The adage of “giving credit where credit is due” is, generally, good life advice. It’s always nice to acknowledge someone or something that provided an idea, inspiration or implementation.
This also applies to your company’s marketing efforts, of course. You want to acknowledge which ad campaign or platform is providing the best ROI on your marketing spend. In fact, with the rise of CRMs in the home services space, you could argue the desire to get a clear and precise dollar-in, dollar-out ROI has never been higher.
So how do you know where to give credit for your marketing efforts? At Leadhub, we’ve found that It’s not quite as cut and dry as it might seem. At the core of this argument are two competing positions – the rule of seven and last-click attribution.
The Rule Of Seven
The rule of seven is the age-old marketing theory that it takes seven interactions with your business, on average, before someone becomes a customer. These interactions include everything from watching a TV spot to seeing a social media post to driving past a billboard.
In theory, these interactions make a lot of sense. You may drive by a billboard every single day on your way to work, but it’s not until you see an ad on Google that you convert to the company’s website. You may see social media ads or organic content, but it’s not until you see a commercial on your streaming platform that you think to use their services.
The accumulation of familiarity with the brand ultimately converts customers into a lead. But relying on this method alone leaves out the precision of dollar-to-dollar ROI reporting.
Last-Click Attribution
These days, many home service companies are putting all their eggs in the basket of last-click attribution. This measurement gives 100% credit to the last touchpoint a new customer had with the business before making their decision.
To demonstrate the difference, here's a hypothetical, yet common, scenario in the home services field.
For years, a plumbing company has invested money in billboards on the main highway in town. They regularly run ads on the local TV newscast and during the most popular morning-drive radio show. They sponsor a Little League baseball team and the local rodeo. They also run retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram.
If a homeowner books a service appointment through one of those Facebook ads, the Facebook campaign receives all the credit using last-click attribution as the sole source of measurement. It completely ignores the months or years the company spent building brand equity in the market.
Is it possible the Facebook ad was the first time the business had an interaction with the homeowner? It’s possible, sure. It’s way more likely, though, that the homeowner already felt like he or she knew the business and maybe even visited their website. The Facebook ad was simply the last push needed to make that decision.
Which Attribution Model Is Best?
Don’t get us wrong, last-click attribution is important to measure. It's crucial for marketing agencies to provide insights into the effectiveness of their campaigns.
At Leadhub, we leverage CRMs like ServiceTitan to accurately track last-click attribution, but that model isn’t the only way we measure success. We use both last-click attribution AND the rule of seven for the most comprehensive view of the client’s presence.
When managing a company’s marketing spend, Leadhub can see the entire picture and help paint it vividly for our clients. With our three KPIs – cost per lead, number of leads and revenue – the goal is to simultaneously give our clients attribution on a campaign level while also reinforcing the value of brand equity within your market.
Attribution Transparency For Home Services
When you’re looking for marketing expertise that makes an impact, work with professionals that use multiple methods for the most accurate data. Make sure your home service company has the right marketing partner. Ready to learn more about Leadhub? Schedule a free discovery call today.
