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The Shift Towards Short-Term Thinking
A Nielsen study reveals that 70% of marketers now prioritise short-term, measurable performance marketing strategies over brand building. This trend, likely a response to economic uncertainty, has led to an over-reliance on last-click attribution, which only tracks the final interaction before purchase.
However, this approach overlooks crucial upper-funnel activities, such as social media engagement and influencer marketing, which significantly impact consumer decision-making. Snap’s commissioned study found that 74.5% of marketers are either moving away from last-click attribution or considering doing so, recognising its limitations in capturing true marketing efficacy.
Understanding Modern Consumer Behaviour
Snapchat, with its strong reach among Generation Z and Millennials, provides insights into how these generations shop differently. Their data suggests that younger consumers interact with brands across various devices, platforms, and channels before making a purchase.
Product discovery often occurs through social media, influencers, and peer recommendations, long before the final purchase click. Last-click attribution fails to account for these critical discovery processes that are key to building brand awareness and consideration.
“The journey to purchase is no longer linear, and last-click attribution fails to accurately connect these non-linear paths to purchase,” Snapchat reports.
For instance, TransUnion employed their MTA product to conduct a meta-analysis of 17 brands. Their findings revealed that 89-96% of the incremental value from unpaid search channels stems from view-based conversions.
The Limitations of Last-Click Attribution
It’s crucial for marketers to understand why last-click attribution is incongruent with modern consumer shopping habits:
- It ignores upper-funnel activities: Last-click attribution neglects the role of brand discovery and consideration that occur earlier in the purchase process.
- It fails to track cross-channel behaviour: Gen Z and Millennials expect seamless shopping experiences across various devices and channels, including physical stores.
- It lacks insight into new platforms: With the emergence of new shopping apps and methods, last-click attribution struggles to track conversions happening through these platforms.
Moving Towards Better Measurement Tools
To capture both short-term and long-term marketing effects, brands should adopt more comprehensive measurement models, such as Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM). Snapchat’s data demonstrates that combining brand-building ads with performance ads significantly increases ROI, offering a more balanced view of marketing campaign impact.
Source: Snapchat
Key Takeaways:
- Expand your measurement methods: Move away from over-reliance on last-click attribution, which overlooks important stages of the purchase journey.
- Consider the entire path to purchase: Younger consumers engage across various platforms and devices, and your analysis should reflect this.
- Embrace comprehensive measurement tools: Tools like Marketing Mix Modeling can provide a more accurate view of both short-term and long-term marketing impacts.
As consumer behaviour evolves, so too should the methods e-commerce professionals use to measure success. Rethinking attribution models in favour of more comprehensive approaches will help brands make smarter marketing decisions and stay competitive in the changing digital landscape.
