How to Properly Measure Multichannel Marketing Campaigns

When it comes to measurement and optimization of multichannel marketing campaigns, marketers struggle to clarify how all the streams of data and multitude of channels and campaigns drive business outcomes. To address blind spots and anchor measurement in what is important for the success of the marketing plan — and the business as a whole — metrics should focus on consumer responses to any given marketing opportunity (i.e., a stimulus designed to elicit a response).

“Calculate success using metrics detailed around the three key types of user responses: Action, engagement and perception,” says Lizzy Foo Kune, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner for Marketers.

A consumer can respond to any given marketing opportunity in three ways:

1. Engagement behaviors: Measurable actions in response to marketing that indicate interest, but can’t be tied directly to business outcomes
2. Action behaviors: Measurable actions in response to marketing that tie directly to business outcomes
3. Perception: Not linked to an action or engagement but can be measured indirectly, often through surveys or social listening

These “attention metrics” can be quantified or estimated to compare campaigns, channels, tactics and creative, and improve your methods over time. Focus on attention to establish a baseline that determines the value of engagement, especially in the absence of a sophisticated causal study of a particular brand’s users.

When and where possible, quantify the time and attention aspects of engagement actions such as video completion percentage and in-banner engagement time. Weight your engagement actions by time along a scale (a 50%-complete video view is worth a weight of 0.5 and a complete video view is worth 1.0). Then compare weighted average engagement metrics over time and across campaigns, channels, tactics and creative.