The Sales Funnel
As marketers, we want to measure everything. The growth of Google Analytics and other products has dramatically improved our ability to measure the value of traffic we’re driving to our websites. But analytics by nature favors clicks that are closest to the conversion. Last Click Attribution (LCA) is the process of assigning all of the measured “credit” for a web visit to the click source directly before the conversion. If a prospect clicks on a search result, email or banner, and makes a purchase, all of the “R” in ROI is assigned to that channel.
If you accept this model, analytics is well-configured to give you the data you need to make decisions.
But most marketers understand that LCA is flawed. When you look purely at the last click you see most of measured ROI assigned to channels like brand search, remarketing and email to in-house lists. But obvious questions remain:
- What caused the prospect to search my brand?
- What drove the visit that I’m remarketing to?
- What brought this prospect to opt-in to my list?
In many of those cases the customer probably had some interaction with your brand before reaching your website. If you stop attracting new prospects with media, both online and off, how long will it take for that ROI to dry up, too?
In the long-term, brands require a well-balanced marketing strategy that includes both top-of-the-funnel brand building elements and bottom-of-the-funnel activities that drive high ROI.
Dana builds marketing plans weighing both conversion and traffic quality, so we can continue to grow our clients’ business, generating new prospects and future brand equity while maximizing bottom-of-the-funnel ROI. We understand that businesses are focused on short-term goals. Sales and marketing executives are required to report regularly and feel the pressure to show consistent improvement while meeting and exceeding goals.
We believe strong brands should have the vision to segment their goals and budgets into two categories: One for growing awareness and bringing new prospects into the funnel and another for maximizing the value of those activities by having a strong presence at the bottom of the funnel. You can’t build a brand with remarketing alone.
Ideally, each of these initiatives should be measured and optimized independently of the other. Choose the top-of-the-funnel activities that drive highest quality, engaged visits and activities that drive the highest ROI, making them work together not against each other. When you see your high engagement brand building channels showing up in your conversion chain, take it as further proof that you’re in the right place at the right time. Don’t limit your marketing by only looking at high conversion rates—value all interactions with your client on and offline.
When you see a large percentage of ROI attributed to brand search, opt-in email and remarketing, analytics is telling you that you’ve succeeded at brand building in the past.
If you want more of this in the future, find a marketing partner who specializes in building successful long-term brands, and keep feeding the top of the funnel.
