Multi-Touch Attribution in the Age of Privacy Regulations and Dark Social

In today’s digital marketing world, it’s critical to understand where your leads and sales are coming from and how to attribute them to a specific channel or ad campaign. Attribution tracking is the process of crediting the touchpoints that lead to a sale or conversion. However, due to the ever-changing landscape of privacy regulations and cookie policies, tracking can be sporadic and patchy.

Understanding Attribution Tracking in Digital Marketing

Attribution tracking models include last click, first click, and multi-touch attribution. Last click attribution refers to crediting the last touchpoint that leads to a sale, whereas first click attribution refers to crediting the first touchpoint that leads to a sale. Multi-touch attribution, on the other hand, is concerned with distributing credit evenly across the various touchpoints that a customer has had prior to making a purchase decision.

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While not all CRM systems support attribution tracking, third-party tools such as WhatConverts can assist in breaking down individual stages of the buyer journey in order to identify working channels that supplement lead or prospect conversions. Attribution is important because it allows marketers to determine which marketing efforts aid in the conversion of a prospect into a sale.

The Limitations of Attribution Tracking: Exploring “Dark Social” and Other Influential Factors

Privacy regulations and laws are becoming more stringent, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. With platforms prohibiting third-party cookies, it is becoming increasingly difficult to track people and their online activities. Attribution is inherently flawed in this day and age because it does not take into account how people buy. Chris Walker of Refined Labs coined the term “dark social,” which refers to the touchpoints and influences that lead someone to make a purchasing decision but are not measurable by attribution software.

Dark social refers to how people buy in ways that attribution software cannot track. These touchpoints are frequently among the most important factors influencing a buyer’s decision. For example, someone mentioning your brand on a podcast or in a social media forum, sharing an ad on LinkedIn or Facebook within an organization’s slack channel, or discussing it offline. The lead learned about you, but the attribution will be either organic search or direct, which is not the case.

Ultimately, tracking attribution is a crucial component of digital marketing. Although it may present certain difficulties, multi-touch attribution models and external resources can assist in analyzing each step of the customer journey to establish effective channels that enhance lead or prospect conversions.