ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR TRAVEL

Miami, June 2014

1

Barbara Pezzi

THIS SESSION

Get to Grips with Attribution Modelling

Place Analytics at the Heart of Your Marketing Strategy

A FEW STATS

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf

IT’S COMPLICATED

http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

IT’S COMPLICATED

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Viewability_Benchmarks_Show_Many_Ads_Are_Not_In-

View_but_Rates_Vary_by_Publisher

CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION

http://www.tylervigen.com/

HAVE YOU FIXED EVERYTHING ELSE?

HAVE YOU FIXED EVERYTHING ELSE?

DO YOU NEED IT?

DO YOU NEED IT?

• There are limits on what can be tracked. If you can’t measure it properly, just say so and focus on what you can.

• Last click may not be perfect, but it is somewhat consistent and accurate and not necessarily enhanced by replacing it with a sequential attribution model where people assign gut values (or political values) to the steps.

• You need to account for payment models (affiliates, ppc, etc..)

• Is your organisation ready for it?

DIFFERENT CHANNELS FOR DIFFERENT GOALS

http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/tools/customer-journey-to-online-purchase.html

THERE ARE OTHER FACTORS

OPTIONS

• Considering the various funnel stages, multi-device browsing and off/on-line purchasing, media mix modelling (MMM) would be the more appropriate solution. It is however complex and expensive and only warranted for large advertisers.

• A cheaper alternative is to test campaigns introducing one channel at the time and measuring its impact.

• Look at channel sequencing and establish patterns (ex is Tripadvisor always at the start?) and impact. It’ll be more useful that guessing the % of revenue depending on path position.

OPTIONS

• Attribution analysis works best for high frequency purchases (ex retail/OTAs/large chains) and large advertisers. For smaller businesses, visitor segmentation can be sufficient.

• If you have to use an attribution model, apply segmentation to your analysis: ex new vs repeat buyers, subscribers vs non, etc…

• Cross-channel analysis requires user ID

• If using GA for attribution analysis, spend the time to create your own channel grouping

MULTI-CHANNEL FUNNELS & ATTRIBUTION IN GA

CREATE YOUR CHANNEL GROUPING

CREATE YOUR CHANNEL GROUPING

CREATE YOUR CHANNEL GROUPING

CREATE YOUR CHANNEL GROUPING

CHOOSE YOUR SETTINGS

CHOOSE YOUR SETTINGS

ASSISTED CONVERSIONS REPORT

TOP CONVERSION PATHS REPORT

ATTRIBUTION IN GA

ATTRIBUTION IN GA

ATTRIBUTION IN GA

https://www.google.com/analytics/gallery/#posts/search/%3F_.type%3DATTRIBUTION_MODEL%26_.start%

3D0/

ATTRIBUTION IN GA

ALWAYS SEGMENT

ALWAYS SEGMENT

ALWAYS SEGMENT

ALWAYS SEGMENT

THE OTHER OPTION: VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

VISITOR SEGMENTS

Visit vs Visitor: $34,792 vs $125,131

code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/gaTrackingCustomVariables.html

VISITOR SEGMENTS: CUSTOM VARIABLES

http://cutroni.com/blog/category/universal-analytics-2/

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2284038/google-tag-manager-best-practices-part-3-of-3

YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER

IN CONCLUSION:

• Get the basics right first: optimise all campaigns, ensure everything is correctly tracked, review conversion obstacles (high bounce landing pages), etc..

• Segment, segment, segment.

• Before investing in a proprietary solution, do the math. The solution has to add value, not simply be an academic exercise.

• If you are going to invest time/funds in attribution analysis, ensure that internally everyone is on board and willing to re-allocate budgets and technical support.

• Acting on faulty models is worse than taking no action at all.

“"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.“

(Albert Einstein)