The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
April 2006, Volume 5, Issue 4

PPC Advertising & Other Media: Facing the Attribution Challenge

by Aman Khanna, Paid Seach Specialist, iProspect

It’s April and yet the number one spot in the Google sponsored links (paid results) for the keyword phrase “super bowl” is still the Go Daddy TV commercial that ran during that event back in early February. Viewers were sent frantically searching as a result of the millions of media dollars spent on TV ads, and for a while the search term “super bowl” was an extremely expensive commodity, with players like Cadillac, Honda and Dove among those bidding on it to increase their online visibility and website traffic.

Smart marketers at progressive marketing organizations are beginning to recognize that paid search advertising, and its spend, can be used to compliment the effective use of other media. But as with so many “early adopters” of any strategy, these forward-thinkers are forced write some of the rules of the game as they go, and aren’t always able to cover all the bases.

Integration Creates the “Attribution Challenge”

In a recent iProspect survey conducted by Jupiter Research, 47% of users who performed online research on products during the 2005 holiday season bought those products offline. On what percentage of that 47% do you think merchants accurately attributed the offline purchase to the online channel that actually produced the sale? 5%? 10%? 20%?

Paid search ads can also generate leads which eventually close as a sale, but in the interim, another medium – such as a banner advertisement or an email blast – might reach the same prospect and be used as the mechanism by which he/she converts. In this case the conversion is attributed to the conversion mechanism, not the first medium that gained the buyer’s attention.

A high consideration purchase like health insurance, which might involve a commitment of thousands of dollars annually, might require prospects to click a few paid search ads to educate themselves on their options. After completing their comparisons, some might not be comfortable making their purchase online. These users might call the provider’s toll-free number to speak with a person and/or make the actual purchase.

In all these cases, you cannot negate the effect that search advertising had on the conversion which took place via some other channel. This failure to attribute the “cause” of the conversion to search marketing leaves a big gap between the marketer’s advertising spend and his reported return on investment.

But There is Hope

Thankfully, solutions are beginning to arise that enable marketers to link PPC traffic and certain types of offline conversions – most commonly, telephone conversions. Technologies such as Who’s Calling’s ClickPath allow advertisers who produce a lot of inbound telephone call conversions to generate dynamic 800 numbers on their landing pages/websites that are associated with each unique keyword/paid search program combination. This, in turn, enables them to attribute inbound telephone calls/conversions to the keyword and search engine that produced them.

Another, less high-tech option for advertisers who either have very few keywords, or who can afford to own plenty of 800 numbers, is to create PPC landing pages with their own unique, static 800 numbers. Each number is specific to an engine/keyword combination – again, enabling telephone conversions to be attributed to the appropriate engine and keyword.

Pay-per-call is a program offered by search engines that allows paid search advertisers to leverage an 800 number – but that appears within their actual paid search ad – and only requires the advertiser to pay when a user calls. Pay-per-call enables an advertiser to produce an inbound phone call even if the search engine user doesn’t click to his website, or frankly, even if he doesn’t have a website. This is an effective solution for local businesses who are geo-targeting a certain region and who are more likely to generate conversions while talking to a prospect on the phone than online.

With the popularity of search marketing and its ever-increasing marriage with other media; attributing sales and conversions to the correct media is vitally important. Only by mastering effective conversion tracking will paid search advertisers be able to accurately attribute conversions to the media/channel that produced them, and therefore be able to accurately attributed ROI to each media/channel.

Click here to subscribe to the Search Marketing Advisor newsletter now.

Learn more about iProspect's pay per click advertising management services.

del.icio.us

Inquire About iProspect's Services

Access FREE White Papers and Webcasts

Subscribe to our FREE SEM Newsletter

View Upcoming Events and Webcasts

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: April 2006, Volume 5, Issue 4

PPC Advertising & Other Media: Facing the Attribution Challenge

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
April 2006, Volume 5, Issue 4