By: Patricia Collison
Have you heard the quote: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Well, this was said almost 100 years ago, when digital technology didn’t allow businesses the amazing power of tracking and measuring all the actions their customers and prospects do digitally. Those actions are called attributions or touchpoints. Now you can track all these attributions.
What is it?
In simple words, attribution tracking is the way you map out your customer’s journey: How did they get to your brand? What platform did they use to find you? How do they communicate through social media platforms? How many steps did it take for a prospect to purchase your product? All these actions are pure gold to your digital marketing strategy. Why? Because all those people behind a device are leads or prospects, and all their actions can be conversions. For your business, leads and conversions are fundamental to keep it running: simple!.
But if you work in business, you are already familiar with the terms “leads” or “prospects”, along with “conversions”. Let’s just remember that conversions are not only sales. Even though sales are the main goal, you need other actions to get your business growing and keep in contact with your prospective clients. You need to have a good workflow of new leads, get subscribers to your newsletter, grow your email list, position as a trustworthy business, increase the ticket in your current customers, etc.
When you put all these actions in all your social media platforms, website, emails, blog posts, etc., you are expecting that your target responds to those actions to start their customer journey. What happens when you don’t have the results that you imagine, or you have the results, but you don’t know where the success is coming from? That’s why it is important to track all those touchpoints your prospects are having with your brand.
What Type of Attributions Can You Track?
Even though there are a lot of things you need to know about attribution tracking, you mainly have 4 ways to monitor the touchpoints within your digital ecosystem:
- Contact Forms: All the prospects that send you a message through your website’s form inquiring about your products, customer service, partnerships, etc., as well as those who answered a survey or subscribed to your newsletter will be tracked here.
- Phone Calls: Coming from all the people who call you, since nowadays the majority of people do their calls from their cell phone, in that way you can have their direct information.
- Email Clicks: These are all the clicks you have after sending out newsletters, promotions, launches, etc. by email. It helps you to identify what information is more relevant to your target.
- E-Commerce: Helps you know your bestsellers, especially if your company is a product-based business. For obvious reasons, you need to know what product is successful and what is not interesting.
Cross-Device Tracking
However, as important as it is, attribution tracking can get complicated. Let’s say that in your situation you have:
- A website
- Presence on 3 social media platforms
- A newsletter
- A blog
- Run 2 paid advertising campaigns
You end up having more than 8 different touchpoints to gather data to analyze. AND… you also have all the devices your leads are using to access your business: cellphones, tablets, laptops, desktops. That is another big piece of the puzzle that brings you very valuable insights about your audience.
In that case, you need to do cross-device attribution tracking to put together all the data, then analyze it, optimize it, and keep doing the same forever… No worries, you are not alone, there are many different ways to collect and analyze this data from softwares you can pay and learn to use, or through professionals that can do the job for you. We know all this is crucial for your business, but you still need to run your business!
Getting More Leads and Conversions
After breaking down the aspects of attribution tracking, let’s get to the point: how can attribution tracking create more leads and conversions to your business? Because it helps you to better understand your target audience, so you can adjust your strategy and get the best possible results. The data that you can monitor helps you to adjust:
- Target: Are you talking to the right people?
- Channels: Are you talking to your audience through the media they really use?
- Messages: Not all platforms use the same language and media to communicate. Are you using the right one?
- Steps to conversion: How is the step by step to get your audience where you want them to do it?
- Devices: What devices are your target using? Are they in a rush to find information from their cell phone? Or do they have time to read your article from a desktop?
This information is crucial for your strategy because you can assign and focus on what is really working within your digital marketing efforts. You can deliver the messages your audience wants through the channels they use the most. On the other hand, attribution tracking data tells you when you need to relocate your efforts or improve aspects where you are not being successful.
Are You Wondering the Best Way to Do Your Attribution Tracking?
If you know your business is in need of learning more about leads, potential customers, and how to get them to convert, let our experienced team at Blue Ridge Media Company help facilitate your attribution tracking needs! At BRMC, we offer Leads & Attribution Tracking through our BRMComplete software, a simple and industry-leading software that digitally tracks the actions of your future customers. Our tracking service can put your business above the rest! Call us at (216) 233-3009!
