The Halo Effect: Marketers Stuck In Last-Click Attribution
At last week’s MediaPost Search Insider Summit, a panel of search experts took the concept of the Halo Effect in-house to view it through the eyes of search marketers and C-level execs responsible for budgets. In the realm of digital marketing, the Halo Effect refers to a cognitive bias where our overall perception of a campaign or strategy is influenced by a single positive or negative experience. In the context of last-click attribution, this phenomenon can be particularly problematic.
Last-click attribution is a model that attributes 100% of the credit for a conversion to the last click that brought the customer to the website. While this model provides a clear and straightforward way to track conversions, it oversimplifies the customer journey and fails to account for the various touchpoints and interactions that lead to a conversion. This is where the Halo Effect comes into play.
Imagine a customer who discovers a brand through a display ad, then does further research after seeing a social media post, and finally makes a purchase after clicking on a paid search ad. In a last-click attribution model, all the credit would go to the paid search ad, completely ignoring the role that the display ad and social media post played in influencing the customer’s decision.
The problem with this approach is that it undervalues the impact of upper-funnel marketing efforts. By focusing solely on the last click, marketers may allocate more budget to bottom-of-the-funnel tactics like paid search and direct response ads, while neglecting the importance of brand awareness and consideration-building activities.
To overcome this challenge, marketers need to shift towards a more holistic attribution model that takes into account the entire customer journey. Multi-touch attribution models, such as linear attribution or time decay, distribute credit across all touchpoints based on their influence on the conversion. By adopting these models, marketers can gain a more accurate understanding of how different channels work together to drive conversions and optimize their budget allocation accordingly.
Furthermore, implementing tools like Google Analytics or attribution software can provide valuable insights into the customer journey and help identify which touchpoints are most effective at each stage of the funnel. By analyzing these data-driven insights, marketers can make more informed decisions about their marketing strategies and investments.
In conclusion, the Halo Effect in last-click attribution can lead marketers astray by oversimplifying the customer journey and undervaluing upper-funnel touchpoints. To break free from this mindset, marketers must embrace more sophisticated attribution models that provide a comprehensive view of the customer journey and allocate credit where it’s due. By doing so, marketers can optimize their campaigns, improve ROI, and ultimately drive better business results.
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