Examine All the Channels That Affect Conversions

Depending on how your marketing organization is structured, questioning how much a particular marketing initiative contributes to overall conversions may be stepping on someone’s toes. Everyone wants to take credit for positive results, but smart organizations dig deeper to understand all the variables that could impact conversions, such as:

• How many marketing touches does it take to get a conversion?
• How long does it take someone to convert?
• What is the relative strength of each channel?
• How do channels influence one another?
• How does the order of touches impact conversions?

Jon Thompson is director of marketing and communications at Children’s National Health System Foundation

Jon Thompson is director of marketing and communications at Children’s National Health System Foundation in Washington, D.C. Three years ago, Thompson looked to multichannel attribution to solve some pressing organizational challenges. “We had an immediate tactical problem of structural infighting about who gets credit for what gifts,” Thompson says. Linked with the human problem was the business problem at the root of it: determining which channels and programs were driving the best return on investment. “We needed to come up with a mathematical way to model it all,” he says.

Thompson turned to digital consultancy Modea for help developing a multichannel attribution model to address these issues and offer ongoing business intelligence insights. The model enabled the foundation to eliminate underperforming campaigns and reallocate resources. Applying these principles, even at a basic level, can help any marketer make better decisions by understanding what drives results.

Building a multichannel attribution model helped the foundation dramatically reduce its cost per dollar raised. “We took it from over 80 cents to 7 cents in a single fiscal year,” Thompson says.

Read the full story now to learn how they did it: The Art and Science of Multichannel Attribution

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President