Web analytics and attribution management have received more attention this year as companies look to measure results with greater accuracy. However, I have yet to come across a list of vendors that offer robust analytics platforms that measure beyond the “last click wins” reporting method.  Based on my research these firms offer analytics reporting beyond the last-click wins attribution method, and some offer much more beyond that.

The Background - What is “Last Click Wins?"

Google Analytics (GA) utilizes the “last click wins” method of attribution. It’s simply a measurement model giving “credit” to the last keyword and/or referrer to your site before a conversion occurs.

Here’s a quick example: Visitor A searches Google researching a product and discovers your site because of your content and organic SEO efforts, but the visitor doesn’t buy. Later that day, Visitor A researches prices and clicks an Adwords ad, doesn’t buy, but remembers the site. Next day, Visitor A remembers your site/company name, searches it, finds Product X, and buys.

So, what does GA tell you? In a nutshell: The conversion tracking you set up tells you that Visitor A came from Google, searched for your company name, and bought Product X.  Your brand name got the credit for the sale. Nowhere does your Adwords ad get credit, or your organic SEO efforts for the initial search and site discovery.  I know, I know, GA can tell you a lot more information than just that, but you’re still missing the first few steps in the conversion process.

Why Measure “Beyond” the Last Click?

In addition to getting the real picture behind the branded keyword conversions and getting your SEO efforts the credit, you may have other missing or misleading data!  You may be spending time, money, and effort on organic and paid search efforts that don’t show any conversions in GA. Should you keep up those efforts or cut them?  If you said cut them, hold on.

That general keyphrase or vanity keyword doesn’t convert, you say. Banner ads, laughable! But what if they were the first introduction of your brand and site to the customer? Is it still the right decision to pull funding from Keyword A even though it can be proven to lead to visits that convert later on?

What Are my Options?

With Google Analytics, by default, you get thelast-click wins view. You can however, override that setting but then your data still isn’t complete. You cannot get the first-click and last-click data at the same time in the same profile. It’s all or nothing. 

As a sidenote, you for those advertising heavily on Google’s content network, it’s worth checking out GA’s view-through conversion tracking.

Should I Drop Google Analytics? 

For a basic analytics system, Google Analytics is hard to beat. I’m not going to say that it fails for SEO, but you really shouldn’t be relying solely on it, or any javascript-based data capture analytic system anyway. Google Analytics sure has its benefits. After all, it’s free, it can be tweaked to view actual rankings, you can integrate it with your CRM, and with the additional features added recently it’s more robust than ever.  But again, you may be missing some important data, especially on sites with long purchase paths such as those selling services rather than physical goods.

GA Alternatives that Measure Beyond the Last Click

The idea of multi-point attribution is gaining steam, and more and more vendors are entering the fray. A lot of them are designed to better measure PPC spend, but can be extremely useful even if you don’t do any PPC at all.  Keep in mind that it’s not my intention to recommend any of these solutions, just to have them listed in one place so you can get your research and evaluations kick started.  Some may be better suited to compliment existing analytics packages, while others could potentially replace entire systems beyond web analytics packages. Some are even so robust that they include their own data warehouse systems and CRMs.

The Big Guys

• CoreMetrics  is a big player in the web analytics game, and they offer a flexible attribution platform that can report on data beyond the last click.
• Omniture’s online Marketing Suite is “powered by data that provides actionable, real-time intelligence and insight concerning customer interactions and marketing initiatives across multiple touch points.”
• One of most robust attribution systems is ClearSaleing. Voted “Technology Platform Search Marketers Can’t Live Without” for its attribution-based advertising portfolio management platform at SES San Jose, they’re at the forefront of the attribution management game and have tight PPC integration, robust reporting, and even a built-in CRM and data warehouse functionality.

The Up-and-Comers

• Who else has been providing a look beyond the last click for a number of years? None other than Yahoo! Web Analytics. The Assists metric can “measure the total number of times that display ads or search keywords contribute to the conversion of another ad or keyword”. Less robust than the rest on this list, still a good (Free!) product and hopefully one that Yahoo! doesn’t end up selling off.
• The UK’s DC Storm offers Storm Analytics part of their StormIQ product suite. It supports advanced campaign tracking & web analytics and looks tightly integrated with their PPC optimizing and reporting system.
• Visual IQ’s IQ Envoy “moves beyond simple attribution by tracking all digital exposures (not just clicks) for an individual across the digital landscape."
• Atlas Advanced Analytics lets you choose last click attribution or beyond. Be warned through, their site so fluent in corporate-speak my head nearly exploded. Worth a look though.
• X+1 laughs in the face of having a search friendly name, but their tagline is “make every interaction count.”  So, that might mean something… but I can’t really tell from their site. If you like exploring every single option before making a decision, dig into this one a bit too.

Did I miss any? What have been your experiences?