Sam Redfern - Canva's shift from digital attribution to world-class model - Part 3
Aug 8, 2024
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Sam Redfern, a key innovator at Canva, shares insights on transforming marketing measurement. He delves into the shift from traditional digital attribution to advanced multi-touch models, emphasizing team collaboration. The discussion covers navigating complexities in evaluating ad performance and the principal-agent problem in market investments. Redfern also highlights Canva's implementation of marketing mix modeling, pointing out the challenges of data quality and the need for continuous model adjustments in today's evolving landscape. Practical tips for all business sizes are included!
The transition from last-touch attribution to nuanced measurement models requires understanding multi-dimensional customer behavior and collaboration across departments.
A culture of experimentation and reliance on quality data is crucial for optimizing marketing effectiveness and refining measurement strategies amidst evolving market conditions.
Deep dives
Challenges of Brand Measurement
Brand marketing faces significant challenges in measurement, especially in a digital landscape that has evolved away from traditional methods. The limitations of third-party cookies have hindered accurate representation of brand impact, leading to the assertion that despite advancements, there remains a gap in how brand effectiveness is evaluated. This gap is complicated further by internal organizational dynamics, where different teams vie for credit regarding conversion paths, making it difficult to establish a unified strategy for measuring brand performance. Understanding that customer behavior is often multi-dimensional is crucial, as it requires collaboration across departments to reconcile various touchpoints into a coherent marketing strategy.
Transitioning from Attribution Models
The discussion highlights the transition from last-touch attribution to more nuanced models that encompass multiple consumer interactions. The speaker shares concrete experiences from working at Insurance Australia Group, where they developed a statistical model to trace the paths of customers who engaged with both online and offline channels. This development showcased the complexities of customer behavior, revealing that many consumers first gather quotes online before making a purchase over the phone. Such insights demonstrate the need for businesses to adapt their measurement strategies to account for varying customer journeys rather than relying solely on last-touch models.
Establishing a Culture of Experimentation
A culture of experimentation is essential for refining marketing effectiveness and decision-making processes within organizations like Canva. By instilling this practice, the team sought to measure the true incrementality of marketing spends rather than blindly following outdated attribution models. Creating an internal system for ad experimentation enabled them to focus on causality and optimize ad spend based on actual performance metrics, leading to more informed budgeting decisions. This focus on continuous testing and adjustment allows businesses to better navigate the unpredictable nature of media investments and discern effective strategies amidst changing market conditions.
The Importance of Data Quality and Adaptation
Quality data serves as the foundation for effective marketing models, especially as businesses implement marketing mix modeling (MMM) to evaluate investments. The speaker emphasizes that even the best models are only as effective as the data fed into them, highlighting how inaccuracies can lead to misguided strategies. Continuous recalibration of models is necessary due to the dynamic nature of media performance and market interactions, ensuring that insights remain relevant and actionable. As businesses strive for precision in their marketing efforts, investing in reliable data sources and adapting models to the evolving landscape become imperative for sustained success.
Brain Hurt Scale = 6/10 - full episode featuring San Redfern from Canva who details how the company transitioned from a digital marketing attribution mindset into something far more world-leading and sophisticated.
Where part 1 of the Digital Marketing Apocalypse series focused on the technical and legal changes that have occurred over time.
And part 2 uncovered the impact this has had on company's marketing.
Part 3 gives us a concrete example of how to successfully transition from the old way of measurement to the new way. Providing a great example of how teams should be measuring and operating. Including all the politics and subtle considerations you need to be aware of along the way.
And yes I realize we all don't work for multi-billion dollar tech companies, but you'll pick up some very practical pointers from this episode which you can apply to any firm along the way.
So if you're thinking of also making the switch from staring at digital marketing dashboards and spreadsheets....have a listen
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