Understanding Cross-Device Attribution

As I put the finishing touches on my upcoming cross-industry book "Who Sold It?" it became clear to me that many business owners do not understand how advertising companies can claim to connect with their customers and website visitors online when each person uses many different computing devices.

I primarily use two devices: my Apple MacBook Pro and my iPhone 7. It would not surprise me if readers use four or more devices when you include tablets, work computers, Apple watches, and gaming devices.

Death by Last-Click Attribution

Before I jump into this topic, I want to emphasize that in some businesses, which have offline conversions from online marketing, ROI analysis is often done by "last-click" attribution. Business managers look at the lead source in their CRM lead-to-sale reports and reward/penalize ad agencies based on who was the last influence to get the consumer to submit a lead, call, chat, or text message the business. The automotive industry is a perfect example of this phenomena.

Over the years, business owners with longer sales cycles began to realize that multiple advertising choices can influence to make a purchase or become a customer. In the automotive industry, dealers use radio, TV, newspaper, direct mail, social media, Google AdWords, video pre-roll and other strategies to connect with local consumers.

The graphic shown above was taken from a presentation given by the CEO of Tapad, a company that specializes in cross-device tracking and The Device Graph?. Progressive marketing managers working in auto dealerships, realizing that last-click attribution is horribly flawed, have begun to experiment with Multi-Channel funnels in Google Analytics (GA) to create multi-touch attribution models. Managers assign weights to each interaction (Ad Hoc) to create a multi-touch attribution model that reflects increases in showroom traffic and sales.

Mobile Tracking Changes Attribution

But GA is limited to only the consumers who visit the business website. There are so many advertising channels that can positively influence a consumer and not require them to visit the business website like watching a video or shopping on an endemic portal. These interactions are coming from different IP locations, devices, and email addresses.

Take two minutes to watch this video from TapAd and you will start to understand the complexity of advertising today.

The advent of mobile computing has made attribution models more complicated but the good news is that companies like Tapad and Oracle are building "device graphs" to connect a consumer to all their computing devices.

A device graph is a set of ID mappings that are used to define groups of anonymous devices as being used by the same person based on commonalities among the signals collected from each device.

Oracle’s ID Graph is one of the most powerful in the marketplace powered by data from BlueKai (big data), Datalogix (offline sales data), and more recently Tapad. We also hope to have a presentation from Oracle at the upcoming AAAS in Boca Raton.

Here is an excerpt from the Oracle website:

The Oracle ID Graph is not a product but it is a foundational capability or technology that power the Oracle DMP. All linkages in Oracle ID Graph are continuously validated and scored, which changes dynamically based on a proprietary algorithm to the input. Only the linkages deemed accurate are accepted.

Oracle ingests massive amounts of IDs across cookies, login, HH, email, and mobile ad IDs on a weekly or sometimes daily basis from ID data partners. The Oracle ID Graph can reach over 90% of people online in the US and in markets that matter internationally so users can deliver audiences, at scale, and across channels.

Targeting Consumers Based on ID Graphs

The answer to the original question of how do ad agencies claim to be able to follow customers of business (or visitors to their website) across multiple devices is rooted in device graphs. Device graphics can power Data Management Platforms (DMP), along with other data sources, to execute targeted ad campaigns.

So if a consumer visits a business website on their tablet, a device graph allows agency's, on behalf of the business owner, to advertise on the consumer's smartphone, desktop, and laptop computing devices. This takes multi-touch attribution to the next level!

Cross-device attribution is a very exciting field of study.

Device graphs can also power Location-Based Advertising (LBA) campaigns by giving business owners data on consumers who are in their geofence or a geofence around their competitor's stores.

If your business is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in marketing, you owe it to the business to look into agencies that support smarter marketing strategies which leverage device graphs.

Automotive Attribution - Front and Center!

Cross-device attribution, sales attribution models, and marketing analytics will be the topics of discussion at the 2017 Automotive Analytics & Attribution Summit (AAAS) in Boca Raton on November 8th/9th. Leaders from the automotive industry and outside of automotive (i.e. LiveRamp, Datalicious, Equifax, Experian, Adobe) will be sharing their latest technology, research, and strategies to increase advertising efficiency and effectiveness.

The auto industry has been increasing their digital spend each year yet without advanced device modeling, ad dollars are surely being wasted. If you operate a dealership, are a marketing manager at an auto group, or work in the automotive advertising ecosystem, this conference is a "must attend" event.

A New Conference For Automotive Marketing Managers & Dealers

The AAAS will bring the top marketing managers and dealers together with the leading technology companies serving the auto industry. Take a minute to review the agenda for the conference on this page: https://automotiveattributionsummit.com/agenda/

Frank, robust discussions on creating standards for data sharing, campaign reporting, and sales attribution will be the foundation for the conference content. Speakers will be presenting first-to-market research and technology which will help dealers create the correct marketing mix and know which channels are the most effective in increasing showroom traffic and sales.

Event Details

Date: November 8th and 9th

Location: Boca Raton Resort & Club - Booking Link: https://bit.ly/2upokSS

Target Audience: Automotive Marketing Managers, Dealers, and General Managers who are actively engaged in marketing decisions.

Nearby Airports: FLL, PBI, and MIA

Early Bird Ends: September 1st

Registration: https://automotiveattributionsummit.com/register/