It's the Same Funnel, Online and Off

There is such a thing as an online sales funnel. Advertising networks and portals, as well as rich and social media platforms, have a wide reach that builds brand awareness. While search marketing tends to be the deal-closing step in the sales funnel, it's still just one step. There is no accounting for the interest and awareness building accomplished by the rest of the assets in the Internet marketing campaign.

Advanced Attribution - Spread The Love

Let's not forget that people usually conduct multiple searches and make many clicks to an e-commerce Web site before actually transacting a purchase. We all know the last click is not the whole picture. If it were, we'd all just bid on our branded key phrases and go home.

The Microsoft Atlas Institute developed Engagement Mapping technology, a model that evaluates the effectiveness of every touch point in the Internet marketing campaign, not just the last. What Engagement Mapping studies has revealed is that clicks don't trump views. A large portion of sponsored search ad clickers have seen a display ad before they clicked.

In part three3 of this series, we'll look at the whole picture and how best to analyze it when tracking results.