The Last Days of Last Click Measurement
With mobile rising, reading data using a last click model is harder. Discover why moving to people-based measurement and multi-touch attribution delivers more useful data.
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77% of marketers surveyed by Facebook at our five Last Days of Last Click events in Europe1, said they didn’t feel that their current measurement solution accurately attributes all paid media. When more than three-quarters of people don’t feel they have a good measurement solution for all media, there is a problem. Here are some of the lessons shared with over 500 marketers during our measurement roadshow across Europe.
Data is the foundation in constructing the path to conversion across your media. If you put bad data in, you get bad data out. Some current measurement tools are unable to properly track across devices and browsers, so they may miss out on most of the touchpoints on these paths. Moving to people-based measurement and multi-touch attribution (MTA) helps deliver more accurate data and drive efficiencies. Advertisers that capture the value of mobile in their attribution models have a significant advantage over competitors.
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At Facebook we believe that the end of ‘last click’ measurement is here. Last click models tell part of the story, but not the mobile part, which leaves a big gap. With so many people now on mobile devices, this means missed data and incorrect conclusions.
Tony Evans
Director of Marketing Science EMEA
Through our events in Europe we hoped to bring together measurement resources, education and marketers’ own stories about moving from last-click attribution to multi-touch attribution and analytics. The following are some of the key lessons we shared with attendees to help them more confidently address the transition from last click only measurement to multi-touch attribution.
1. There are dramatic changes in the media landscape as the number of channels grow
Fragmentation and big changes in the media landscape create complexities across the way channels are measured. As each new channel has emerged, so has a new measurement metric.2
2. Cross everything is our new reality now and in the future.
How will marketers reconcile their analytics methods of the past, given the complexity of the present media landscape? Marketers need a way to measure real business outcomes, whether that is shifting brand perception or driving sales. Measurement methodologies haven’t shifted from the single device world, potentially resulting in errors in today’s measurement. Cookies can overestimate reach by 58% and understate frequency by 135%3, are only 64% accurate in broad age and gender targeting.4
How cookies distort important data points
Understate frequency by135%
Are only64%accurate in broad age and gender targeting
Overestimate reach by58%
Cookies are no longer a sufficient basis for measurement in our mobile and cross-everything world. Shifting to people-based data helps ensure ‘good data’ and accuracy in today’s measurement.
3. Last-click measurement doesn’t tell the whole story.
Not all measurement tools are able to properly track across devices and browsers, so they may miss out on most of the touchpoints in these path. Last-click attribution relies on proxies like cookies and clicks , but cookies and clicks aren’t reflected properly on mobile. That means that activity on the world’s most popular channel (mobile) is invisible to most marketers. Why is this a problem? Because it’s hard to imagine a world without mobile – never mind measure one.
What it means for marketers
Marketers are often reliant on old metrics that aren’t indicators of success for their business. Ninety-one percent of the people that could buy your product don’t click on your ads.5 Clicks were a metric used in the desktop world when people searched, discovered and converted on just one device. Today, search and discovery are happening across multiple devices and channels, and require new metrics for measurement. Measuring the wrong metrics can cost advertisers more.
Take, for example, an advertiser who is measuring ONLY on the basis of clicks. Not only are people who frequently click on ads not necessarily more likely to buy, they're also more expensive to reach. The chart above shows the relative CPM for more clicky users vs. least clicky users in the UK. The most clicky people are 4.9 times more expensive than the 50% of users that are least clicky, even though there’s no evidence they're more likely to drive brand metrics or offline sales. In Germany, Spain and France the most clicky users cost 5 times more and in Italy they cost 6.9 times more.6 If you optimize off of clicks, you are paying more for an audience that is not necessarily any more interested in your brand or likely to buy your product. If you are looking for campaign performance, bidding for clicks is both expensive and does not drive brand or sales objectives.
We know historically that measurement systems were built in silos, making it difficult to understand campaign performance, compare success or understand whether media drove real business outcomes.
Marketers need visibility across devices and channels as well as choice—choice to use trusted partners and third-party measurement solutions to verify data and understand the consumer journey. At Facebook, we work with over 24 measurement partners to help ensure we are providing both visibility and choice to our clients.
Taking the first step towards people-based measurement is easier than you think.
Step
Run an attribution check up and go from there
Step
Measure brand lift or sales
Step
Switch to people-based multi-touch attribution with one of our partners
In future posts, we will share how clients who presented at the Last Days of Last Click events in Europe put these steps into action.