Member Article

How custom metrics can help you build an omnichannel reporting strategy

Written by Declan Kennedy, CEO, StitcherAds

With the world of online and offline increasingly merging, it is more critical than ever for advertisers to understand how and where campaigns are driving revenue. The earlier you know what is and isn’t working, the sooner you have the ability to tweak a campaign or potentially divert the marketing spend elsewhere.

Straightforward, right?

Not quite. The customer journey isn’t as clear-cut as it once was. Consumers are constantly switching between devices throughout the day. According to GfK: “41% of consumers are switching between devices to complete a single activity.” Shoppers will often see an ad for a product on mobile, only to complete the purchase later via desktop or in a physical location – and vice versa. It is imperative that advertisers measure this activity, but it can be complex to track. While analytics software can provide customisation options, most ad platforms don’t have that capability. In particular, many advertisers have griped about the limitations of Facebook’s reporting and attribution options. On top of that, they’ve lost confidence in Facebook’s accuracy, worrying that the platform skews toward more positive results. This skepticism is driving many marketers to rely on customised tracking, either with third-party analytics platforms or with convoluted Excel spreadsheets. Both of these options require manual effort that could be eliminated with an automated solution.

Factor omnichannel activity into your reporting model

At StitcherAds, we’ve created custom metrics that our customers can use with Facebook reporting to drill deeper into their results and glean additional colour around the stats. We have created formulas that factor in consumer behaviour at an omnichannel level. For example:

● Total ROAS = (Online Revenue + In-Store Revenue + App Revenue) / Ad Spend ● Profit = [(Online Revenue + In-Store Revenue + App Revenue) x Profit Margin] - Ad Spend ● Conversion Rate = (Online Purchases + In-Store Purchases + App Purchases) / Clicks ● % Cost of Sale = Spend / (Online Revenue + In-Store Revenue + App Revenue)

These metrics are measured across multiple platforms and account for in-store revenue, providing more context around the success of each campaign.

Chances are, you’re wondering how to attribute in-store revenue to a particular Facebook ad. Here’s how we do it at StitcherAds: We attribute everyone that clicked an ad and made a purchase in-store within 24 hours and half the people who viewed an ad and made a purchase within 24 hours. It’s crucial to remember that not all customers will be able to get to a brick-and-mortar store within 24 hours. To account for that, we attribute 50% of purchases over the next 2-7 days from people who clicked on the ad and 20% of purchases people who viewed the ad during that same timeframe. For example, if someone happened to see an ad on Tuesday for a $100 pair of shoes and went in-store on Friday to buy them, we attribute $20 to the campaign and $80 to other media.

We configured this attribution model after consulting with several ecommerce and brick-and-mortar retailers. It was specifically designed to factor in weekends – giving consumers enough time to get into local stores after seeing an ad.

However, this is just one way to think about attribution. Keep in the mind that attribution models can vary depending on the business model. While the one we described above might be applicable for an apparel brand, home furnishing retailers that sell high-ticket items might want to consider extending the attribution window.

Obtain faster, more insightful reports

So, how can you track and measure omnichannel campaigns on a more automated scale? Consider integrating your custom metrics with a third-party analytics platform, e.g. Google Analytics. Third-party platforms can capture metrics in real-time and integrate with Facebook’s native tracking.

As you continue to build campaigns, think about cross-device behaviour. Make sure that you’re reaching the right people, on the right device, with a relevant message based on where they are in the conversion funnel. Being able to accurately report on all of this is crucial to learning more about your customers and determining where to place ad spend.

Interested in the work we do at StitcherAds? We would be delighted to provide you additional information regarding our automated campaign reporting capabilities.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Declan Kennedy .