SEAN MARSHALL DIRECTOR OF SEM Hey! That’s My Conversion!

CONVERSION TRACKING 101 (5 MINUTES) WHAT IS ATTRIBUTION WHY YOU NEED CROSS-CHANNEL ATTRIBUTION Agenda

What’s A Conversion? Definition: A conversion is an event – either online or offline – that is an indication of success for your business. Typical “success events” that can be measured: Contact us form submitted Ecommerce order placed A visit to a page that indicates purchase intent (e.g. view map to store)

Conversion Pixels are Everywhere Dozens of pixels are available: All PPC engines Web analytics Campaign management software Display advertising Comparison shopping marketing Most conversions are tracked through a “pixel” or “cookies” You install a tiny bit of code on a page that can only be accessed if a user has converted When a user gets to the “success page”, the pixel fires and reports a conversion back to you

Conversion Tracking Best Practices Make sure to match the pixel code to whether a page is HTTP or HTTPs Put the code right before the /body tag to avoid freezing your page Put the code only on pages that you are certain are “success pages” Don’t try this at home (ask your Web developer to do it!) Test the code after you’ve installed it

CONVERSION TRACKING 101 (5 MINUTES) WHAT IS ATTRIBUTION WHY YOU NEED CROSS-CHANNEL ATTRIBUTION Agenda

What is Attribution? Definition: Giving credit for a conversion. Attribution can be given to one source or many. Common attribution elements: Source (Google or Yahoo?) Keyword Ad text or creative Landing Page Advanced attribution elements: Geography Demographics Time of day Day of week IP address

Important Attribution Elements

Who Get’s the Credit (Quiz) User Click Path 9/2/11: AdWords: User searches for “widgets” and visits your Web site, BobsWidgets.com 9/7/11: Yahoo: Search for “blue widgets” followed by Web site visit 9/9/11: Shopping.com: “Blue water-resistant widgets” 9/10/11: AdWords: “Model 2600A widgets” 9/11/11: AdWords: “Bob’s Widget store” and user converts! Conversion Pixel Used Google AdWords: Conversion occurred on 9/11/11 with keyword “Bob’s Widget store” Google Analytics: Conversion occurred on 9/11/11 with keyword “Bob’s Widget store” Yahoo: Conversion occurred on 9/11/11 with keyword “blue widgets” Shopping.com: Conversion occurred on 9/11/11 with keyword “blue water- resistant widgets”

Many Conversions Get “No Respect” Giving No Credit Cookie is erased Conversion occurs after cookie expires Conversion occurs offline Pixel lost when user jumps to different browser Pixel lost when user goes from domain to sub-domain

Solutions for Saving Lost Conversions Use cookies with longer pixels AdWords conversion pixel expires after 30 days Pixels are available that last up to a year Integrate offline sales into your online marketing Dedicated phone number for each channel/campaign/keyword SalesForce.com App for AdWords Use conversion tracking that is not cookie based: Digital fingerprinting Unique customer ID

CONVERSION TRACKING 101 (5 MINUTES) WHAT IS ATTRIBUTION WHY YOU NEED CROSS-CHANNEL ATTRIBUTION Agenda

What is Cross-Channel Attribution Cross-channel attribution gives partial credit to multiple clicks (and channels) in a conversion process. This enables marketers to give credit to clicks and channels that contributed to the ultimate purchase, and not just the last click Follow best practices for setting up conversion tracking Find a technology that offers cross-channel attribution Instead of one pixel per source, use the one cross-channel pixel on your site for all channels Tweak attribution settings to reflect your specific business Option 1: Even distribution vs. weighted distribution Option 2: Divide credit among all sources, or just paid sources get traffic Option 3: Include or exclude brand terms

Comparing Cross-Channel to Standard Pixel Tracking If you use standard conversion pixels, you only see a small part of the picture

Why Standard Conversion Tracking Fails Giving Too Much Credit Pixels don’t talk to each other Conversion is double-counted due to bookmarks Brand keyword gets all the credit Paid search or SEO gets all the credit Misleading data CONVERSIONS Your bid decisions are only as good as the data upon which they are based. Without cross-channel attribution, your data is wrong.

Brand or Search Gets Too Much Credit Graphic courtesy of Convertro

How Google Uses Multi-Click Attribution to Make You Spend More! Give Us All The Credit! AdWords conversion tracking: Last click, date of click Multiple conversions per click “View through conversions” Google Analytics Last click, date of sale Single attribution, more credit for search Ignore the Bad Clicks Behind the Curtain! Google AdWords reporting: Adding negative keywords = exact match; adding keywords = broad match Geotargeting report runs by day (roll up required) Easy to copy bids to all keywords, but can’t change match type that way No conversion data by hour of day!

The Importance of Cross-Channel Attribution: Part I, Your Bidding Strategy Last click, multiple pixels Even attribution, one pixel Last click one pixel How you attribute credit can result in changes in CPC bid by 6X or more! Even attribution, multiple pixels, paid only

Importance of Cross-Channel, Part II: Creative Decisions Creative for “Consideration” Stage: Who are you? Why should I trust you? How are you different? Why should I be interested? Creative for “Decision” Stage: What’s the price? Do you have a promotion? Why should I buy today?

Importance of Cross-Channel, Part III: KPI Goals KPIs for “Consideration” Stage: Time on site Page views Request for information KPIs for “Decision” Stage: AOS Conversion Rate ROI

Ask Your Campaign Management Company Bid Management Only Bid Management + Campaign Management Tools Bid Management + Full Service Agency Under $5,000/mo $5,000 to $100,000 mo $100,000+ mo Monthly Spend Services Offered

Putting it All Together 1.Know your pixels – understand how they track 2.Strive for one pixel, not many 3.Make spend decisions based on the entire purchase funnel, not just “the decision” phase 4.Develop different creative for different stages of the funnel 5.Develop different KPIs for each channel 6.Ask your campaign management company how they deal with cross-channel attribution

Thank You! Sean Marshall PPCAssociates.com Blog: (David Rodnitzky, CEO)