Attribution is a treasure map

Popular opinion: 

Attribution is just a means for proving ROI.

Unpopular opinion:

Attribution is a treasure map revealing all the steps that turn someone into a loyal customer.

OK, let’s talk attribution — even if most attribution conversations are about as welcome as the aliens in that one Indiana Jones movie we don’t talk about. While many view attribution as a mere ROI calculator, intrepid marketers like Obaid Durrani see it as a treasure map. Only on this map, just like an Indiana Jones movie, the journey — the one that transforms a curious browser into a raving fan — is far more important than the destination.

So, strap on your explorer hat (maybe use some glue, too — you don’t want to lose it fleeing from a giant, perfectly spherical boulder) and let’s talk about that journey.

Our take:

ROI may be the precious artifact at the end of the adventure, but the attribution map guiding us there holds all the hidden gems along the way. Each touchpoint is a stepping stone in the customer's perilous trek towards conversion — and if you’re not paying attention, you’re customers will step on the ones that trigger the poison dart barrage or the spiky walls that close in on them. Even without the unnecessary spikes, these booby traps lose you a customer, — and if you only care about ROI, you’re missing out on some of the most important information you can glean about customers.

You MUST to navigate the maze of moments — social media, emails, blog posts — each playing a crucial role in the grand saga of customer conversion.

The right attribution models can become your trusty sidekick — like Shortround, not Shia — helping identify every moment that makes a customer. They're not magical crystal balls (or, god-forbid, crystal skulls), but they can guide us. We just need wits beyond a one-dimensional ROI lens to interpret the signals. We can use them to piece together the puzzle of customer behavior, how they unlock the next door in their journey — and which ones lead to rooms full of snakes, nazis or nazi snakes (the worst kind) vs those housing holy grails.

Marketers need to embrace the grand attribution quest. That’s how you uncover all the secret paths that lead potential customers to El Dorado. No single step makes a customer; every one matters in the buyer’s journey.

Your turn:

Is attribution about more than ROI?

What attribution models are best for mapping the whole journey?

Aliens? Seriously, aliens?