Attribution Audit


A complete review of your channels, campaigns and marketing technology platforms to determine what's working, what's not, and how to improve them


Giving you insight to marketing ROI and actionable budgeting data

 

What is Attribution?

Attribution is the process of working out what activities result in traffic, leads, customers and revenue.

For example, attribution allows you to answer questions such as:

  • did our Google Ads spend result in good quality leads and customers?
  • did our Facebook advertising result in sales on our ecommerce store?
  • did our LinkedIn advertising result in repeat customers?
  • did our email marketing grow our revenue this quarter?
  • which campaign should we increase budget for?

Accurate attribution is crucial for giving you visibility into what's working for your business.

Sounds obvious right? Sadly, for many businesses, the tools for accurate attribution haven't been set up correctly, or maintained...

The Problem


Here's a really quick way to check if you have an attribution problem:

  • #1
    Go into your favourite analytics platform (eg Google Analytics, HubSpot Analytics) and check your Sources report (ie to view the traffic you get from each channel).
  • #2
    Look for the Direct traffic channel. If your direct traffic is a high proportion of your traffic, then you have an attribution problem.
Here's an example:

Example #1
In contrast, here's an example of a site with good attribution - notice how direct traffic is much lower:
Attribution problem example

Wait, what's Direct Traffic?


Not sure what Direct traffic is? Direct traffic is the 'source' that traffic gets assigned by analytics programs if they can't tell where the traffic has come from. ie it's 'unknown' traffic!

This is a big problem if you spend a lot of money on paid advertising, but can't report on it accurately. We've worked with businesses who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Retargeting & YouTube Ads, but can't tell what results they return.

If you can't analyse to see what's working, you can't make informed decisions about where to allocate budget.

The Solution


Our 6 Step Attribution Audit process gives you clarity on your attribution issues and how to fix them.

Stage 1: Check Setup of Tools
Stage 1:
Check Setup of Tools
Stage 2: Review Reports
Stage 2:
Review Reports
Stage 3: Highlight Issues
Stage 3:
Highlight Issues
xen-hubspot-attribution-audit-solution-stage-4
Stage 4:
Fix Issues
Stage 5: Review Reports Again
Stage 5:
Review Reports Again
Stage 6: Setup Dashboards
Stage 6:
Setup Dashboards

The Attribution Audit is ideal for mid-large companies who have been spending money on paid campaigns for more than 6 months.

It is ideal as a regular review as well (eg annually).

Note: This is not designed for new websites

Why Organise an Attribution Audit?

If you've been using paid channels (eg Facebook & Instagram ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn, Remarketing platforms) for a while, you should accumulated a good set of data to analyse for insights and decision making. But if you can't accurately view the channels and which campaign in each has driven results, then you have an attribution problem.

It's time to review your setup and ensure your attribution reporting is accurate and actionable.

We review your marketing technology stack, work with your teams and suppliers and analyse results to determine issues and recommend fixes.

Who is the Attribution Audit ideal for?

  • Mid-large companies

  • Who have been using a range of channels (including paid and email) for more than 6 months

  • Who feel that they are not seeing accurate reporting of attribution of results

Attribution Audit Scope


We highly value our customer relationships and we do our best to make sure you're happy with the work we do. We find it helps to make sure we are both on the same page from the start about what's included and what's not to avoid any confusion later on.

Inclusions icon
Inclusions:

  • Initial discovery calls with you and your team(s) and suppliers to

    • understand the extent of your marketing technology and advertising platforms

    • understand how you report on sales and revenue

    • understand integrations with systems (eg SAP, NetSuite, HubSpot, Shopify)

  • Full review of your marketing channels across organic, social, paid, email and referral traffic

  • Grades against each area in the Attribution Audit Checklist

  • Highlighting of issues

  • Recommendations for improvement

  • Walkthrough of the findings and answers to any questions you have

  • Actionable checklist to help you start improving your attribution issues
Exclusions icon
Exclusions:

  • The Audit does not include implementation that requires coding development (eg integration flows with other systems). For example, if conversion data is stored in a system such as SAP, NetSuite or Adobe Commerce (aka Magento), this will require custom coding integration development - which isn't included in the Audit.

Attribution Areas Reviewed

Attribution Areas Reviewed

Pricing


Cost depends on your company size, number of channels and integrations (eg if sales and revenue data are in separate systems such as SAP, Adobe Commerce or NetSuite).

Please contact us for more details.

Benefits


You've been spending money to get results - and things can get overwhelming. You made a significant investment into Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads and more - make sure your dollars are driving a good return.

Our Attribution Audit service has helped clients to:

  • Uncover incorrect tracking of results

  • Highlight issues and assign priorities to fix them

  • Reduce wasted spend caused by a non-performing campaigns

  • Discover surprise channels that are working and can be expanded

  • Optimise channels to save time and money

  • Achieve better engagement with contacts and customers

  • Improve reporting processes and visibility

Frequently Asked Questions

 

XEN's knowledge of all things HubSpot and their ability to transform a complex project into some simple steps have been invaluable during our HubSpot journey so far. We have recommended and will continue to recommend XEN.
Peter Geale
Peter Geale
Firemate

If you'd like to discuss whether the Attribution Audit is a fit for your business, book a discovery call.

 

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