So I’m from Michigan, I went to Duke, and as anyone who has read my blog before has deduced, I love college basketball. When you add up all of these factors, you’ll understand why therefore I also LOVE Shane Battier. Shane Battier, Michigan raised and Blue Devil trained, currently plays for the Miami Heat, and is known as one of the most frustrating (read best) defensemen in the league. In 2009, the New York Times Magazine published an article called “The No-Stats All-Star,” that described Battier’s game as a “weird combination of obvious weakness and nearly invisible strengths.” They write, “…when he is on the court, his teammates get better, often a lot better, and his opponents get worse — often a lot worse.” Earlier this spring, the New York Times returned to the topic of Battier, discussing the coincidence that Battier has been, interestingly, part of three of the greatest basketball win streaks of all time. According to this Times blog, “there have been only four single-season winning streaks of at least 20 games in N.B.A. history, and he (Battier) has been part of two of them…but neither streak qualifies as Battier’s longest; he was a starter during Duke’s 32-game run in 1998-99.”
This blog is not meant to be a love letter for Shane Battier, though we should all feel free to write one at some point if the mood strikes us. Rather, it’s an outward and visible example of what’s revealed when you push beyond last click attribution. Were basketball statisticians to stop at points scored, we would miss the impact of the assist…the offensive rebound…or any of the defensive statistics….and then of course, the insights that are generated to understand the impact of players on the court whose power is not outwardly visible in the final score, but whose presence certainly makes it possible. As a result, all we would know would be to chase the next LeBron James, regardless of the cost to the organization. Same goes for your digital programs. If all that matters is the last step before the conversion, we give no credit to the Shane Battiers of digital tactics – the pieces of your digital puzzle which prime the pump for the eventual golden moment. The more we peel the onion, the more we understand how the pieces work together, and when they are working best to drive value.
Attribution is the topic that’s taking center stage this week in the Gartner for Marketing Leaders world. Why? Because it’s keeping our good friend and colleague Andrew Frank very busy these days, which means that something that everyone has been writing about has become something that our clients are actively struggling with. I applaud those who are starting to fight the fight to get to deeper insight into their digital campaigns, and what about their formula is truly working. I was (frankly) surprised to see the IAB stat from June 2012, indicating that 44% of digital marketers don’t have processes in place to assign credit to their efforts – even as simple as last click attribution. It seems those who are digging deeper into the story are more exceptional than perhaps they know. What we believe will be the reward for those efforts, however, will be improved performance, the ability to better plan and budget, more predictable outcomes, and in the end better ROI. Seems worth the quest, right?
I totally understand that accessing siloed data, putting together, and refining, a strategy for better attribution modeling is far from a walk in the park. The difficulty of piecing together the story – and the imperfections that may be revealed – can stop the project before it gets off the ground, or gets to a working model. Embracing non-obvious solutions en route to better understanding is difficult, but is what makes this quote from Jonathan Wichmann, Social Media Manager at Maersk Line, so exceptional. In a case study of their social media program, Wichmann indicated they were achieving 1500% social media ROI. He also shared, however, that the ROI number could be zero, or it could be 5000% depending upon your assumptions. His candor is awesome, and speaks to the fact that measurement is a process, and that there’s benefit to just starting, learning, and refining from there. Perfect clarity on Day 1 into what combinations work best to drive revenue will be elusive; but that will not be true forever.
Beyond insight, planning efficiency, improved program performance, and eventually, increases in revenue and ROI, perhaps there’s another reason to dive into the complex problem of attribution. Recently, HBR highlighted a post from Rosabeth Moss Kanter that poses that, “The Happiest People Pursue the Most Difficult Problems.” Reason enough to dig deeper into campaign understanding? Maybe not. But certainly icing on the cake.