Is Search Getting Too Much Credit?

From Mad.co.uk "Technology Weekly"

There is worrying contradiction at play within digital advertising right now: despite the growth in online channels (display, rich media, in-stream, mobile, VOD) and opportunities for digital marketers, a growing amount of credit is still being attributed to the impact of Search. Ciaran McConaghy, Analytics Manager, Atlas Solutions EMEA comments

In a world where consumer sales are affected by a far wider and more complex spectrum of influences than one search engine click alone, do the search engine giants deserve this powerful reputation? Our latest research suggests not. A consumer may have first interacted with a brand via a display advert, read a promotional email and watched a video, only to return several days later to a search engine to find the product and make a purchase. But why do the majority of advertisers still attribute 100 per cent of the credit for a sale to the last ad click? How are multiple advert impressions impacting the performance of a campaign? And should we be taking into account the synergy between different marketing campaigns?

The ‘last click wins’ approach discounts all outside influences, attributing the conversion solely to the search engine even when Search is used purely as a navigational tool. Our research shows that nine out of ten online purchases are made by consumers who have seen adverts over multiple media sources, and that users reached across multiple sites are twice as likely to convert compared to those reached on one site alone.

As the number of digital channels used by brands multiplies there is an even greater need for accurate measurement and evaluation. If advertisers want to effectively measure the success of an online advertising campaign, they must adopt a far more strategic and holistic approach. If you simply base the success of a campaign on the last click or view before a purchase, you risk taking some of the most effective search terms or display ads out of a campaign. Of course channel synergies exist – and they can be quantified.

So how do you do this? As an initial step, it is important you identify sites that reach buyers throughout their entire decision making process and not the last click alone. Right now, there are hundreds of factors that are greatly influencing your customers’ purchasing decisions and if you cut these out of your plan you will fail to capitalise on the market’s full potential. If you don’t tie your marketing data to the same source, you are flying blind and will not be able to distinguish exactly what is driving results. You can’t make informed planning decisions without measuring existing campaigns and understanding which areas drive most revenue.

The overlap gained from users seeing adverts across multiple publishers or placements can be a good thing and users reached across multiple sites have been shown to have four times the frequency of users reached across one site only. However, it is important to note that overlap can also be a costly source of media duplication. Marketers need to look at the overlap to decipher where it is helping their campaigns and where it is hurting them.

This is a clear wake up call to the industry to raise its game. Search engines, rich media, mobile and display advertising all have to justify their role in a campaign. Reaching consumers across multiple sites, channels and frequencies will lead to higher levels of engagement in advertising campaigns, conversions and ultimately sales. It is vital marketers understand the individual customer journey and not just the point of conversion. Only by doing this will they be able to optimize ROI at a campaign level and deliver a competitive advantage. As investments into new technologies such as mobile and in-stream video increase, it is vital to go beyond the last advertisement if you are to justify budgets and deliver accountability.

The message coming through is undeniable. Conversions are not just about a last click in a search engine. The industry needs to wake up to the fact that the last click model is fundamentally flawed. The ultimate winners will be the ones who adapt most quickly to this more sophisticated digital environment and the next step will be applying these principles to more traditional media channels.