GroupM and Lifesight launch online to offline attribution playbook

GroupM India and Lifesight, a location intelligence platform and data company, have co-created a playbook answering key questions advertising clients have on online to offline attribution and outlining ways in which marketers can use intelligence on consumers’ online behaviours to impact offline sales. This is the first-of-its-kind attribution study in India that examines the conversion of online ads into offline sales.

Given that large populations of consumers and businesses are still operating out of physical stores and the fact that India has also witnessed e-commerce brands moving into offline spaces, it is critical to have data to help marketers connect the dots and uncover insights on how offline consumer behaviour is impacted by online advertising.

GroupM understands that a new-age consumer’s buying journeys are blended and multi-channel. Customers switch quickly and continuously between online and offline realms. Hence, considering behaviours, patterns and journeys are crucial, not just in contextual and personalised advertising but also marketing measurements.

Tushar Vyas

Tushar Vyas, President, Growth and Transformation, GroupM South Asia, says, “The importance of omnichannel strategies has grown exponentially, and the lines between online and offline have begun to blur. Given that the consumer journey between online and offline is becoming seamless, it is critical to have the right technology to manage location data and location-based attribution models to provide better insights to clients.”

Marketing attribution is the science of crediting marketing touchpoints with consumers for actions they take after exposure — and consequently allocating advertising budgets according to performance. GroupM and Lifesight have identified six different attribution models for accurate footfall attribution: first touch, last touch, position-based, linear-based, time decay and data-driven.

Vyas added, “For a marketer to understand what’s working in their campaigns, it is important to attribute the right conversion to its apt source. At GroupM, we understand the constant need to create, invent and reinvent the right measurement frameworks to help our clients address their business problems.” 

In 300+ campaigns run through Lifesight, with over 200 brands, there were remarkable insights discovered:

1. The average cost to drive in consumer footfall is the most for Consumer Durables and the Auto sector and the least for Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and Fashion.
2. Offline attribution works best for Auto and QSR since most people would visit a physical store.
3. The Retail sector takes the least time (2-3 days) to drive a walk-in from exposure. On average, it takes approximately 6-9 days across verticals to drive store walk-ins.
4. 70% of the initial walk-ins to physical stores happen within the first 8 exposures. Retail takes the least number of exposures while fashion requires the most.

Tobin Thomas, Co-founder and CEO of Lifesight, says, “Marketers today have unlimited options for building, targeting and delivering a campaign. But even with all these options, one question remains — is my advertising working? With a large number of channels to choose from, it’s imperative to understand how each campaign component performed comparatively. As a result, location attribution has emerged as a powerful solution to stitch together channel, audience, and platform signals to understand reactions to online advertising in the real world.

"Lifesight is leading efforts to take campaign success metrics beyond the click. We are excited that leading a marketing powerhouse like GroupM have joined us at the forefront of online-to-offline attribution,” Thomas added.

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