I know you really want to know the ROI on your digital marketing efforts, but there’s one thing you must not forget.
Attribution is a complicated thing, especially in a world that is becoming more private.
If a person searched for a service/product like yours on Google > your ad appeared > she clicked > visited your website > didn’t convert 1st time around (which is almost always the case) does that mean that your Google Search ads don’t work?
A while later she scrolled Instagram and saw your content again, sent a DM and gave her contact details there. Does that mean that Instagram’s better than Google or that Google was the driver to what will happen on Instagram?
And then if she just showed up in your showroom and said a friend recommended your business (but actually she just asked a friend after interacting with you on Google and Instagram) – does that mean that both platforms are bad and word of mouth is all that counts?
Your job is to understand if your overall efforts make people think and then choose you as the solution when they need it, not if $1 made you at least $1.01 in the reports.
You most certainly should ask people how they heard about your business, analyze your activity periodically and generally – always strive to do better online marketing, but you definitely shouldn’t obsess about that cent of a dollar – in the long term, it will lead you in the wrong direction.
