Wanamaker made these comments more than a century ago, but his words still resonate with marketers today. Even in the information age, it's not easy to track which marketing channels actually influence the customer to buy .
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Today, buyers browse a company’s social media profile, look up reviews from other customers, and examine competitors’ websites before making their final decision. It’s a long, involved journey that could take several weeks.
It's difficult for marketers to determine where exactly number in philippines the majority of their marketing budget should be allocated to get the best possible result. And when affiliates are involved, things get even more complicated.
Multi-channel attribution is already complex
Although it does happen, most customers don’t buy a product in one sitting. If a customer searches for shoes on a search engine, clicks on the top-ranked website, “Footwear.com,” and places the order immediately – there’s no need for a marketing attribution model. The search engine is responsible for the conversion.
But let's imagine a different scenario. Here, a customer clicks on Footwear.com but doesn't buy the shoes. A few days later, the same person sees a review of the shoe on a social media page that includes a Footwear.com promo code. A week later, the customer visits the website again and uses the code to make the purchase.
Most buyer journeys are like the one described above. This is why online businesses invest in conversion optimization audits and multi-channel attribution. Some attribution models credit the sale to the last referral or click used.
But that doesn't reflect an accurate picture. Customers are influenced by a variety of factors and engage in multiple channels before finally ordering the product.
Focusing solely on the last touchpoint is reductionist and could mislead the website into investing in channels that do not provide the best ROI.
What happens when it comes to affiliate marketing?
Affiliates play a role at different stages of the sales funnel . At the top are content bloggers with their reviews and at the bottom are coupon websites. There are also different channels in the middle of the funnel. Finding their value and contribution to conversion is not that simple.
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Similarly, due to the larger number of parties involved, it is highly likely that each of them will use different software and tools to analyze channel performance. This will lead to discrepancies in data as affiliate marketers will report different results using separate mechanisms. Determining which channels provide the best ROI becomes difficult in this scenario.