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This month, our expert examines the best ways of tracking the ROI of online strategies across many consumer touchpoints.

The digital marketing landscape has become increasingly complex, and the way that consumers interact with technology has diversified to new devices. From tablet to mobile to desktop – and to emerging channels such as digital out-of-home, native ad formats and IPTV – there is a fast-growing number of digital channels and consumer touchpoints across which to market.

This blended consumer experience has opened up new opportunities to marketers. However, it has also opened up a number of challenges around the question of measurement.

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The power of insight

Combining attribution technology with programmatic strategies can provide marketers with a solution to the cross-channel measurement issue. It allows all consumer touchpoints to be mapped out and assigned a value based on the impact that each brand exposure has on consumer behaviour. Marketers gain insight into the placements and creatives that drive success with audiences at each stage of the marketing funnel. This can be used to optimise ad effectiveness and reallocate budget in real time, ensuring that the right marketing mix is being directed to the right consumer.

This model also gives rise to other possibilities, such as applying contextual data. Consumers are likely to react differently when browsing on their mobile before work from when they use their tablet at the weekend. By using algorithms that measure and test success, based on factors such as time and device type, brands can make sure they are also serving the right ads at the right time and on the right device.

Here are three ways that marketers can use attribution to ensure maximum return on their online investment:

  • Gain a greater understanding of the impact of different creatives and placements on audiences at each stage of the marketing funnel.

  • Identify the type of conversion events that would drive the greatest ROI.

  • Apply contextual data, such as time and device type, to real-time ad buying.

Attribution ensures consumer interactions can be measured at all stages of the purchase process, empowering marketers to enhance multichannel success in real time.