Digital marketers, here is what you need - By Dhanraj Kattimani from IFIM Business School, Bangalore

Sale Sale Sale! This word has the charisma to appeal to the customer throughout the decades. Now, this has changed in the digital sense to promote and influence customers which can track and trace how purchases happen on the web.

The race is on marketers to assist the brand in masterminding which marketing campaign will bring the most conversions. Running a marketing campaign in digital eco-space is testing. Companies rightly predicting which channel is ideal to promote and effectively spending dollars on these channel has become challenging and an essential part of their digital environment to capitalize the return on investment.

Marketing channel attribution to amplify the digital sales funnel

For Digital Marketers, channel attribution is the answer. Google analytics, cookie data, web analytics, display AdWords, social handles set the tone for digital footprint, they are indeed the key to success for any brand. Marketers use data insights from various communication channels to see which attribution is the best approach, for example, first touch, last touch, linear touch, time decay, position-based or cross-channel attribution.

When a consumer makes a purchase on the web, does this mean he receives a newsletter, hears a radio promotion, sees a TV advertisement, or perhaps get a selling call? Actually, what makes a difference is:

• What motivated a sale or a conversion?
• In an attempt to build the customer's intent, which path will he experience before buying?
• Preparing a message for every purpose to promote at numerous channels
• Pondering the progress between channels

This assists me with understanding the digital sales funnel to gather, measure individual touchpoints, and collect data since it's not only one channel driving the action.

The solution of multi-touch attribution

• Understand the customer journey
• Know which media channels contributed to the performance of your campaign and why
• Adjust your campaigns on the fly and use predictive insights to see how changes to your plan will impact business results.

My live project considers the Markov Chain model - the road less traveled in media. The Markov Decision Processes are sequences of possible events where probability is determined by the state attained in the previous event. In MDP, actions (decisions) and rewards (giving motivation) are added.

Purchase/conversion data feeds into a general algorithm that Google has devised, which inspects, touches, alienates the prospect, and engages with them. Google not only study this across social platforms, pay-per-click, email, and organic and paid search, but also via desktop, mobile, and laptop platforms. By setting up the perfect message, at the right moment, and conveying it to the right person on the right channel will drive sales. This will help to bring forth your value proposition adequately at every step, at all times in a dynamic cycle. 

All in all, attribution can lead to improved brand visibility and better tracking and modeling, all of which can enable marketers to make impactful marketing decisions with confidence.