Originally published July 24, 2010 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marketing attribution and user\nbehavior analysis are key elements in today’s online marketing industry.\nVisitors often conduct research through multiple visits and marketing channels\nprior to taking a “desired action”, which is also referred to as a\n“conversion”. Therefore, it is important to identify and evaluate\nactivities that lead up to a conversion, which can be a form fill, online\npurchase, file download, phone call or other pre-defined action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marketing attribution involves assigning conversion credit to individual marketing channels. User behavior analysis complements this by focusing on items such as navigation paths and search behavior. Both provide additional online marketing intelligence, which can be used to evaluate marketing channels and identify behavioral patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TopSpot utilizes multiple\ntracking solutions, which help monitor both online and offline traffic. This\nanalytics data provides additional insight, which can be difficult to acquire\nthrough a single tracking solution. TopSpot spends a considerable amount of\ntime analyzing data in order to gain a better understanding. This allows us to\nprovide valuable recommendations, which help improve ROI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a number of examples,\nwhich highlight the importance of both online marketing attribution and user\nbehavior analysis. The examples below are based on research data that TopSpot\nhas collected. Each example will help explain why TopSpot is so excited about\nboth of these areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first example shows the\nimportance of evaluating data from multiple tracking solutions. Here we have a\nvisitor who accesses a website through a paid search listing. The visitor finds\nuseful information and decides to pick up the phone and call. After the call,\nthe visitor closes their browser without viewing any other pages. In this\nscenario, one tracking solution would show that a visitor accessed the website\nthrough a paid search listing, viewed one page and then left the site. However,\na secondary tracking solution would show that the visitor accessed the website\nthrough the same paid search listing and placed a phone call. This example\nshows how it is not always possible to get a “complete report” from a\nsingle tracking solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second example takes a closer\nlook at search behavior. Here we have a visitor that accesses a particular\nwebsite three times during one month. The first visit came through a\n“product keyword” and the second through the “company\nname”. The third visit, which resulted in a conversion, came through a\ncombination of the “company name and product name”. If one were to\nlook at the last keyword, they would say that the customer was already familiar\nwith the company’s name and products. However, the visitor\u2019s search behavior shows\nthat this is not the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n