Marchex and MediaMath have recently partnered on a new-to-market online-to-offline attribution offering for mobile analytics. This now enables digital marketers to measure the ROI of programmatic campaigns by connecting offline phone calls with MediaMath display impression data. With that in mind, I had the following questions for John Busby, SVP of Marketing and Consumer Insights at Marchex.
1. What does it mean to have a 360-degree view of your customer in 2016?
To me, a 360-degree view requires the understanding of a consumer at all stages of the purchase funnel—from inspiration and awareness through to a final purchase decision. It also requires knowing how consumers interact with a brand online and offline. I see ads for an insurance company I’m considering at live sporting events, in the elevator in my workplace and in my fantasy football app. These are all important touchpoints and shape my opinion on this brand and ultimately my decision on whether to switch insurers.
2. Some deemed 2015 “The Year of Mobile.” Do you think this is the case and why?
True story… and I’m dating myself… in one of my first company meetings in 1999 ,the CEO said it was “The Year of Mobile.” I certainly hope 2015 is the last time we talk about a “Year of Mobile.” Mobile feels like a very “siloed” term to me. Consumers are constantly hopping across devices—going online to offline—and are still watching a ton of TV. It feels like carving out things in our marketing budgets for mobile is very narrow—everything should be thought of as part of an omnichannel approach to marketing.
3. If you could describe the new non-linear customer path to purchase using a song title, what would it be and why?
I’m always looking for excuses to discuss 80’s music, so I’m going to go with “Destination Unknown” by Missing Persons. Anyone who tries to measure this stuff will identify with the lyrics.
4. Much is made about how the different generations shop and complete purchases. What are some actual similarities you’ve seen among the generations?
I’m glad you asked this question. Millennials are certainly the most digitally-savvy generation and, because of this, there is an assumption that this group prefers to purchase everything online, as opposed to the “old-school” path to purchase that ends in a phone call or in-store visit.
A few years ago, when we did our first demographic study on consumers that click-to-call from mobile ads, I was expecting to find that millennials are unlikely to make phone calls and older generations are very comfortable with it. In fact, the opposite is true. Millennials are the most likely group to make a mobile search and then call a business to book an appointment, make a reservation or purchase an insurance policy.
The same goes for in-store purchases. Research from Piper Jaffray has shown that although millennials prefer to browse online, more than 75 percent prefer to shop at a physical retail location. And Generation Z prefers retailers that have actual, physical locations over e-commerce-only retailers.
For me, it shows that the purchase process (for considered purchases) works better when we have someone to talk to or there are products we can see, feel and touch.
5. What will be the next phase of attribution technology and how it’s used?
Undoubtedly, online-to-offline attribution. Consumers spend $300 billion in eCommerce, but a whopping $2.67 trillion on mobile-influenced and digitally-influenced offline purchases. There is just so much more incentive for marketers to figure out the connection between online actions and offline purchases than any other type of consumer interaction.
Today, there are several panel-based products that link online advertising exposure to a consumer’s proximity to a physical location. The next stage, in my opinion, will be more deterministic approaches that link exposure to actual purchases and provide marketers the opportunity to optimize based on the data.