Mike Lazerow, Buddy Media

As Chairman and CEO of Buddy Media, a preferred platform for Facebook management by eight of the ten top global advertisers, Michael Lazerow is a widely recognized thought leader on digital media and marketing trends. We caught up with him to discuss the growth of social media, social commerce, and social media attribution, as well as the role tag management plays in helping marketers better understand customer’s path to conversion.

Q: In a recent study your company did with Booz & Company, ”Campaigns to Capabilities: Social Media and Marketing 2011,” you guys revealed that while marketing dollars are increasingly shifting toward social media efforts there are still many marketers who don’t understand ROI. Why is that?

A: There are a couple of factors at play here. Many brands don’t know what they should be measuring or even what they are able to measure. If you don’t decide upon attainable objectives, then it is nearly impossible to gauge any sort of return on investment. There is definitely a lack of knowledge regarding available metrics, or more specifically relevant available metrics. For a long time, and even still today in some circles, brands focused heavily on Facebook fan count or Twitter followers. Yes, it’s important to build an audience, but now marketers understand they need to show the value of their community. That’s the main reason we launched ConversionBuddy, our social commerce and analytics product. It helps brands and agencies move beyond basic engagement metrics – which are still important – but to also focus on closing the loop and showing how engagement and sharing directly drive sales and conversions.

I was just at LeWeb in Paris, and I heard Karl Lagerfeld speak. He is an amazing creative force, and I was excited to see him launch his new label exclusively online. “Shopping is social, online shopping is a social activity, you share your experience through the social web,” he said. From Karl Lagerfeld to retailers of all stripes, people are much further along when it comes to social commerce than they were even a year ago.

Q: Social media is playing a greater role in the marketing mix and social media attribution has become more critical because of it. Can you explain a little about social media attribution and its importance?

Facebook will continue to dominate the social networking game. The company owns a network 850 million consumers strong — four times the size of the Super Bowl each day and still growing like a weed globally. But Facebook doesn’t have Google’s nuclear bomb of one-to-one marketing – intent. Add Google+ Pages, its new weapon to layer social data onto the wedding cake that is intent, and Google has a powerful tool to protect its turf as we move into a post-search, people-centered world.

Q:  As social media continues to grow, ROI becomes more important, and more technologies emerge that can track all the data. Why is a Tag Management System beneficial to site publishers and etailers at this juncture?

A: As I mentioned earlier, it’s clear that brands need to better understand social media attribution, and with the proliferation of emerging technologies for them to do so, tag management becomes extremely important. Any management system that can help publishes and online retailers better organize their tags, improve performance, and better understand each customer’s path to conversion is a no-brainer.

Here’s a summary of our top five predictions for 2012 with the full explanation on Adotas:

1. Tag Management to experience major growth from 15% to 50% adoption amongst US IR100.
2. Internal technology and data scientists will play a crucial role in online marketing.
3. Consumer privacy laws will drive investment in opt-out technologies and tag management systems. 
4. 2012 will be the year for “complexity managed” by advertisers starting to use platforms like our own (TagMan) to house and integrate all new services to build a single view of their online audiences.
   
5. Attribution will move on from topic of discussion to mode of reporting.

Do you think we’re right? What are your predictions?  Post in the comments below.

 Image Credit: dreamstime

To say that he fully understands web analytics and where the industry is headed is an understatement. We recently caught up with him to discuss how his business is doing, how mobile analytics is growing, and the importance of an independent tag management system.

The framework classifies individual marketing activity, from high-level channels down to low-level keywords, with specific recommendations associated with each. One visualization of Logan Tod’s process looks a little like this:

So, if you can work out how much money you spent on any particular ad channel and how much revenue it generated, you can figure out just what to do next. But, identifying the latter is incredibly difficult. That’s why Adrian Nash, Head of Analytics and Insight at Logan Tod, welcomes the opportunity to work on clients with TagMan.

Speaking at TagMan’s second client event, TagMeet 2, Nash told the assembled throng: “Whenever a client says they have TagMan, I always say ‘great’ because it provides a great data source for us to work on.”

TagMan data enables Logan Tod to see how much revenue any online channel contributed to, not just in terms of being the last click, but throughout a customer’s path to conversion. This means a channel’s revenue contribution can be assessed much more fairly, particularly those channels that tend to be more effective ‘upstream’ of the last click.

But, the level of complexity that Logan Tod is applying to understand, report and recommend based on this kind of reporting boggles the mind.

Nash combined sweeping insight such as “it is better to be precise than accurate” (because precision is repeatable) with ultra-practical advice. For example, he explained that the path-to-conversion data in some tools doesn’t report anything over 30 days from the last click, which, based on recent Google research, indicates that up to 30% of research behaviour prior to a sale may be missed; “in those cases the first click isn’t the first click at all, it’s actually in the middle”.

He then explained how Logan Tod produces complex scorecards to rate the effectiveness of channels and applies predictive models to test how different mixes would affect return on ad spend.

In all, Nash’s session showed the level of expertise that can be applied to the data TagMan provides. However, using attribution data, Logan Tod recommends clients start with something simple:

Since using TagMan data makes it very simple to value every channel’s revenue contribution as first touch or last touch, advertisers can ask new questions of their marketing strategy and campaigns. If activity tends to appear only as the last touch before a conversion and doesn’t play a role further up the conversion path – is it’s role being overvalued or vice versa? TagMan data contains the information required to perform simple analysis like this through to more complex attribution modelling and ensures that there is a very low barrier to entry for clients wishing to use attribution to improve the performance of their marketing.

Current technologies that track consumers’ behavior when browsing the Web are often dropping cookies on users’ browsers unbeknownst to them (secret data collection). And that’s what’s causing all the alarm and changing tide toward enabling consumers to opt out of being tracked.

For marketers and etailers this movement sounds like a no-win. But it isn’t. As Angus Glover, Chief Privacy Officer at TagMan recently wrote on MarketingProfs:

Through use of tag management and other opt-out mechanisms, marketers can live up to the opt-out promises that various laws and regulations around the world require, while continuing to use tracking systems that do not require such opt-outs. Tags, cookies, data collection, and sharing are at the heart of the privacy problem. By leveraging a system that allows marketers to control all data-driven vendors in one place, they can ensure that best practices are met across the board.

Tag management systems not only help marketers and agencies comply with regulations, independent tag management systems (vendor agnostic platforms) allow marketers to remove or replace vendors (retargeting, social widgets, data collection, tracking, affiliates, analytics, etc.) who don’t meet their privacy policies. With a full universal tag management system, like TagMan, consumers can opt out of third-party behavioral targeting, while still being tracked by first-party site analytics. Marketers can control the data collection process, gain trust from the consumer by offering them to opt out, and still collect relevant data.

Image: By Pininfrna (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

You guys at Ghostery recently released a study of the top third-party content that was slowing the Internet down in the US, highlighting the top 10 lagtags. Is there a large dropoff after those top 10?

I wouldn’t call it a large dropoff. It’s a gentle slope. We see a 4000 millisecond load time in spot 11 and it trends down after that. You have to look in the 20s before you get below 2000 milliseconds. It’s actually when you get to about spot 19 that you see a latency number that dips below 2000 milliseconds.

Why did Ghostery conduct this research to measure tag speed and page-load times?

There are a number of issues involved here. But first let me say that Ghostery’s core goal and mission is to provide transparency and education to the average Internet user. They have a misunderstanding of what’s happening during their browsing experience and that publishers are perhaps trading off data for content. The user doesn’t get that embedded objects on a site are affecting their browsing experience. So for the user it’s, “Not only am I surrendering data that I’m unaware of, but my experience is being affected by my interactions with these third-party elements.” Again, our goal is to educate users, not to cast dispersion on companies controlling tags. Users have never heard of any of these companies before. They’re not even aware of what they do, because they’re not named or disclosed by the site. We just want to show that there’s an ecosystem behind these services and our goal is to help users better understand.

What type of elements cause higher latency in terms of tag and page speed?

There are mainly two issues when it comes to higher latency. First, there are complicated functions such as heavy flash animations that take a long time to load, or it could be keywords used for targeting advertisements on a site. But it could also be the company’s server that’s incapable of handling all of the functions and traffic coming to the site. So it’s a function in the tag itself or the infrastructure built around the website. And they’re not mutually exclusive either. If your tags are more robust you need a more robust infrastructure to service them.

Have page speed and tag latency become hot topics among companies with an online presence?

Page load has been an area of concern for web developers since the dawn of the web, especially since no one has ever created a real solution for many of these issues causing the problem. As new technologies develop, the concern becomes greater. How much are we willing to give up in latency as a trade off for using these new technologies that capture data about site visitor’s behaviors? The topics remain continually relevant. These are issues that we’ll never be able to ignore.

In your study, you mentioned that the top 10 slowest tags don’t disclose how long they retain your data or who they share it with. How is this related to latency?

Typically, Ghostery users are concerned with privacy. Tag latency is a secondary concern. For the web publisher, it’s a double whammie in terms of risk factor: not only do they not disclose how data is shared they’re slowing the page down. If users understood how the data collection might provide value to them or to the web publisher, they might take a hit on speed. But it’s difficult for users to make a positive decision when disclosure is withheld.

Do you think it’s important for companies to invest in site performance?

There are multiple reasons why companies should, but it all gets back to the user. Latency is a direct indicator of user satisfaction. It’s important for web publishers to both collect valuable data about users and to provide users with excellent service. It’s a high price to pay when you start to compare the value of using the necessary technology to collect that valuable data versus the value of latency. Especially since it’s hard for publishers to measure things out in the wild. At Ghostery, we don’t drop tags on websites nor or we a media-based web company that is using a lot of these third-party tags and widgets. We’re objective, impartial observers looking closely at the tech vs latency tradeoff.

What’s important to note in this discussion is the finding from Aberdeen Group that says  a 1-second delay causes a 7% loss in conversions, that could mean up to 10% of sales lost, just thanks to slow-loading tags. TagMan can speed up advertisers sites and vendors tags through our smart tag loading features and vendor services. For more information on our vendor program, contact  partners@tagman.com.

Speaking at TagMan’s most recent client get together TagMeet 2, Silsbury said: “It’s going to be a pig of a year.” And none of the other retailers in the room looked ready to disagree.

So what does Glasses Direct plan to do about it? Given its focus is online, then drive its online channels hard. Efficiency is the overriding mission. But, that doesn’t mean the company isn’t prepared to invest to get as lean as possible. Silsbury has a couple of things in mind:

1. Data unity: Getting all his marketing data in one place so he can learn to optimise his spend against entire user journeys, not channel-by-channel
2. Conversion: Maximising things like site speed to make sure that any customers that do get to his website, buy – and buy big – before they leave

Both these causes are part of his justification for implementing TagMan at Glasses Direct. The system will be used to enable Silsbury and his team, including long-time TagMan user Oli Elliott – formerly of online clothes retailer Boden – to track the entire online path to conversion of customers and attribute credit for sales much more fairly across the channels that made a contribution.

Silsbury is also one of the first to use TagMan v3, the newest version of the software, which includes several world-first features to lighten the load that tracking tags place on websites, and speed up his website. Silsbury said initial tests showed a 25-28% decrease in page load speed.

“We are obsessed with site speed,” he said. “Apart from the obvious impact on user experience and site conversion, it is part of how Google ranks your website.”

Silsbury has committed to TagMan for other reasons too. He explained how “tagging is an unnecessary distraction” that hampers his team’s ability to implement new technologies and campaigns. Tag management enables them to focus on the things that matter.

But, the biggest challenge is attribution. Silsbury is keen to distinguish the use of attribution tools for understanding user journeys better and for optimising campaigns.

He explained: “For me it’s important to distinguish attribution from optimisation. We mainly use TagMan’s attribution data for reporting, but we want to optimise paths-to-conversion, not individual channels so we use ‘assisted views’ [reporting that shows when a channel appeared anywhere in a user’s journey to a sale] to optimise. The Unique User ID assigned in the system enables us to see any user’s complete path to conversion and so see how all channels work together. It’s important to know that investment in one channel may see the conversion take place in a completely different one.”

Silsbury stated that in reverse to the above, there are very real financial efficiencies to focus on too and attribution should be used to deduplicate and ensure that you are paying the right party for its part in a sale. Using email and affiliates as an example, Silsbury’s argument is that if a customer has been sent a Glasses Direct email, then they can’t be considered a customer 100% driven by the banner they clicked on [up to] 30 days earlier. He wants to focus affiliates on customer acquisition and therefore not pay 100% where email is present in the path. Silsbury was quick to add though that “this is not a money saving tactic, more a way of reinvesting the saving in areas like paid placements, which do deliver genuine value from the affiliate space.”

Silsbury closed by stating that the ultimate goal is “getting to a fractional model, where split percentages can be applied to individual channels dependent on their importance in the path.”

“Ultimately it is a question of understanding, as Oli puts it, the ‘golden combinations’ that drive sales. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.”

Holland America Line has seen significant improvements by implementing TagMan’s Tag management system with Smart Tag Loading. With the high number of transactions that occur on travel sites like theirs, TagMan’s Smart Tag Loading capabilities deliver valuable site performance improvements that contribute to a faster, optimized user experience. Exclusively for the Tag Management blog, Holland America Line shared that they have seen speed improvements by 27- 42% so far. As well, a tag section that previously took over 2.5 sec to serve prior to the TagMan implementation, now takes less than 1 sec to load.

“With a global audience for our brand, we need to optimize for millions of visitors across peak traffic times,” said Mark Kammerer, Senior vice president of marketing & North American sales, Holland America Line. “With Smart Tag Loading in place we’re seeing significant improvements in page load times. This means both a better user experience and a more reliable website operation. “

The truth is, consumers aren’t visiting social networks to do their shopping. A recent simplyZesty article reported that Forrester found that the conversion rate for Facebook stores was equal to that of standard e-commerce stores, at between 2-4%, while also attracting traffic of between 1-10% of the total fan base rate.

For smaller shops, the return on setting up a social shop definitely seems minimal. But when it comes to socializing e-commerce sites, there’s a greater reward. ADWEEK recently reported that, “revenue per click from shoppers arriving via social media links is $5.24, versus the $3.18 per click spent by email shoppers, according to analytics company ClearSaleing.” Adding that, “‘Share’ and ‘like’ buttons help drive traffic since click-through rates for news feed links are vastly higher than for Facebook ads.”

Using “Facebook Connect,” on e-commerce sites, such as Levis and Ticketmaster, has also aided in adding social to e-commerce that doesn’t seem awkward or forced. If a friend chooses to share shopping habits, then the consumer can see what they’re buying or liking right at the point of the transaction or search on the e-commerce site which ultimately influences their purchase. Shoppers are relying more and more on social to inform their shopping decisions and to form relationships with retailers.

So, how can e-tailers get ready for the social commerce wave?

1. Ensure the loading speed of social plugins won’t stop consumers from completing the sale
2. Ensure you know the true effects of your campaign with path to conversion reporting

Here’s how TagMan can help:

1. While some e-tailers still have concerns about using social plugins because of added page-load time, TagMan’s Smart Tag Loading functionality can significantly improve page speed.
2. With path to conversion reporting, TagMan helps marketers fully realize customers complete path to conversion by housing all the tags from all channels in one place and enabling clients to see actually where and how different campaigns appear in and contribute to the path to conversion. One TagMan client was able to demonstrate natural search delivered 14 times more than previously credited for (Social media and SEO massively undervalued: study)

Finally, measuring the value and interplay between social and search becomes a greater reality with a tag management system.