Where Marketing Attribution Falls Short and How to Get it Right

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With the CMO often considered the most precarious position in the C-Suite, marketing attribution is top of mind for everyone looking to really measure the impact of their marketing departments. And with good reason—new data shows that 60% of marketers face pressure to prove ROI. CMOs are under increased pressure to demonstrate their team’s ability to influence buyer cycles, so the importance of delivering strong insights is as important as ever before. But, it is critical that these insights are statistics that actually matter. The rise of statistics like “impressions” and “mindshare” that do not truly get at the actions driving sales further muddies the waters of what makes an important marketing statistic. It makes sense, then, that only 22% of marketers feel that their organization is using the right attribution model. A small improvement is the increasing emphasis on pipeline, but that does not always convert into sales.

Additionally, there are increasingly convoluted and complex ways to track lead quality. CMOs need to look elsewhere to prove real attribution. Specifically, alignment with sales and customer success, coupled with mid- and bottom-funnel marketing technology, will allow for more accurate and robust attribution. Phone Number List Aligning with sales Better and more consistent conversations with sellers will open up areas to pinpoint impact on revenue, sales acceleration, and close deals. Organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing departments see 36% higher customer retention and 38% higher sales win rates. Communication between marketing and sales will create an understanding for the marketing department of what content is making the biggest impact and truly leading to sales. This feedback will improve the content creation process and boost content ROI. You will better understand content effectiveness, or which content is actually moving deals through the sales cycle. While determining what content contributes to customer engagement can be tricky, the sales team will know directly from the customer what concepts and content are making the biggest impact. The biggest key is lead conversion.



This measures not just the quality of leads marketing is generating, but marketing’s ability to equip sales with everything they need to successfully interact with new leads. This allows marketing to hone in on the most effective messages and create the right campaigns around them. Aligning with customer success While sales alignment is critical, marketing efforts do not simply end when the ink dries on a deal. Increasingly, CMOs are being tapped to lead customer experience and customer success. Customer experience is the role that marketers have taken control over the most in the last 12 months. With customers being willing to pay more for a better experience, the reasoning for this is obvious. And when CMOs are leading customer experience, they are expected to deliver results. There are a few metrics that can prove value in customer success. First, marketing should be creating new customer advocates. Marketing’s efforts on improving the customer experience should lead to new fans and endorsers of your brand. Second, new customer content should be a breeze with a strong customer success & marketing alignment.