Leverage Attribution Analysis to Optimize CPG Marketing Strategies
The consumer packaged goods (CPG) market is complex and can be challenging because there is often high competition and multiple brands selling similar products, multiple channels to reach customers, lack of control over the retail environment the product is sold within, and an inability to measure data from the various points of sale accurately. This is what makes knowing the customer journey such a critical component of developing a successful marketing strategy —and where attribution analysis comes into play.
What is Attribution Analysis?
Attribution analysis refers to the analytical process of discovering where, when, and how the customer learned about the product and then determining the marketing channel that influenced the customer the most and led them to buy the product. It evaluates customer behavior and interactions across multiple touchpoints so that credit can be assigned to the most successful marketing strategies. Attribution analysis allows marketers to decide how they will spend their marketing dollars in the future and provides insight into the effectiveness of existing CPG marketing strategies.
How Does Attribution Analysis Help the CPG Market?
Because CPG marketing often involves consumers buying products online, through social media, and in stores, it can be difficult to assess which marketing strategy was the most effective. This is a unique problem for the CPG market because it needs to utilize many touchpoints and marketing channels to reach its target buyer.
CPG marketing can involve everything from TV commercials to print ads, as well as digital ads like Google Ads to promote e-commerce platforms and social media ads. Attribution analysis will not only help the CPG market determine the best advertising method for that product, but it can also help them decide how to utilize cross-channel marketing better and find better ways to influence customer decision-making. Bottom line: attribution analysis empowers the CPG market to make better decisions about how they advertise.
How it Benefits CPG?
Attribution analysis can benefit CPG marketing because it can help demystify and determine the most effective channel. Consider that a customer may see an ad about a product on TV, but that might not make them go to the store and buy it. However, they might research it online, and digital ads may remind them about it as time passes from seeing it on TV and looking to find out more online. However, it might not be until the customer was at the store and they saw it on a specialized display that they purchased it, which leaves the question of, which touchpoint was the most effective?
Understanding the customer’s buying process in CPG marketing is critical for creating successful campaigns. It’s not as simple as offering one advertisement, and the customer decides to purchase. This line of research helps CPG marketers better understand their customers through data, allowing them to target the best opportunities. It also helps them realize what channels aren’t working for different customers so they can eliminate them or reduce ad spend, which in turn feeds more marketing dollars into successful campaigns. Ultimately, the attribution analysis allows the marketer to create targeted campaigns for different audiences.
How Does Attribution Analysis Work
Data is at the heart of attribution analysis — it’s how those in CPG marketing can get an accurate picture of their marketing efforts’ success. Marketers can leverage attribution analysis to promote successful ad campaigns.
Data Collection
The first step of attribution analysis is collecting data. This data can be procured from in-store purchases as well as data from ad clicks, email interactions, and website visits. Online data that gets collected includes everything from where the purchaser was when they clicked (your website or an online retailer, as an example), what they engaged with (for example, a banner ad or a social media post), and even the time it took.
In stores, marketers can capture how the product is placed in the store, the effectiveness of in-store ads or coupons, and the use of other store-specific promotions. This data can be connected to digital data to complete a picture of the customer’s journey, complete attribution analysis, and determine the best marketing channel.
Tracking Interactions
To get a complete picture of the customer’s journey, both online and in-person interactions should be tracked. Online interactions should be tracked through cookies or unique IDs. For in-person interactions, things like coupons and QR codes, receipt scanning and surveys, loyalty programs, and even geofencing, where applicable, can help track interactions with CPG marketing and products.
Analyzing the Data
After collecting the data, marketers should work on the analysis piece of attribution analysis. There are several methods for conducting attribution analysis — last-click, first-click, linear, and time-decay are all valuable analysis methods. Your CPG marketing team should consider what marketing efforts have been made to determine which analysis strategy would be most beneficial.
Attribution Analysis Tools for CPG Brands
So, it’s clear that attribution analysis is beneficial for CPG marketing. But, how do marketers collect the data necessary to conduct attribution analysis? Luckily, there are several great tools that can provide the intel needed to evaluate your marketing strategy. Google Analytics, Hubspot, Marketo, Adobe Analytics, and more are a great start to collecting the data you need and performing attribution analysis.
Best Practices in CPG Marketing
As with any CPG marketing strategy, marketers should follow best practices when implementing various campaigns. Before dumping money into an effort or particular channel, best practices dictate that the team should set clear goals and evaluate the performance of those initiatives by continuously reviewing the data. Plans for adapting to the data should be outlined in advance, and multiple channels should be used to provide a comprehensive overview of the feasible options. Attribution analysis can be implemented to refine marketing efforts then to provide the best opportunities for success.
Use Attribution Analysis to Optimize Your CPG Marketing Strategy
Looking for a CPG marketing strategy that works, or do you need help implementing attribution analysis? The team at Idea Marketing is experienced, skilled, and ready to help your brand succeed. Contact Idea Marketing today to get started!