Learn About Attribution: Closed-Loop Analytics

Closed-loop analytics capabilities help companies gain a holistic view of their sales, service, business development, marketing, and community efforts, driving an understanding of their efforts for company growth. 

In this blog, we cover attribution topics such as tracking and sourcing. Subscribe now to learn about ROI attribution and tracking as well as which online platforms and plugins give you a clear picture.

ROI Tracking

According to Investopedia, you take the sales growth from that business or product line, subtract the marketing costs, and then divide it by the marketing cost. So, if sales grew by $1,000 and the marketing campaign cost $100, then the simple ROI is 900%. 

In Salesforce CRM, for marketing ROI, you could take the Marketing Cost subtract that from the Marketing Value, and then divide it by the Cost. 

MROI = (Marketing Value − Marketing Cost) / Marketing Cost. 

How can I calculate the ROI for my campaigns?

Salesforce provides comprehensive analytics for sales teams, allowing them to track and analyze key metrics such as pipeline health, win rates, deal size, and sales rep performance. This helps organizations gain insights into their sales processes and identify areas for improvement. LinkedIn uses closed-loop analytics to measure the effectiveness of its advertising campaigns. These analytics provide insights into how users interact with LinkedIn ads and measure the impact of ads on user actions. Hootsuite offers audience analytics to help businesses understand the demographics, interests, and behaviors of their social media followers. This information enables businesses to tailor their social media content and campaigns to better resonate with their target audience.

SalesForce CRM’s Campaign ROI Analysis Report is located on the Reports tab in the Campaign Reports folder. It calculates campaigns’ performance by return on investment (ROI) and average cost. One key benefit of campaigns is the ability to track how much business has been generated from each campaign. For each campaign in the report:

• ROI, which is expressed as a percentage, is calculated as the net gain (Value Won Opportunities in Campaign – Actual Cost) divided by the Actual Cost.
• Value Won Opportunities in the Campaign is the calculated amount of all closed or won opportunities where the campaign is the Primary Campaign Source on the opportunity.

In Zoho CRM, the Ruler outlines session times and page views, determining the keywords that led them there, and even identifying the landing page they ended up on. Marketing source variables are sent straight to your Zoho campaigns, including your visitors’ first and last click touch points. If a lead or contact is linked to multiple campaigns, the campaign with which he or she is most recently associated is inserted into the opportunity Primary Campaign Source field. The Opportunities list on a campaign shows every opportunity that is linked to that campaign. You can also run the Campaign Revenue Report to track which opportunities are linked to your campaigns.

Companies use closed-loop analytics in several ways to improve their business operations and customer experience. 

For example, ​​Amazon utilizes closed-loop analytics to personalize and improve its product recommendation engine. It analyzes customer browsing and purchase behavior, combining it with machine learning algorithms to make accurate recommendations. The system then loopbacks by tracking customer response to these recommendations, refining and updating them over time.

Lead Source Tracking

Closed-loop analytics is used for lead source tracking by connecting and tracking the entire journey of a lead from their initial interaction with a marketing channel to their final conversion as a customer.

Here is how closed-loop analytics is used for lead source tracking:

1. Lead Identification: Closed-loop analytics allows marketers to identify and track individual leads across various marketing channels. Each lead is assigned a unique identifier, such as a cookie or a tracking code, which helps to link their actions and behaviors with the specific marketing sources they came from.
2. Source Attribution: By using closed-loop analytics, marketers can accurately attribute the source that led a lead to their website or landing page. It tracks which marketing channels the leads interact with before converting, such as organic search, paid search, social media, email marketing, etc.
3. Conversion Tracking: Closed-loop analytics closely monitors and tracks the actions taken by leads after their initial interaction. It can track if a lead completes a desired action, like filling out a form, downloading a whitepaper, or making a purchase. This data can help marketers understand which marketing sources are generating the most qualified leads and driving conversions.
4. Data Analysis: Closed-loop analytics collects and analyzes data on lead behavior, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs. Marketers can use these insights to optimize their marketing spend, allocate budgets to the most effective channels, and make data-driven decisions to improve lead generation and conversion rates.
5. ROI Calculation: Closed-loop analytics enables marketers to calculate the return on investment (ROI) for each lead source. By comparing the revenue generated from each marketing channel with the associated marketing costs, marketers can determine the most cost-effective channels and allocate their resources accordingly.
6. Continuous Improvement: In a closed-loop system, the insights gained from lead source tracking are used to continuously refine and optimize marketing strategies. By identifying the most effective lead sources, marketers can focus their efforts on those channels, tailor their messaging, and improve targeting to attract more qualified leads.

In summary, closed-loop analytics allows marketers to connect lead sources with conversions, providing valuable data for optimizing marketing efforts and improving lead generation and conversion rates.

Phone Call Tracking and Sourcing

It involves tracking and analyzing phone calls from various marketing channels to identify the sources that are driving phone call conversions.

By using closed analytics for phone call tracking and sourcing, companies can determine which marketing channels, campaigns, keywords, or ads are generating more phone calls and leading to conversions. This information helps them allocate their marketing budgets more effectively and make data-driven decisions.

Various companies utilize closed analytics for phone call tracking and sourcing, including:

• B2C and B2B businesses: Companies across various industries leverage closed analytics to track phone call leads and understand which marketing efforts are driving conversions.
• Digital marketing agencies: Agencies offering marketing services employ closed analytics to measure campaign performance and optimize their strategies for their clients.
• Call tracking software providers: Companies specializing in call tracking and analytics, such as CallRail, Marchex, DialogTech, Invoca, and many others, offer closed analytics solutions that are specifically designed for phone call tracking and sourcing.
• Lead generation companies: Organizations that generate leads for clients often use closed analytics to provide insights into the lead sources and optimize their lead generation strategies accordingly.

It is worth mentioning that while closed analytics is a commonly used practice for phone call tracking and sourcing, the specific companies and industries that utilize it can vary.

Customer Feedback and Reviews

Companies leverage closed-loop analytics to gather customer feedback and product reviews. It allows customers to rate and provide comments on the products they purchase. This continuous feedback loop helps companies identify trends, customer preferences, and areas for improvement. It is important to take prompt actions based on the feedback received, ensuring a better customer experience.

Inventory Management

Closed-loop analytics is crucial for e-commerce inventory management. By analyzing customer demand, purchase history, and trends, e-commerce companies optimize their inventory to ensure adequate stock availability while reducing excess inventory. This helps in minimizing costs, improving fulfillment speed, and avoiding out-of-stock situations. In this way, the promotions that go out from the marketing teams would be aligned to the inventory available. 

Content tracking 

Closed-loop analytics is a commonly used approach in measuring content effectiveness and lead tracking. It involves analyzing data throughout the sales and marketing processes to help understand the impact of content on lead generation, nurturing, and conversion. While many research firms may utilize closed-loop analytics as part of their methodologies or recommend it to their clients, it is best to refer to the individual firms’ documentation, case studies, or communication channels to get the most accurate and up-to-date information on their specific practices.

Supply Chain Optimization

Closed-loop analytics helps supply chain organizations optimize their supply chain operations. By analyzing historical data, demand patterns, delivery timelines, and transportation costs, these companies identify opportunities for efficiency improvements. This enables them to refine their supply chain processes, reduce costs, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Fraud Detection

Companies often utilize closed-loop analytics to detect and prevent fraudulent activities on their e-commerce platforms. By analyzing customer behavior, purchase patterns, and transactional data, they develop models that identify and flag potentially fraudulent activities. When a suspicious transaction occurs, it closes the loop by investigating and confirming the validity of the activity.

Overall, closed-loop analytics allows innovative companies to create a continuous feedback loop between customer behaviors, system responses, and business improvements. The insights derived from this process help B2B companies make data-driven decisions, enhance their offerings, and provide a more personalized, seamless customer experience.

In this blog, we covered attribution topics such as tracking and sourcing. Subscribe now to learn about digital-first buyers and how to optimize landing pages.