5 Tools For Evaluating Which Hyperlocal Ads Work Best

Digital ad spending in the U.S. is expected to reach more than $72 billion by the end of this year, surpassing TV and representing nearly 37% of total media ad spending overall. While this shift is accelerating faster than expected, it’s still not fast enough for many of those inside the mobile marketing industry. These insiders say attribution, or a lack of effective measurement, is preventing advertisers from leaning more heavily on digital channels.

Research seems to back this assertion up. According to a survey by Millward Brown Digital, almost 80% of advertisers said they would increase spending on mobile if they could measure ROI more easily.

The good news here is that there are a number of tools already available for marketers looking to decide which hyperlocal ads are working best, many of which go beyond basic click-through rates and engagement rates to generate a complete picture of advertising successes and misses. Here are five of those platforms.

1. LeadsRx: Tracking patterns of successful conversion paths
LeadsRx offers attribution software designed for the mobile marketing industry. The company’s latest product, which debuted this fall, includes a universal tracking pixel that tracks attribution paths for individuals across all ad vendors and helps marketers determine which channels led customers to making certain buying decisions. LeadsRx’s universal conversion tracking pixel works alongside pixels from Google and Facebook, but marketers do have the option of removing other vendor pixels to avoid multiple result counts. LeadRx’s technology also uses “algorithmic attribution” to measure patterns of successful conversion paths, and allows users to change attribution models on the fly.

2. Convertro: Tactical mobile insights
For brands that are having trouble measuring ad exposure on mobile websites and mobile apps, Convertro has a solution. The automated holistic marketing attribution platform uses ad tracking via Javascript in mobile web and in-app advertising, along with server-to-server integrations, to collect mobile activity across thousands of apps. In addition to tracking impressions, clicks, purchases, and activity, Convertro matches users across multiple devices. This data is then used to put mobile campaign successes and failures into context, especially when comparing them to the other digital channels a marketer uses.

3. AppsFlyer: Understanding how networks interact across the customer journey
A mobile advertising attribution platform, AppsFlyer is used by large retailers and to pinpoint targeting and optimize mobile ad spending. Once the company’s universal SDK has been integrated, clients can measure all of their campaigns on a single dashboard. Retailers can see how mobile campaigns impacted retargeting-driven actions on their desktop websites and physical stores, and clients with apps can track in-app events based on whichever parameters they select. Most importantly, multi-touch attribution allows marketers to understand how certain networks are funneling customers to other networks, rather than relying solely on the last click to determine purchase attribution.

4. Impact Radius: Tracking the true value of each media channel
Impact Radius says it can help brands and agencies see significant improvement on their global ad spend. To do this, the company utilizes omni-channel tracking, rules-based attribution, and algorithmic attribution. Impact Radius generates visual reports that track the true value of each media. Advertisers, agencies, and media partners can then use these reports to gain a deeper understanding of how mobile channels impact the customer journey and which media investments are generating the best ROI. Impact Radius’ algorithmic model also learns from data, and takes outside factors, like economic conditions and seasonality, into account when understanding the value of different campaigns and channels.

5. Signal: Collecting buying insights through cross-channel engagement
Signal is looking to do away with fragmentation and inconsistent measurement issues with technology that merges customer engagement data across the complete marketing technology stack. The company’s customer data platform unifies data around cross-channel customer profiles and then sends profile data to each client’s preferred measurement platform. Marketers can then decrease wasted ad spend by targeting “known profiles” across all digital devices and channels. Signal is unique in that it enables marketers to use the data being generated by their CRM, call centers, and POS systems to learn even more about the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts.

Know of other solutions for marketers looking to evaluate the effectiveness of their mobile campaigns? Leave a description in the comments.

Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.