Key Takeaways
- Do you know how to leverage the power of advertising attribution models?
- The role played by marketing analytics is aptly leveraged in the attribution models.
- Read our latest blog about advanced attribution models for PPC success….
The marketing world is witnessing high CPCs (cost-per-click) and even higher CPLs (cost-per-lead) in Paid Ads these days, especially in Google Ads!
Marketers are facing the brunt of it as they have to deliver results while the ads run for a shorter time period given the budget constraints.
- Is this worrying you about the future of PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns?
- Do you need new and more advanced attribution models for PPC success?
Advanced attribution models are here!
In this blog, we will help you in measuring PPC success via advanced attribution models.
If you are a digital marketer, a business owner, a paid ads specialist, or a marketing enthusiast, this blog will prepare you for the future of PPC.
A few facts about PPC or paid ads
- In 2024, companies have spent almost USD 190.5 billion on search ads or Google Ads!
- Small to the medium-sized companies spend an average of USD 100 to 10,000 per month on PPC campaigns.
- While the revenues of a single PPC client for digital marketing agencies lie between USD 501 and 3,000 per month.
- PPC helps in generating an ROI of USD 2 per dollar ad spend!
- Google Ads is the most significant player in the paid ads space.
What is Digital marketing attribution?
In digital marketing, attribution means a collection of various touch points that lead to conversions!
It is a cumulative study of all the touch points encountered by a customer from start to finish (conversions).
Attribution models have been devised to help in appropriate tracking of digital marketing campaigns, depending upon the goals and desired results.
What is Multi-touch Attribution?
As the name suggests, the multi touch marketing attribution models focus on multiple touch points and help in catering a broad insight into the paid ads marketing campaigns’ performance.
But as the coverage increases, so does the expertise needed to incorporate and properly leverage the multi-touch attribution models!
Better leave it to the experts like Wildnet Technologies, who have been making their mark in the paid ads domain for more than 17 years now.
Types of Marketing Attribution Models
Now it is time to share the various data driven attribution models with you so that you can understand their usability for the paid ads.
They are as follows:
Single-Touch Attribution Models
- First-Touch Attribution Model
The importance is given only to the first interaction with the customers.
It is used for awareness-based digital marketing campaigns!
Example: A visitor clicked on a display ad and after that clicked on a search ad, but the display ad gets all the credit in first-touch, aka the first-click attribution model.
Fig 1: A graphical representation of the First Touch Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
- Last-Touch Attribution Model
It gives significance to the last interaction that leads to conversion.
It is used to evaluate the direct impact of lead generation and sales!
Example: A visitor clicked on a display ad and then on the search ad, but the search ad will get all the credit in last-touch, aka the last-click attribution model.
Fig 2: A graphical representation of the Last Touch Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
Multi Touch Attribution Models
- Linear (weighted) Attribution Model
It imparts equal credit to all the touchpoints in the customer journey!
It is best for longer sales cycles, having various influencing factors.
Fig 3: A graphical representation of the Linear or Weighted Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
- Time-Decay Attribution Model
It imparts importance to the touchpoints that are closer to the conversion.
It is best for those digital marketing campaigns in which the recent user engagement is vital!
Fig 4: A graphical representation of the Time-Decay Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
- U-Shaped (Position-based) Attribution Model
It imparts 40% credit to both the first and last touchpoints and divides the rest between other touchpoints.
It is great if you wish to focus on entry and exit points while also considering all the other touchpoints.
Fig 5: A graphical representation of the U-Shaped Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
- W-Shaped Attribution Model
It imparts equal significance to the first, last, and middle touchpoints, i.e., 30% each, and divides the remaining 10% amongst others.
It is helpful in B2B and complex sales processes that have multiple stakeholders.
Fig 6: A graphical representation of the W-Shaped Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
- Algorithmic Attribution Model
It utilizes machine learning, or ML, to allocate credit on the basis of the real-time impact made by each touchpoint.
It is quite customizable and follows a data-driven approach but requires more expertise as well as advanced tools.
Fig 7: A graphical representation of the Algorithmic Attribution Model. [R Interactives]
Custom or Rule-based Attribution Model
It provides the maximum customization in terms of attribution models, allowing businesses to define their own rules as per their business and marketing goals.
Example: Some businesses prefer to prioritize email marketing, brand searches, or more, then you can opt for a custom attribution model.
Now that you have understood the various attribution models, it is time to know why digital marketing is evolving so fast in 2024!
Why is Digital Marketing undergoing so many changes in 2024?
If you are feeling that digital marketing went through a lot of rebirths this year, you are not alone!
Google itself launched 5 updates to revamp the whole search experience and make it much more user-friendly!
But a few other things happened as well that led to a digital marketing evolution, and they are:
- Third Party Cookies Gone!
Third-party cookies that helped in garnering so many insightful facts about your visitors, target audience, and more are phasing out!
Google Chrome is also looking for a way out, and this will directly impact the PPC landscape as well as attribution models.
- Apple’s transparent App Tracking
Starting from 2021, Apple started making its app tracking transparent and allowed users to opt-out of it as well as cross-app tracking.
This is making it quite difficult for the advertisers to track the user behaviour and movement across Apple devices.
- Strengthening of Privacy Regulations
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the Europe, CCPA (California or Central Consumer Protection Act or Authority) in the USA, and much more make the lives of digital marketers quite difficult as it prevents the user behaviour data from coming out in the open!
Google Sandbox Initiative: Cookies crumbled in 2024!
Google launched its Sandbox initiative this year, which is its answer to the prevention of third-party cookie usage.
It is already blocking 1% of the third-party cookies! It will prevent any cross-app and cross-site tracking in the longer run.
While other browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, have been leveraging ITP/ETP measures to prevent tracking for quite a few years now.
Digital Attributions has limits too!
With so many changes happening in the digital marketing world, the attribution models are feeling limited too!
Because they focus on short-term touchpoints, the insights learnt via current attribution models are only helpful in short-term digital marketing.
Thus advanced attribution models were needed to ensure that paid ads remain a successful marketing strategy!
How are Advanced Attribution Models helping in PPC success measurement?
Here are the advanced attribution models that you can leverage for a better understanding and successful measurement of the PPC campaigns:
Marketing mix Modelling (MMM)
It is helpful in assessing the increasing impact of the investments made by a brand in PPC campaigns!
Marketing mix modelling achieves this by charting out the relationships between the sales and the marketing activities carried out for the same.
Multi touch Attribution Modelling (MTA)
It is helpful with day-to-day optimizations needed in the paid ads campaigns!
It assigns priorities to each of the involved touchpoints in a customer’s journey as per the significance of the particular touchpoint.
Media mix Modelling
It focuses on the media that lead to a customer journey that converted into a sale!
It’s different from marketing mix modelling as that focuses on the marketing aspects only.
Testing + Experimentation
To find out which of the attribution models work for you and how, you need to conduct A/B testing and experimentation!
Because you simply cannot wait for others to find you a path, and it takes away the first-mover advantage.
Lead the charge to emerge victorious for your brand and for the customers!
Advanced Attribution in PPC: Key Metrics
Now that you know what advanced attribution models are there to help your brand out, it is time to look at the KPIs, or key performance indicators, that will make these attribution models feasible.
They are as follows:
- Quality Score
Quality and costs are inversely proportional, which means with increased quality, you will encounter lower ad costs and better ad placements.
- Device Performance
If you know which ad performs better on what device, then you will be able to deliver better to your prospected leads!
- Ad Rank
The ranking of an ad on the SERP, or search result page, shows how much money has been spent on it as well as the relevancy of the ad!
In short, a better-ranked ad will have lower costs as well as better outreach.
- Day Parting
As per the user behaviour, you must optimize the posting schedule & platforms to match the user preferences and thus boost your ad’s capabilities.
- Geographic Targeting
If you know which geographical location responds well to your ad, then you will be able to direct your ads towards that target audience better.
- Search Term Analysis
Try to inculcate as many relevant search terms as possible; ensure that they are of the commercial, conversational, and comparative nature!
- Remarketing
Remarketing helps in targeting those users who are currently in the nurturing stage of the marketing funnel.
These users are easier to convert into leads!
- Conversion Path Analysis
Using tools for attribution models, such as Google Analytics, helps in tracking the conversion path and highlights the most crucial touch points in a customer journey.
- Seasonal Trends
Seasonal trends change every season, and thus having a separate PPC campaign strategy for each season is a smarter choice!
- Competitive Analysis
Your competition is the key to success because they help you with real-world examples of what works and what does not!
- Ad Extensions
If your paid ads have extensions like CTAs (call-to-action buttons), Snippets, Links, UCG and more, the chances of it influencing the users to click increase exponentially!
Using these key metrics, you can check whether your attribution models are working or not.
How to enable better Attribution for PPC Success Measurement?
Here are the key considerations that you must leverage to enable better utilization of attribution models for PPC success measurement.
- First Party Data
Optimize your PPC campaigns via attribution models to work with first-party data!
- Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)
You can leverage the dynamic keyword insertion in the paid ads copy to make them most relevant!
- A/B Testing
A/B testing is the most useful form of testing for PPC ads and makes your users feel valued.
- Bidding Strategies
Use a mix of automated and manual bidding so that your paid ads can unlock the maximum conversions.
- Keyword Refinement
This is the single most important aspect when it comes to optimizing the paid ads for the best relevance to ensure user preference inclusion.
- Feedback gathering
Gather as much feedback as possible from the target audience, be it via user reviews, likes, shares, and more, so that you can craft user-favoured ads.
- Empathetic Messaging
Instead of selling your offerings, offer solutions to problems faced by users in an empathetic voice!
- Knowing the Audience
Always try to find opportunities to know your target audience a little more.
- Intuitive Copywriting
Copywriting should go with the flow and arise from your intuition as it helps in connecting with users easily!
These pointers will enable your brand to leverage one or more of the attribution models mentioned above for PPC success measurement.
How to choose the right Attribution Model for your PPC campaigns?
You must be wondering how to make the right choice when looking for the right fit amongst all the available attribution models.
Here is how you do it,
Actionable Sources
Use Google Analytics to pinpoint those sources that are working for your website in terms of PPC marketing campaigns.
See which of the attribution models cover all these sources as per your liking!
Conversion Touch Points
Touch points are the building blocks of attribution models, and thus knowing them is vital!
Use Google Analytics for the same.
Conversion Time
By knowing how much time users take on average to convert from visitors to customers, you will know how to set up the attribution models accordingly!
Campaign Objective Definition
Depending upon whether your business is focused on awareness or sales, you would choose the attribution models.
Thus, clear campaign objective definition is essential.
If you are still unclear on how to leverage advanced attribution models for your PPC campaigns, then give Wildnet a holler!
Conclusion: PPC campaigns need Advanced Attribution Models for Optimum ROI!
From the look of things, Google will be charging more CPCs and CPLs from the paid ads on Google in the near future.
The only thing that marketers can do is switch to an advanced way of tracking and optimizing the PPC campaigns aka attribution models so that their clients do not have to face exorbitant ad spends without substantial ROI (return on investment).
Experiment with it and learn the best possible combination of attribution models for each industry so that your PPC ads never become a burden for your business!
Wildnet Technologies is a leading Digital marketing company in India that has helped more than 4100 clients with PPC ads as well as their optimizations.
If you would like to learn more,
- Attribution Models in Marketing: The Guide
- Decoding the AEO and Redefining the Future of SEO!
- Wildnet’s Digital Yum (our thought leadership’s weekly POV on the latest in the digital transformation industry)
Contact us now at info@wildnettechnologies.com and get your PPC ads the attribution power up!
FAQs
FAQ 1: Why is PPC important for a business?
Ans: With PPC campaigns, you drive home quick leads by popping at the top of the search results, social media platforms, and more.
Quick leads are an efficient way to keep the business running!
FAQ 2: How can attribution help in PPC optimization?
Ans: PPC campaigns rely on apt creation and then appropriate optimization!
This means that digital marketers have to be always on their toes to detect any trend to improve the paid ads for better results.
Since this is quite a time and energy consuming task in a highly volatile digital world, attribution models help make it easier and avoid any mishaps due to human error.
FAQ 3: Which attribution model is the best?
Ans: The linear attribution model, or the weighted attribution model, is the best as it imparts equal importance to all the touch points in a customer journey, which means that all the touch points are given due consideration.
FAQ 4: Which tools can be used for leveraging attribution models in PPC?
Ans: Tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Call Rail and more can be used for attribution models.
FAQ 5: Can PPC really give an ROI of 200%?
Ans: Yes, PPC can very well deliver on this promise of 200% ROI, but for that you need a top-notch digital marketing agency working for you, such as Wildnet!
