Marketers have been applying science, specifically statistics and econometric modeling, for many decades now to answer the key question all advertisers face - how to allocate media budgets across channels to maximise overall return on advertising spend (ROAS) with a limited budget.

1. Media attribution:
Optimising digital marketing
spend in Financial Services
A multi touch attribution study on the role
of Facebook, display and search marketing
in Financial Services.

2. Executive summary
Marketers have been applying
science, specifically statistics and
econometric modeling, for many
decades now to answer the key
question all advertisers face - how
to allocate media budgets across
channels to maximise overall return
on advertising spend (ROAS) with a
limited budget.
Unfortunately, when it came to digital
marketing, the same rigor was not applied
due to a lack of reliable data as well as focus
from top executives.
02
Whilst the data has improved and digital is
now an indispensable part of any marketer’s
channel mix, many brands still rely on
inaccurate attribution methods.
The most prevalent, last-click attribution,
gives all conversion credit to the last
campaign touch point in the purchase
path thus ignoring the value of all other
digital advertising that contributed to the
conversion.
Unchallenged for many years, it has led to
an outdated and biased view of the digital
landscape.
Media attribution solves
the key question every
marketer faces - how to
split my media budget?
It delivers significant
ROI and can even
turn into a tangible
long-term competitive
advantage for brands.
“
”
Christian Bartens,
CEO, Datalicious
ACROSS 5 MONTHS
= ROAS
A N D 7 B R A N D S
104 million
75,000
P U R C H A S E PAT H S
C O N V E R S I O N S
The study summarizes the results of the analysis of:
This study seeks to understand the true
impact of digital channels for financial
services companies in Australia.
Using a multi-touch attribution approach, the
study summarizes the results of the analysis
of 702 million media touch points across
104 million purchase paths and 75 thousand
conversions across five months and seven
brands.
Compared to last-click, multi-touch attribution
uses logistic regression to assign custom
conversion credits to every campaign touch
point along the purchase path depending on
its relative importance in driving conversions
thus not undervaluing any particular
channels.
702
millionMEDIA TOUCH
POINTS

3. Executive summary
The key findings of the study are:
Facebook and display advertising are significantly undervalued and on
average deliver 830% more revenue than anticipated once measured
accurately with multi-touch attribution.
Given most advertisers have very mature search marketing programs
that offer little opportunities for additional incremental growth, display
advertising in general represents one of the most attractive growth
opportunities.
Facebook advertising in particular still holds significant growth potential
compared to other more established channels as it provides a high
average ROAS yet comparatively does not receive a lot of media spend.
While Facebook and display advertising do generate clicks, they are
not typical direct response channels, but instead indirectly influence
conversions and build awareness that is then captured further down the
purchase path by other channels such as search.
Search, whilst important in capturing awareness generated by display
advertising or other channels, is overvalued in the amount of impact it
has on the consumer purchase decision.
Accurate multi-touch measurement and the ability to exploit the resulting
media optimisation opportunities at scale holds tremendous potential for
advertisers to develop a strategic competitive edge, build market share
and deliver incremental growth.
03
TYPICAL CHANNEL ROAS COMPARED TO SHARE OF MEDIA SPEND
Typical share of spend
Typical ROAS
(Multi-touch
attribution
model)
LOW HIGH
HIGH
Display retargetting
Display Facebook
Other display
Paid search (SEM)
Contact us for actual ROAS dollar figures for a particular channel.

4. When switching from last-click to
multi-touch attribution, the revenue
credited to Facebook and display
advertising on average increased
by 830% while at the same time
the revenue credited to paid
search (SEM) and organic search
(SEO) remained fairly constant or
decreased slightly.
Search is the most common customer touch
point just prior to purchasing a financial
product online, which means the majority of
conversion credits are usually attributed to
search in a last-click attribution model.
However, in reality there are more channels
than just search involved in driving a
conversion. Specifically channels such as
display advertising that help consumers
realise a need by building awareness and
stimulating research, which ultimately result
in a search.
Given these channels occur further up
the purchase path and do not necessarily
generate clicks they are undervalued in an
attribution model that gives all credit to the
very last click.
04
Compared to last-click, the multi-touch
attribution used in this study uses semi-partial
correlation to assign custom conversion
credits to every campaign touch point along
the purchase path depending on its relative
importance in driving conversions thus not
undervaluing any particular channels.
Once an accurate multi-touch approach
is implemented it shows a clear shift in
conversion credit and revenue attribution
between channels whilst the overall revenue
generated by all digital channels remains
constant.
Paid search (SEM) can no longer claim credit
for most of the generated revenue and has
to start sharing with other channels such as
display that previously were not able to claim
revenue due to an inaccurate measurement
approach.
Display retargeting as a channel performs
exceptionally well as expected given
consumers have to have shown a previous
intent to purchase by visiting the advertisers
website in order to be included in retargeting
campaigns.
Key study finding #1:
Display advertising is undervalued
in a last-click attribution model
SWING IN REVENUE BY CHANNEL
WHEN SWITCHING FROM LAST-CLICK TO MULTI-TOUCH ATTRIBUTION
DISPLAY RETARGETTING
DISPLAY FACEBOOK
OTHER DISPLAY
PAID SEARCH (SEM)
DIRECT
OTHER REFERRALS
ORGANIC SEARCH (SEO)
EMAIL
% change in revenue
multi-touch attribution vs last-click attribution
2371%*
911%*
749%*
830% average
}3%
2%
-3%
-10%
-25%
* Note: The percentage increase for display channels is so significant because these channels basically did not receive any credit at all in
last-click based attribution model hence the swing compares the new (multi-touch) figures to a very low (last-click) base.

5. 05
Key study finding #2:
Facebook and display advertising boost
searches and conversions
CONVERSION RATE UPLIFT
FROM MULTIPLE DISPLAY AD IMPRESSIONS
FACEBOOK AND DISPLAY AD CLICK RESPONSES
COMPARED TO SEARCH RESPONSES
Uplift in
conversion
rate
Facebook Other display
7.16
7.18
While Facebook and display
advertising do generate clicks,
they are not typical direct response
channels, but instead indirectly
influence conversions and build
awareness that is then captured
further down the purchase path by
other channels such as search.
It is impossible to prove with statistical
certainty whether display advertising leads
to searches, however while comparing
thousands of converting and non-converting
purchase paths across millions of campaign
touch points, we have found some very
strong circumstantial evidence that that is
indeed the case.
If Facebook and display advertising were
similar to search and had no significant
impact aside from generating clicks, then we
should not be able to observe a connection
between increasing number of ad
impressions (without clicks) and an increase
in conversion rate.
However, the study shows that for both
Facebook and display advertising, the more
ad impressions (without leading to clicks)
consumers are exposed to the more likely
they are to convert – over 7x more likely in
fact.
Once we accept that display advertising
does not only generate clicks but also
indirectly increases conversions and thus
searches which are the most common touch
point just prior to converting online, then we
can argue that display ads lead to 9x more
search responses than clicks alone.
Apart from the obvious consequences for
revenue attribution, this also has significant
impact on creative optimisation, as the
standard ad click-through rate alone cannot
be considered a strong enough metric any
more to evaluate creative performance.
Display preceding
( leading to) search
9.44x
Display
clicks only

6. 06
Key study finding #3:
Actioning multi-touch attribution insights
improves overall ROAS
Actioning multi-touch attribution
insights at scale holds tremendous
potential for advertisers to improve
ROAS across all channels and thus
to develop a strategic competitive
advantage, build market share and
deliver incremental growth.
The study not only gives considerable
insight into the true performance of digital
advertising channels for financial service
organisations, but also provides a basis for
renewed thinking in terms of digital strategy
and media planning.
While it is impossible to say exactly how
much the study participants will be able
increase their performance by actioning the
insights gained from this exercise, it is certain
that the impact will not be insignificant.
Any channel that is potentially undervalued
by over 900% in terms of revenue
contribution just because of faulty
measurement represents a significant
opportunity in times of shrinking marketing
budgets and constantly increasing
competitive pressure.
Both the earlier attribution model comparison
as well as the ROAS results by channel,
clearly demonstrate that display advertising is
undervalued in the financial service industry.
Facebook advertising in particular still
holds significant growth potential compared
to other more established channels as
it provides a high average ROAS yet
comparatively does not receive a lot of
media spend.
Display retargeting performs exceptionally
well as expected, however remains difficult
to scale given consumers must have
previously exhibited the intent to purchase.
In the end it is all about achieving the right
channel mix and multi-touch attribution helps
to identify the roles that different channels
play in the path to purchase which is
invaluable in developing an efficient, scalable
and profitable digital media strategy.
While search is efficient in capturing demand
it is not necessarily generating it, whereas
display advertising is a powerful tool to build
awareness, consideration and purchase
intent.
TYPICAL REVENUE SHARE AND SHARE OF AD SPEND
BY CHANNEL COMPARED TO ROAS
Typical ROAS (Multi-touch attribution model)
Bubble size indicates typical share of Ad spend
Typical
revenue share
(Multi-touch
attribution
model)
Paid search (SEM)
Other display Display Facebook
Display retargetting
Organic search (SEO)*
Direct (offline media / brand equity)*
Email*
Other referral*
* Note: The study participants did not provide costs or media spend figures for organic search (SEO), referrals or email so ROAS figures could
unfortunately not be calculated. The results of these channels are also likely heavily influenced by brand equity created elsewhere - most
likely through advertising in offline media channels that could not be measured as part of this study but tend to generate organic searches as
a response.
TYPICAL SHARE OF AD SPEND BY CHANNEL COMPARED TO ROAS
Typical share of spend
Typical
ROAS
(Multi-touch
attribution
model)
Display retargetting
Display facebook
Other display
Paid search (SEM)

7. Research partnership
07
About Datalicious
Datalicious is a full service analytics
agency providing client focused
solutions designed to scale with any
organisation.
From our beginnings as an analytics
consulting agency in Australia, Datalicious
has expanded globally through our growing
product and services divisions and help our
clients around achieve data driven marketing
best practice.
Datalicious is part of the Veda Group.
This research study was
commissioned by Facebook,
however all areas of the study were
ultimately designed, managed and
delivered by Datalicious.
Facebook had no involvement in the
data collection, development of the
multi-touch attribution methodology
or analysis and interpretation of the
results.
Facebook has not been provided
with the results of any individual
advertiser, publisher or search
engine provider.
It is fabulous to see
advertisers increasing their
sophistication in reviewing
the effectiveness of their
media spend. A recent
study conducted by IAB
Australia indicated that only
a quarter of buyers are
using multi-touch attribution
analysis and still put way
too much weight on last
click or clicks overall. This
study shows a positive
impact across the variety
of digital ad channels that
were used and will help
marketers start optimising
campaigns based on
creative exposure as well
as any direct interaction.
“
”
Gai Le Roy,
Head of Research, iAB.
Contact us to discuss how accurate multi touch attribution insights could benefit your organisation.

8. Research methodology
Media attribution: A scientific
approach to understanding ROAS
The Datalicious multi-touch attribution
approach uses semi-partial correlation to
compare converting and non-converting
paths in order to assign custom conversion
credits to every campaign touch point along
the purchase path depending on its relative
importance in driving conversions.
Simply speaking, channels that appear
more often in converting paths than to non-
converting paths receive a higher weight,
which in turn allows them to claim more
conversion credits and thus revenue. The
higher revenue attributed to these channels
then allows them to better offset the costs
associated with the channel leading to a
higher return on adverting spend (ROAS).
The figures presented in this study are
based on hundreds of millions of observed
data points and thus deliver a much more
accurate and scientific measure of true
attribution compared to the typical scenario
or econometric modeling based approaches
(which are usually based on significantly less
data points).
08
However, the study results are an average
across multiple clients in the financial service
industry and may vary for your own company
and vertical so we highly recommend you
implement your own multi-touch attribution
for the best possible results.
Furthermore, given there is hardly ever
a single solution to a problem simply
increasing Facebook or display advertising
spend is not going to be enough. Like
any other channel a successful campaign
strategy does not only depend overall
budget but also requires a good offer,
effective creative and ongoing test and
optimisation program.
Finally, even though paid search (SEM) is
likely overvalued that does not mean it does
not work and should be switched off. It simply
means the overall spend is not necessarily
justified by the returns so optimisation and
creative ways of reducing costs are required
to again increase ROAS, The same goes
for Facebook ads and display advertising
that already have a positive ROAS - with a
bit of optimisation the overall ROAS can be
boosted even further.
ATTRIBUTING CREDIT
$100
$100
100%
Y% Z%
Last-click
attribution
Multi-touch
attribution
SEMI-PARTIAL CORRELATION COMPARING CONVERTING
AND NON-CONVERTING PATHS
TOUCH
POINT 1
TOUCH
POINT 1
TOUCH
POINT 1
TOUCH
POINT 2
TOUCH
POINT 2
TOUCH
POINT 2
INFLUENCER INFLUENCER CLOSERINTRODUCER
TOUCH
POINT 3
TOUCH
POINT 3
TOUCH
POINT 3
TOUCH
POINT N
TOUCH
POINT N
TOUCH
POINT N
$
X%
Click here to learn more about our study methodology.