Apple heavily restricting consumer tracking options will “fundamentally change attribution as we know it,” says Iris Shoor, CEO/Founder of web analytics firm Oribi. “Keep in mind, over 193 million people in the US currently have an iPhone. Add in other privacy-focused browser changes from companies like Mozilla and Google and the problem is even more complicated,” Shoor notes. “While attribution is the key to understanding user flow and how to allocate budgets, the current methodology is broken. In 2020, we should expect to see and build different models and technologies for attribution.” 

Other predictions from Shoor include:

Less data: “Until 2016, the main trend regarding data display and data visualization was ‘more data’ – more report types, visualization types and complicated displays. Over the last 3 years, however, there has been an opposing trend. Being data driven is now a must, and as analytics becomes a part of every marketer’s stack, people are tired of endless reports they’re not sure what to do with. Google Analytics, for example, offers Data Studio. It’s become the face of Google Analytics. While it’s a fine solution, it requires highly technical skills to use it and lots of ongoing maintenance. Focused reporting, with actionable data, is now key. In 2020, we’ll see a push for simplified products and easier-to-understand data displays that make insights truly actionable.”

Solution for biased results shown by FB and Google: “More than 90% of digital marketing budgets are going to Facebook and Google. While both offer advanced analytics for their advertising solutions, let’s face it – the results are often very biased. The conversion count by each platform includes many scenarios which can roughly be attributed to their own channels. We have a system where the players are also the scorekeepers, which rightfully invites skepticism. As a result, marketers are left without real or credible ways to measure each marketing channel correctly. In 2020, I expect we’ll see more third-party tools that attempt to solve this problem. We might also see more flexibility from Facebook and Google, allowing their advertisers to use different models which will better reflect the actual results.”

Customer experience and measuring the full cycle: “Another shift we’re seeing in marketing is thinking of the full customer experience, instead of fragmented parts of the journey. Take a brand’s website, for example. Companies now understand that the end conversion is a result of all of the different stops visitors make along the way – from the channels each visitor arrived from to the support and website design they experienced. There isn’t one “magic” touchpoint, rather, there everything works together to support conversion. As a result, attribution – and the tools used to track it – will have to become much wider than what it is today. It will need to represent the full customer experience, helping companies better understand what impacted their results.”

Email marketing is becoming weaker, leading companies to alternative nurturing and more complex measuring: “A few years ago, having a prospect’s email meant a direct way to communicate with him or her. Companies invested millions in collecting emails, building lists and nurturing them. From one year to the next, however, this channel has become weaker and much harder to evaluate. Email filters are becoming more sophisticated. Additionally, many automated messages now get funneled to the promotions or spam folder, as ESPs become more feature-rich and consumers get savvier about marketing. This is the result of people being inundated with tons of emails from hundreds of companies, so they’re much less likely to open and more likely to block or unsubscribe. So, companies are searching for more sophisticated and holistic alternatives. This will require more advanced analytics for full-funnel marketing. That way, they can track the visitors who showed up to their site and showed intent, while using more tools to engage them. Everything from remarketing, email, account base marketing, social, SMS, and more.”

Aggregation from multiple sources using APIs and 3rd party tools: “Everything is becoming more complex. Website visitors have more touchpoints with the site and your products than ever before. Meanwhile, multiple campaigns are targeting the same users and 3rd party tools from marketing automation to site support are now part of a visitor’s flow before converting. Today, there are simple analytics tools which track the website behavior and high-end BI tools which support heavy integration. There’s nothing in between. That’s a huge pain point and companies are looking for smarter tools that can unify these areas.”