Multi-channel attribution

**Insight_UK** · 04-05-11

Hi
The phrase 'multi-channel attribution' came to my attention last week and as a merchant this sounded like something I should definitely be aware of. Can anyone provide useful links or downloads on what multi-channel attribution is & how it affects both affiliates and merchants?
Thanks
Catherine

**KevinEdwards** · 05-05-11

Hi Catherine,

You may find these two articles a useful starting point:

Attributing value in affiliate marketing | Econsultancy
Internet Retailing

Thanks,

**Ben C** · 05-05-11

Hi Katherine,

Multi-channel attribution covers a variety of issues that arise when you have multiple tracking systems and multiple contributors that are being paid for the same sales. Nearly all online tracking systems operate on the 'last click' model - whichever site, agency, channel etc last referred a sale earns the commission. However that encourages your online channels to disproportionately devote spend to areas of their concern where they can maximise their earnings. For example:

> Voucher Code sites. A proportion of their traffic comes from customers encountering boxes for entering VCs during the payment process and searching for a suitable voucher. Under the last click model this wipes out the contribution of anybody who actually got the customer to enter the purchasing process in the first place.

> Cashback sites. Similarly a proportion of their traffic was shopping on site and then remembered they can get cashback. I'm forever doing it with theTrainline.com, though you can argue that I would be using the train operating company's site if theTrainline.com didn't pay cashback.

> PPC, inc brand bidding. Search is deeply competitive, so clients put plenty of money into it, but how much is motivated by the PPC advert and how much were already looking to buy from you anyway? For example, Brand often offers the cheapest terms, but if someone is already searching for your brand, why are you paying for the referral? Who should you really pay for encouraging the customer to come to you?

> Behavioural targeters. Somebody was interested in buying from you, and behavioural targeting firms aim to convert those people. Those people were sourced by other parts of the online ecosystem, so only the best prospects for a sale are targeted, often off the backs of other affiliates (who stand to lose part of their sales that come out of session but would have been on the referral cookie).

Against this are a number of worthy online channels that tend to lose out under last click:

> Email. email is a great way to get your brand out to customers who otherwise have never heard of you. But if they've never heard of you, they're unlikely to purchase from a solo email, even if it will kicks off the interest to find out more. So the conversion rate is often too low to work on a CPA.

> Content sites. From the stats I've seen from working at a network, this is often massively overstated, but clients of all stripes are often keenest to put spend into 'the deep web' or the 'long tail' - sites with unique content that put their brand in places that help reinforce their brand recognition and build up the halo of marketing activity.

> Display. Interesting statistics from various display providers (claim to) show that the presence of your brand on trusted websites helps to reinforce the brand recognition. These sales that are attributed to 'Post-View' are usually wiped out by last click. While their contribution is debateable, they feel last click doesn't reflect the value their activity added.

It is common for email affiliates to ask for a hybrid CPA/CPM payment structure as a result, Display (and behavioural affiliates where they can) want payment made on 'Post-View' CPA and Content affiliates like to negotiate tenancy or CPC deals if they have the clout.

These are all sticking plasters over the fundamental problem - last click does not capture the full value added by all points in the sales funnel. Last click also means that affiliates have rushed en mass to set up 'last click eater' sites - cashback, voucher codes and behavioural targeting, reinforcing the bias and increasing industry spend for diminishing returns.

Multi-channel attribution is about looking at all the touchpoints on the route to sale and giving them a proportional payment, pushing money up the sales funnel to where some argue the most value is added. There are numerous systems that are looking to provide it, someone much better informed than I can tell you what works, though I know DoubleClick and TagMan do it.

I know that Julia Stent, while working at Vodafone, did a study into multi-channel attribution, as did Helen Southgate (Chair of the IAB) and Matt Bailey (while Head of Affiliates at i-Level). Many agencies (and indeed networks) have been looking over this as well. These are all prominent members of the IAB.

The main issue with multi-channel attribution is the lack of a compelling payment model. Last click is clear and simple with one, performance-measured CPA pot. With attribution model things get technical and complicated, to the point it could be very difficult to work out who should get what.

If you split the commission between contributors then some affiliates can't work with revenue sharing - the cashbacks, for example, who need a clear consumer proposition. Many affiliates are also against it as it's not clear to them exactly why they're getting paid what they're getting paid. At the moment they see a sale, multiply by the percentage commission and they get their commission. It's hard enough keeping track of what they're earning given how many hundreds of transactions they may be processing, the minutiae of a rev-share makes everything that little bit harder to understand.

Further reading:
Channel attribution isn't great for affiliates | Opinion | New Media Age

Google Multi-Channel Funnels

TagMan – The real-time attribution and Tag Management System

Google Multi-Channel Funnels: why the turkeys voted for Christmas | Econsultancy

http://www.affiliates4u.com/news/201...liate-channel/

http://www.affiliates4u.com/news/201...our-views-1-2/

Are you being duped by de-duping? | Helen Southgate

Splitting affiliate commissions – an alternative solution | Matt Bailey's affiliate blog

http://www.amnavigator.com/blog/2010...ck-wins-model/

Cheers

Ben