or an online purchase resulting in an in-store pickup; or an in-store offer presented at checkout for an online deal. There are an almost unlimited number of channels through which to reach today’s consumers, especially when you consider the rise in mobile marketing. Yet properly crediting first touch versus last touch continues to be a heated debate. Since affiliates are typically the last touch point in multitouch interactions and the industry tends to measure the last click, the benefits to publishers are clear. With so many touch points, including the word-of-mouth channel largely driven by social media, giving credit where credit is due is becoming increasingly complex. Certainly there
are solid arguments to be made by the first click ‘introducers,’ the ‘influencers’ who represent the mid-cycle non-converting clicks and the ‘closers’ who are behind the converting clicks. This issue is the driving force behind Shop.org’s creation of the
Invest in technology to gain greater visibility into all customer touch points to avoid credit discrepancies. Online Marketing Attribution SIG (special interest group), which was established to define standards and best practices for credit allocation. Since being founded in 2009, the SIG continues to attract a growing community of advertisers and retailers who are committed to rethinking the current standard which only credits the last click. The most obvious challenge this presents to the performance marketing community is the potential redistribution of credit among introducers, influencers and closers. However, this inevitable market shift also presents an opportunity for advertisers to
revisit their attribution model in ways that will benefit all channels including affiliate. This is why performance marketing communities should act now to: •
Get involved in the SIG so that all voices are equally represented as standards are defined.
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Actively solicit feedback from their networks to fairly represent their views to the SIG.
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Align with advertisers and marketers to better understand each channel’s role in measuring campaign ROI and its impact on affiliates.
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Invest in technology to gain greater visibility into all customer touch points to avoid credit discrepancies.
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Revisit current commission standards and create more flexible reward systems that reflect industry best practices and the affiliate’s involvement in the sale.
Just as the number of customer touch points continues to expand, so will the market opportunities for advertisers, publishers and networks as new attribution standards continue to evolve.
Scott Allan is Vice President of Marketing at LinkShare.
FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE | January 2011 | 17