A Buyer’s Guide to Cross-Device Measurement Solutions
UK
Introduction Summary
As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, so do the shopping habits of consumers. Today’s shoppers are tech savvy and move from one device to another on the way to a conversion. If the goal is to provide a seamless experience across all screens, brands must have a clear understanding of their clients’ multi-device consumption.
Shopping for a solution To truly understand consumer behavior, you need to identify the role different devices play in the user journey. To effectively do this, we have compiled a guide of things to consider when choosing a cross-device measurement solution. 1. Look for any joins you already have 2. Look for ways to enhance the data 3. If you can’t find them, buy them 4. Use deterministic data to give you confidence about your probabilistic approach 5. Use the data to take action
1
LOOK FOR ANY JOINS YOU ALREADY HAVE
The first step to understanding the customer journey is to look inwards to see what first party data you already have. It is likely that you will have joined data within your organisation including: • Your customer database • Email newsletter database • Webinar registrations Whatever solution you go with, you should be able to integrate this data and build from there.
2
LOOK FOR WAYS TO ENHANCE THE DATA
Work with your measurement provider to add to your current data set. Your solution should allow for importing any first party data where a user provides something that is consistent across devices like an email address, customer id or login.
Personally identifiable information (PII) data must be hashed and encrypted to safeguard users’ privacy at all times. Your provider should be able to create deterministic joins based on first party data collected and joined by user IDs. Keep in mind, you are not going to get every match right--no data is 100% accurate. There are circumstances that make the data less accurate, such as when multiple people use the same machine or when households share an email address.
3
IF YOU CAN’T FIND THEM, BUY THEM
Your data can only get you so far. Whether your provider buys the data or creates it themselves, this is where probabilistic joining comes in. Probabilistic identification involves fingerprinting devices using a variety of attributes, such as: • The number of cookies stored • Device IDs • Public data such as IP addresses • Behavioural data, including the movement of device geographically across time All of these factors are combined to connect disparate devices to the same user.
4
USE DETERMINISTIC DATA TO GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE ABOUT YOUR PROBABILISTIC APPROACH
The ‘accurate’ deterministic data can be used to validate the joins made by the probabilistic approach. FOR EXAMPLE: We have a user who’s identified himself on two devices – has the probabilistic data also matched the same devices, or is it saying something completely different; then repeat this process as required.
Now that you have done the work to create the joins, you can look at all of your marketing and use the insights to enhance performance.
5
USE THE DATA TO TAKE ACTION
A smarter abandoned basket campaign Cross-device data can be utilised to improve marketing effectiveness and efficiency in many ways. Many brands are challenged with understanding user behaviour, such as when a customer adds items to an online basket but does not place an order. The problem arises when customers are targeted with email reminders based on basket abandonment on a single device. This strategy does not take into consideration real user behaviour – shopping and browsing on tablet or mobile, but making a purchase on desktop, or vice versa. Without a view across devices marketers are unable to see if people have actually converted, and ultimately this can result in a poor experience.
Summary To be successful at targeting users who have left items in their online basket, you need to understand all the devices in a user journey. By using this insight, brands can make their emails more effective to ensure they don’t retarget customers with products they have already bought.
Are you ready to choose the right cross-device measurement solution?
Rakuten Attribution arms digital businesses with performance measurement tools, analysis and reporting, powering great decisions and driving success. rakutenmarketing.co.uk/attribution rm-salesuk@mail.rakuten.com +44 1273 807272