5 Strategies for Ad Measurement Success in a Privacy-Focused World

According to a report by eMarketer and Insider Intelligence, less than two-thirds of marketing professionals are “extremely confident” in their ability to measure ROI across channels. The data shows that many marketers have concerns about their ability to measure ROI on key channels like search, email, and social media.

As the cookieless future draws near and the data-free-for-all era of the digital age draws to a close, confidence in some of these channels could plummet even more. Whether you are ready or not, traditional ad measurement signals are waning, and fast. To avoid losing vital insights into the performance of your media, you must evolve your measurement strategies.

Specifically, you must embrace solutions that respect consumers’ privacy and adhere to the new age of regulations, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and U.S.-based legislation like the California Consumer Privacy Act. As you revamp your ad measurement processes and adapt to these regulations, make sure that you:

1. Define and align on KPIs and goals

Key performance indicators (KPIs) provide valuable insights about the performance of your advertising content and marketing campaigns.

While some KPIs, like return on ad spend (ROAS), are timeless, others may no longer be relevant in the cookieless future.

Therefore, you must revisit which KPIs to monitor. As part of this process, define each metric, identify why you need to track it, and make sure that you and your partners are aligned on what KPIs to monitor.

2. Remember your North Star

When revamping your ad measurement strategies, it can be easy to lose sight of your overall goals or objectives. To avoid this mistake, always remember your North Star, whether it’s sign-ups, store visits, or sales. Identify your ultimate goal and build your measurement strategy around achieving that objective.

Maintaining visibility of what truly matters will make it easier to select metrics that provide relevant insights about your progress. Knowing what you want to measure and achieve from day one will also streamline communication with partners and accelerate your decision-making processes.

On that note, make sure to share what your North Star is with your affiliates and influencer partners. Even if your ultimate goal has remained unchanged, make it clear to your partners so that everyone is on the same page. This will allow them to more effectively support your goals and long-term growth.

3. Get your affiliates on board

Change can be hard on everyone, including your affiliates. To facilitate a smoother transition for your affiliate and influencer partners, get them involved by gathering feedback about your measurement strategy. Find out what metrics they view as important and take their insights into account when choosing your new KPIs.

For your new ad measurement strategy to succeed, you must have your affiliates on board. Getting buy-in at the affiliate level is especially important if you are asking them to adopt new technologies, platforms, or tracking tools.

When you have a network of supportive, trusting affiliates, you can achieve truly astounding results. The right affiliates can boost in-store sales, generate more sign-ups, and increase your revenue, all while providing you with valuable, timely data about the efficacy of your campaigns.

4. Measure incrementality

Incrementality is a means of measuring events that wouldn’t have occurred without a specific interaction. This interaction may be an ad view or a link placement. In the context of affiliate marketing, incrementality helps you identify which partners or partner verticals (i.e., loyalty, content, coupons) are delivering incremental value for your business.

By getting incremental with your measurement strategy, you can pinpoint specific touchpoints and verticals that are most impactful to your bottom line. Additionally, evaluating incrementality and sharing this data with your partners will help them better target or segment audiences to support your long-term goals.

5. Recalibrate your measurement strategy with AP

Acceleration Partners, the leader in partnership marketing, leverages proven best practices and innovative technologies to build impactful, measurable programs for our clients. More importantly, we look beyond quick fixes and focus on helping you build long-lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships.

Whether your partnership marketing strategy needs a complete overhaul, or you simply need some help recalibrating your measurement techniques, Acceleration Partners and our global team are ready and able to assist. Let us help you measure what matters and build relationships that last.

Embrace change with Acceleration Partners and unlock the power of precise, privacy-respecting analytics. Let’s connect!