Fractional O2O Attribution

How Fractional O2O Attribution Will Improve Your Campaign Measurement

We know – you are as tired as us grappling every month with a brand new marketing jargon the industry comes up with! One day, we are applauding the wonders of CTR, and then comes organic traffic and so on. And the next thing you know, us marketers start to sound a little bit robotic!

We wouldn't blame you if you want to dismiss "fractional attribution" too as a whole new jargon for the same old, same old. We know attribution; we have been doing it for decades (just not very well). What on earth is fractional attribution now? Allow us to explain – not only what it is but also why you need to understand it better to raise your attribution game.

What on Earth is Fractional Attribution?

Attribution is one area that CMOs and brand marketers have been struggling with. In essence, attribution is the art and science of figuring out exactly which marketing platform influenced a customer's in-store visit or purchase decision. What makes attribution that much more complex in our times is the diverse marketing mix. Was it the Facebook ad? Was it the OOH? How about paid search? You published a promo in print too. And there was TV spot! Are you supposed to keep churning money into every marketing platform, cast a wide net, and hope that you catch a customer? That's not who we data driven marketers want to be, do we?

That's where fractional attribution comes in. In short, fractional attribution comes from the basic common sense that a consumer's journey is far more complicated than before. It is definitely much more complex than saying that I bought a pair of jeans because I clicked on a Twitter ad (last click attribution) that showed up while I was busy scrolling through the bottomless pit of ROFL-memes. Or when I was stuck in traffic and saw a billboard (OOH attribution). There are far more layers and complexity to attribution now than ever before – let's not kid ourselves with simplistic metrics like last click and CTR.

Fractional attribution takes into account the entire gamut of consumers' offline and online journeys to come up with a sound, far more accurate and credible attribution. It reduces the biases that come from a recordable, physical action like a click. Instead, it takes into account every media touch point, from TV ads to downloads, digital campaigns to OOH promos. It recognizes the multi-channel, non-linear journeys of today's consumers and attributes a decision accordingly.

But They Did Have TV, Radio, OOH, and Print Ads in the 1960s Too. Why Fractional Attribution Now?

The demand for ROI-driven marketing, and a much more complex marketing mix with digital, social, paid, earned, shared, and traditional advertising platforms – sounds intimidating, doesn't it? The accountability on and the task of marketers are far more complex. If we don't have a better attribution model now, the industry as a whole will suffer.

How is it Going to Impact My Budget?

If a Facebook ad gets more credit for driving purchase or store visit, your Facebook guy will get more advertising budget. The same goes for all other traditional and digital channels. It is common sense that was hard to apply to marketing, but fractional attribution is the light at the end of the tunnel.

We will tell you this – fractional attribution will ruffle a few feathers and shuffle a few proverbial apple carts. Fractional attribution means much higher measurability and accountability. Credit sharing that comes with fractional attribution also usually does not go down very well from the get go. But that's a fair trade off for making your marketing game that much more measurable and accountable. That means more kudos for the marketing team as a whole, even if the last click heroes of digital aren't too happy about it at first!

What Next?

We will tell you this – much like most other marketing metrics and measurement frameworks, fractional attribution is also not running very accurately in the industry at the moment. One reason is that the marketing ecosystem is far too fragmented at the moment. Different stakeholders are accountable for different parts of the marketing mix. Then there is the challenge of data unavailability – there just isn't enough information to attribute consumer action accurately. Despite calling ourselves data driven rockstars, we have allowed rationalizations and gut drive significant, money-related decisions like attribution and budgets. What fractional attribution needs is a concrete framework that operates on transparency and accuracy.

With LifeSight, we move beyond the last click and CTR framework and look at the marketing mix as a whole. OOH? We have it on the list. TV and radio spots? That too. Digital ads? But of course! On top of this, we have proprietary location data collected through opt-in methods as well as legit transactional data. Together, our framework forms a powerful force to both analyze consumers' online and offline journeys as well as predict it.

Ready to finally strengthen your attribution strategy? Holler, we're here to help!