Marketers in these digital days can’t be layabouts anymore. They are increasingly tasked to bring in revenue for the business. In fact, it’s almost like being a hybrid sales-marketing guy.
75% of CMOs agree that marketing will be a revenue driver in the next 3 to 5 years. More than 50% of the same respondents believe that marketing instead of sales (20%) will own the customer buying experience. (Src: The Economist)
Sounds intimidating, but that’s a good thing for us as Digital Marketers.
It’s an opportunity to change our boss’ perception that Marketing is a cost center when in fact the field contributes to real business results. This also raises another issue: “How can I attribute customers to my lead-gathering or –nurturing campaigns?”
What Are the Marketing ROI Metrics of Attribution?
You’d want your efforts to be attributed to these two types of customers:
- Marketing Originated Customer %
Customers who started as Leads because of your marketing campaigns, and - Marketing Influenced Customer %
Leads whom your activities have nurtured through the Buyer’s Funnel into Customers
The rest of this post is all about calculating your effect on each customer type. To do that, you’ll need to be able to track your customers’ activities with Marketing Automation software.
1. Marketing Originated Customer %
Importance to you: The proportion of leads from your campaigns who ultimately turn into customers. This shows your contribution in Customer Acquisition.
How: Gather the number of new customers during a time period. Track down how many of them were leads generated by your marketing campaign. Then find the ratio of leads to new customers.
Example: Rob's Bikes has 2,000 new customers for the month of December. 800 of these customers came from an online coupon giveaway at a cycling event. So 800 / 2,000 = 0.40 = 40%. Thus Marketing Originated Customer % for Rob's Bikes = 40%.
2. Marketing Influenced Customer %
Importance to you: The proportion of customers who have interacted with you during the lead nurturing process. It shows your contribution to converting leads to customers.
How: Take all the customers who had interacted with your lead-nurturing campaigns (e.g. newsletter subscriptions, emails, special promotion codes etc). Find the ratio of these customers who interacted with you to new customers.
Example: Rob's Bikes has 2,000 new customers. 600 were walk-ins. 300 had interacted with their emailers. 800 used special promotional code that came with newsletter sign-up. 300 kept downloading offers from Rob Bikes (e.g. Cycling cheatsheets, Bicycle maintenance).
The Total Number of Customers who had contact with your marketing campaigns are 1,400. So 1,400/2,000 = 0.70 = 70%. Thus the Marketing Influenced Customer % for Rob's Bikes = 70%.
Last Words: Always Plan to Get Attribution
Hopefully, this blog post has highlighted how customers could be attributed to your marketing campaigns. We highly recommend that you keep these two metrics (Marketing Originated Customer % and Marketing Influenced Customer %) in mind whenever planning your campaigns.
After all, knowing and articulating your contribution to the business is probably the best satisfaction.
Like this blog post? Download the Marketing ROI Metrics eBook or subscribe to our ROI in Marketing series.
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