Attribution Takes Center Stage - ClearSaleing Acquired by GSI

     It was recently announced that GSI Commerce Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) Global Marketing Services division has acquired ClearSaleing, a Columbus, Ohio-based provider of advanced advertising analytics and attribution management. For those who are not familiar with ClearSaleing, or the ongoing serious issue of attribution management, they are a technology company that helps marketers determine the proper ‘weight or credit’ a given ad deserves towards a conversion. For example, a consumer starts the process of looking for a new sports jersey. It begins with a Google search. Five days prior to the search the consumer saw a rich media ad for a retail site that has such a product. The consumer visits the site and leaves without purchasing. Three days later the consumer receives a retargeted ad for the retail site. In addition, they are served a pre-roll video ad. The consumer ultimately decides they’re ready to purchase. At this point they visit Google and perform a search but what they’re really doing is using Google as a navigation tool. We’ve all done it. In the last click 100% attribution world, the last Google click gets all the credit. The reality is that the credit should be properly spread across all consumer touch points. ClearSaleing solves this issue by providing analytics that ‘spread’ the credit.

     There are multiple reasons why this is critical to most marketers; wasted impressions, lost opportunity costs and the list goes on. For those in the industry, the feeling has always been that Google gets a disproportionate credit for conversions. ClearSaleing now proves that feeling. It’s really quite amazing to drill into specific case studies in which marketers have deemed display campaigns to have been ineffective, when the opposite is really true. Display can have a significant impact on conversions, which can drive additional sales and reduce overall marketing costs. The future belongs to those smart marketers who can adapt quickly and embrace tools like ClearSaleing. Yes, I’m biased now as they’re part of the GSI family and our primary product is centered around display, but I believe strongly in the tools they’ve developed and the value they provide.

     Marketing dollars are shifting and we’re witnessing this first hand. Search will always have a strong hold, but as display becomes more targeted and tools such as this take hold, the shift will continue. I would argue that attribution analysis can and will become one of the most important tools of the trade. Media providers who have long relied on antiquated methods to prove success are now on notice. Service offerings that position the “click” as everything will have to change along with the times. Networks and exchanges that provide less than acceptable traffic will have to clean up what’s under the hood.

     FetchBack is very excited about this recent announcement as we feel the value it brings to our customers is as solid as it gets. Quite frankly, what it shows us is what we’ve been preaching all along. Retargeting is one of the best forms of marketing available and proper attribution analysis proves it.