Attribution and Reporting

Marketing Operations: Attribution and Reporting 📊

The Detective Story of Marketing

Imagine you’re a detective 🕵️ trying to solve a mystery. A customer just bought a delicious cookie from your bakery. But wait—how did they find out about your cookies?

• Did they see a poster on the street?
• Did a friend tell them?
• Did they see an ad on their phone?

This is exactly what marketing attribution is about! It’s like being a detective who figures out which clues (marketing efforts) led someone to buy your product.

🎯 KPI Definition: Your Report Card for Marketing

What is a KPI?

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. Think of it like the grades on your report card at school!

Just like your report card shows:

• 📚 How well you did in Math
• 🎨 How well you did in Art
• 🏃 How well you did in Sports

A marketing KPI shows:

• 👀 How many people saw your ad
• 🖱️ How many clicked on it
• 💰 How many bought something

Simple Example

Let’s say you have a lemonade stand:

The KEY idea: Pick numbers that really matter. Don’t count everything—count what helps you sell more lemonade!

💰 Marketing ROI Metrics: Did We Make Money?

What is ROI?

ROI = Return On Investment

Think of it like this: If you give your friend 1 cookie, and they give you back 3 cookies—that’s a great return! 🍪➡️🍪🍪🍪

The Simple ROI Formula

ROI = (Money You Made - Money You Spent) ÷ Money You Spent × 100

Real Example

The Lemonade Stand Story:

You spent $10 on lemons, sugar, and cups. You made $30 selling lemonade.

ROI = ($30 - $10) ÷ $10 × 100
ROI = $20 ÷ $10 × 100
ROI = 200%

200% ROI means: For every $1 you spent, you got $2 back! 🎉

Key Marketing ROI Metrics

🔗 UTM Parameters: Name Tags for Your Links

What are UTM Parameters?

Imagine you’re throwing a birthday party and you have 5 different invitation methods:

• 📧 Email invites
• 📱 Text messages
• 📘 Facebook posts
• 🐦 Twitter posts
• 📝 Paper invites

When guests arrive, how do you know which invite brought them?

UTM parameters are like putting different colored stickers on each invitation type!

The 5 UTM Building Blocks

https://yoursite.com/page?
  utm_source=facebook
  &utm_medium=social
  &utm_campaign=summer_sale
  &utm_term=running_shoes
  &utm_content=blue_button

Example in Real Life

Your bakery runs a summer cookie sale:

Facebook ad link:

bakery.com/cookies?
  utm_source=facebook
  &utm_medium=paid_social
  &utm_campaign=summer_cookies

Email newsletter link:

bakery.com/cookies?
  utm_source=newsletter
  &utm_medium=email
  &utm_campaign=summer_cookies

Now when someone buys cookies, you know exactly which link brought them! 🍪

📍 Campaign Tracking: Following the Breadcrumbs

What is Campaign Tracking?

Remember the story of Hansel and Gretel? They left breadcrumbs to find their way back home.

Campaign tracking is like leaving digital breadcrumbs so you can see the path your customers took!

graph TD
    A["🎯 Your Ad"] --> B["👀 Person Sees Ad"]
    B --> C["🖱️ Person Clicks"]
    C --> D["🌐 Visits Website"]
    D --> E["🛒 Adds to Cart"]
    E --> F["💳 Makes Purchase"]

What You Can Track

Simple Example

Your Instagram Cookie Campaign:

• 1,000 people saw the ad (impressions)
• 100 people clicked (10% click rate)
• 20 people bought cookies (20% conversion)
• Total sales: $200

Now you know: Instagram brings cookie lovers! 🎉

🏆 Attribution Reporting: Who Gets the Credit?

The Soccer Goal Problem

Imagine a soccer game:

1. Player A passes to Player B
2. Player B passes to Player C
3. Player C scores the GOAL! ⚽

Question: Who should get credit for the goal?

• Only Player C who kicked it in?
• Or all three players who helped?

This is attribution reporting! It decides which marketing “players” get credit for a sale.

Types of Attribution

graph TD
    A["Attribution Models"] --> B["First Touch"]
    A --> C["Last Touch"]
    A --> D["Multi-Touch"]
    B --> E["Credit goes to<br>FIRST interaction"]
    C --> F["Credit goes to<br>LAST interaction"]
    D --> G["Credit SHARED<br>among all"]

Simple Example

Emma’s Cookie Journey:

1. Monday: Saw Facebook ad (first touch)
2. Wednesday: Got email newsletter
3. Friday: Clicked Google ad
4. Saturday: Bought cookies! (last touch)

🤝 Multi-Touch Attribution: Everyone Gets a Trophy!

Why Multi-Touch Matters

Remember our soccer goal? In real life, goals happen because of teamwork.

Multi-touch attribution is like giving credit to the whole team, not just the goal scorer!

Common Multi-Touch Models

Visual Example: Position-Based Model

graph LR
    A["Facebook Ad<br>40% Credit"] --> B["Email<br>10% Credit"]
    B --> C["Blog Post<br>10% Credit"]
    C --> D["Google Ad<br>40% Credit"]
    D --> E["💰 Purchase!"]

Real-World Example

Tom buys running shoes ($100 sale):

His journey:

1. Instagram ad → First touch
2. YouTube video
3. Email newsletter
4. Google search → Last touch

Position-based credit:

• Instagram: $40 (40%)
• YouTube: $10 (10%)
• Email: $10 (10%)
• Google: $40 (40%)

Now marketing knows: Instagram AND Google are superstars! 🌟

📋 Custom Reports: Your Personal Scoreboard

What are Custom Reports?

Imagine you’re a coach. You don’t want to see EVERYTHING about every player. You want to see:

• Your team’s goals
• Your team’s assists
• Your team’s wins

Custom reports let you build your own scoreboard with only the numbers that matter to YOU!

Building Your Custom Report

Step 1: Pick your dimensions (the “what”)

• Which channel?
• Which campaign?
• Which date?

Step 2: Pick your metrics (the “how much”)

• How many clicks?
• How much revenue?
• What conversion rate?

Example Custom Report

“Weekly Email Performance Report”

Insight: Week 2 was our best week! What made it special? 🤔

📊 Marketing Dashboards: Your Control Center

What is a Dashboard?

Think of an airplane cockpit. The pilot doesn’t read a book to fly—they look at a dashboard with all the important information at a glance!

A marketing dashboard is YOUR cockpit for seeing all your important numbers in one place.

Dashboard Must-Haves

graph TD
    A["Marketing Dashboard"] --> B["📈 Traffic"]
    A --> C["💰 Revenue"]
    A --> D["🎯 Conversions"]
    A --> E["📊 Channel Performance"]
    B --> F["Where visitors<br>come from"]
    C --> G["Money made<br>this period"]
    D --> H["Goals<br>completed"]
    E --> I["Which channels<br>work best"]

Example Dashboard Layout

Your Bakery Dashboard:

Top Traffic Sources:

1. 🔍 Google Search: 40%
2. 📘 Facebook: 30%
3. 📧 Email: 20%
4. 🔗 Direct: 10%

Why Dashboards are Amazing

• ⚡ Fast: See everything in seconds
• 🎯 Focused: Only important stuff
• 📱 Accessible: Check on your phone
• 🔄 Real-time: Always up-to-date

🎯 Putting It All Together

The Complete Picture

graph TD
    A["1. Set KPIs<br>What to measure"] --> B["2. Add UTM Tags<br>Label your links"]
    B --> C["3. Track Campaigns<br>Follow the journey"]
    C --> D["4. Attribute Credit<br>Who helped the sale"]
    D --> E["5. Build Reports<br>Custom insights"]
    E --> F["6. View Dashboard<br>All in one place"]
    F --> G["7. Improve & Repeat!<br>Get better results"]

Your Marketing Detective Toolkit

🌟 Key Takeaways

1. KPIs are your report card — Pick 3-5 numbers that REALLY matter

2. ROI tells you if you’re winning — Money out vs. money in

3. UTM parameters are name tags — Label every link so you know where people came from

4. Campaign tracking is breadcrumbs — Follow the path from ad to purchase

5. Attribution gives credit fairly — First touch? Last touch? Or share it?

6. Custom reports answer YOUR questions — Build what you need

7. Dashboards are your cockpit — See everything important at a glance

🎉 You Did It!

You now understand how marketing detectives track, measure, and improve their campaigns!

Remember: Good marketers don’t guess—they measure! 📊

Every click, every view, every purchase tells a story. Your job is to listen to that story and use it to make smarter decisions.

Happy tracking! 🚀