Marketing Attribution Overview

Knowing the path your customers take to get to your business is a powerful thing. It gives you a solid understanding of which channels or campaigns are driving the most sales, so you can put your focus on the most effective ones. But getting accurate information on customer origins can be a tricky thing for anyone in paid marketing. Here’s why:

Let’s say that a customer clicks through to your website from a Facebook ad. They spend a little time on your site, view some pages, but don’t end up converting (leaving their email address, making a purchase, etc.). A few days later, they click on a Google remarketing ad for your business, and end up making a purchase from there. Here’s the problem: Both Facebook and Google may try to claim the credit for this sale, resulting in inaccurate customer attribution. Or, if the customer in this scenario spends $100 on your site via Facebook, and $100 via Google, both will claim that you made $200 through their platform. So, who gets the real credit?

Conversion Windows

Before we explain how we’ve solved this problem at Flashy, it’s important to understand that many platforms have what’s known as a “conversion window.” This is the amount of time a customer has to convert through their site for the credit to be attributed to them. For example: Say that Facebook has a 14 day conversion window. A customer comes to your website through a FaceBook ad, but then takes some time to research your company or product before buying. They make their purchase after 14 days have elapsed. Since they acted outside of the conversion window, you will never know that Facebook was the ultimate source of the sale.

The Power of UTM Parameters

But don’t worry - Flashy users get the full picture of every customer’s journey. We use UTM parameters, which make all the difference. With Flashy, when someone clicks on one of your ads (regardless of channel), the UTM parameters save the customer’s origin in the browser. 

So, let’s say the customer clicks on your ad on FaceBook, and then 15 days go by without a conversion. Then, the customer sees a remarketing ad on Google, Taboola, or any other advertising platform. They click on the ad and make a purchase on your site. Because of the UTM parameters, it will be clear that the true attribution for this sale goes to Facebook. In Flashy, we’ll display the full path that led to this conversion.

Viewing Attribution in Flashy

To see what this looks like, click on Contacts in your Flashy dashboard at the top of the screen. Scroll through the columns to find the one called “Attribution.” Here you can view the path that each contact took to conversion, whether it be through Google, Facebook, another platform, or by coming directly to your website. It also shows the number of times the contact entered each of these gateways. 

If you want to search for all of the contacts who came to your business via a specific platform, you can use the Active Filters field in the left-side menu. Enter a term such as “Attribution contains Google,” and all of the contacts who came through Google as part of their path to your business will be displayed.  

To the right of the Attribution column is the “Term” column. It lists the specific search terms contacts used that eventually led them on their journey to you.

Attribution and the Big Picture

Flashy’s unique solution to the issue of attribution is a powerhouse of information for your business. Not only can you easily determine which channels and campaigns are performing the best for you; you can also zoom out and discern which avenues brought in the best customers in terms of lifetime value. For example, let’s say you run a Facebook ad which 100 people click on. Out of those 100, two convert. You also run a Google ad that another 100 people click on, and out of those 100, three people convert. After two months, 100% of the FaceBook contacts who converted (two people) make a second purchase, but among the Google contacts, only 30% of the people who converted made another purchase (just one person). Ultimately, the FaceBook campaign is a more successful marketing effort. Flashy’s mastery of attribution allows you to clearly understand your customers’ origins and track ongoing activity over the long term.

As a Flashy user, all you need to do to set yourself up for attribution results is to provide us with the parameters on UTM. Our base pixel will take care of the rest. 

Understanding where your customers are coming from is yet another crucial step in getting to know who they are and what they’re looking for. Let Flashy help you see the big picture, for big results!