Last click model, multitouch attribution models part 2

In the last post I introduced what multitouch attribution is, why it is useful and what kind of business questions this can help answer.

Now, if you are interested in knowing a bit more about the topic I will be writing about the most common or popular models used to date.

I will be using examples from one of the most popular free and available reporting tools, Google Analytics. It´s a free to use easy set up reporting and attribution tool so I would recommend anyone to set up an account and start using it.

Last click model

This model is the most popular model as it is by default the one that most reporting platforms will offer. Of course this is not the best model we can look at to report on the performance of marketing activity, as it is only telling the last chapter of the story.

Knowing that this model gives a limited view of the story is what motivates marketers to search for more sophisticated ways to measure and report (Multitouch attribution).

From all the models available, if you had to choose one from them all, this one would not be the worst choice. It won’t be the best choice but it gives relevant information, as knowing which are the bottom of the funnel-converting channels is very important as these are the ones driving sales/conversions.

How does this model work. It is very simple, it gives credit only to the channel click that lead to the conversion or transaction.

There are variations of this model that apply rules to restrict certain channels. This kind of models are know as RLT/RLC restricted last touch or restricted last click. This would classify the channels in 2 tiers.

– Tier 1 channels which would usually be channels that are related to marketing activity such as: SEM, Display, Marketing email, paid social, SEO or Affiliates.

– Tier 2 channels which would be all the channels where marketing has no influence or way of scaling such as system emails, direct or even brand.

These rules and classification can be very helpful and distribute credit to those channels that can actually be scaled, or that have a dedicated budget and separate them from those where you as marketer don’t really have much control over.

This model will not only help us understand what channels work better but also other things such as:

– Marketing messaging/creative worked better

– What kind of deal converted most

The benefits of focusing and making decisions on a last click basis is that business that adopt this models will focus their strategies/efforts and budgets on those channels that are driving the users to action or sale. Which is a good thing, but it’s missing that there are 2 previous stages where users can be reached and thus missing opportunities to set the business in the market in a better position.

With the last click model we are missing the 2 first parts of the story: knowing what are the channels that drove awareness and consideration and giving credit to these channels.

It’s missing the opportunity to use marketing channels to generate more demand and also reaching those who are aware but will be considering their options.

This is why it is so important to have a qualitative understanding of the audience that we are trying to attract or the market that we are willing to penetrate. We can use market research to understand what is the level of awareness, consideration and actions to understand where the opportunity might be and then make the decisions and investments and use of channels to target these users at the stage we are interested.

To put an example, it could be the case that we have a great product, but no one knows of their existence, so it is very hard for us to use direct response channels or traditionally bottom of the funnel channels to reach our audience such as search, email or sales calls. Thus we would need to articulate a marketing strategy that would focus on developing the channels that are effective on the awareness or consideration stages such as video, PR or paid social.

We can still use last click attribution to understand the impact of this awareness and consideration channel activities impact on the business, but as we develop the strategy and the audience matures we will be able to roll out different channels that will end taking the credit of that early activity.

Now that we have introduced this model, make yourself the question, is this the model you are using? Have you considered combining qualitative and quantitative data to assess if this model is working well for you? And where would your market opportunity lie? Let me know if the comments below.

If you are interested in knowing more about the different multitouch attribution models and it’s uses read my following article.