Best Practices for Offline Channels best-practices-for-offline-channels
Overview overview
To have accurate Marketo Measure reporting, your Marketing Channels must be correctly set up. The ‘Marketing Channel’ field displays the highest-level group of marketing tactics that a touchpoint can belong to (for example, Events, Webinars, Content Syndication, and so on).
There are two aspects to setting up your marketing channels: online and offline. This document is focused on the Marketo Measure best practice recommendations for setting up and maintaining your Offline Channels and how they are synced with Marketo Measure via CRM Campaigns.
Offline Channels have two key aspects:
- Offline Channel Mapping which is the framework that tells Marketo Measure which Channel and Subchannel the Offline touchpoint belong to
- Offline Campaign Sync which is the creation of the Offline touchpoints
Offline touchpoints are created from a CRM Campaign and meant to track any marketing interaction that can’t be tracked digitally via the Marketo Measure JavaScript that is implemented on the pages of your website. When a CRM Campaign is synced with Marketo Measure, touchpoints are created for the defined Campaign Members within the Campaign.
The ‘Marketing Channel’ value for these touchpoints is based on the ‘Type’ field on the Campaign. The mapping of ‘CRM Campaign Type’ to ‘Marketing Channel’ and ‘Subchannel’ is managed within the ‘Offline Channels’ tab of your Marketo Measure Account Settings. Ensuring that your Offline Channel mapping is accurate and up to date will guarantee that your offline touchpoint data is being attributed to the correct Marketing Channels and Subchannels within your Marketo Measure Reporting.
Best Practice | Offline Channel Mapping best-practice-offline-channel-mapping
Whether you are mapping your Offline Channels for the first time or just reviewing them to check for accuracy, keep the following best practices in mind.
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Create a deliberate framework for you Offline Channels
- Take some time to think about the organization of your marketing campaigns and how they fit into the Marketo Measure framework. Determine which Channels and Subchannels should be represented in your Offline Channels and what CRM Campaign Types differentiate those channels from one another
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Work to utilize your current CRM Campaign ‘Type’ values first
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Offline Channels are defined by CRM Campaign ‘Type’, however, custom CRM Campaign ‘Type’ value may need to be created to accommodate ideal Offline Channel and Subchannel values. Ideal custom CRM Campaign ‘Type’ values should carry the naming convention shown below:
- CHANNEL - SUBCHANNEL
- Example: Event - Tradeshow
- This ensures mapping to the Subchannel level is as easy and clean as possible
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One Subchannel can only be mapped to one CRM Campaign ‘Type’
- Multiple CRM Campaign ‘Types’ can be mapped to a single Channel, but only one CRM Campaign ‘Type’ can be mapped to each Subchannel within each Channel
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Only OFFLINE CRM Campaign ‘Types’ should be mapped to Offline Channels as only Offline Campaigns are to be synced with Marketo Measure to create touchpoints:
- ONLINE CRM Campaign ‘Types’ should be mapped to a Marketing Channel = “NULL”. This value is recommended as it acts as a ‘red flag’ that denotes your Offline Channels have been reviewed and any CRM Campaign ‘Type’ that is mapped to “NULL” is an ONLINE ‘Type’ and should not be synced with Marketo Measure. Touchpoints related to Online CRM Campaign ‘Types’ would be already be tracked via Marketo Measure Online functionality and channels. Syncing these Campaigns runs the risk of “duplicate” touchpoints/double counting
Best Practice | Offline Campaign Sync best-practice-offline-campaign-sync
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Make sure the ‘Type’ field is accurate on each CRM Campaign
- ‘Type’ determines Marketing Channel and Subchannel for any touchpoints sourced from the Campaign once synced
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Whether using the CRM-based Campaign Sync method (Enable Buyer Touchpoints) or the Marketo Measure App-based sync method (Custom Campaign Sync within the ‘Campaigns’ tab of your Marketo Measure Account Settings), offline touchpoints should only be created if the Campaign Member had an actual offline engagement with the Campaign and your brand:
- For Offline Channels like Events or Webinars: “registrations” are typically tracked via form submissions on your website and Marketo Measure Online functionality. Therefore, the Campaign Members with a Status of “Registered” should not receive an Offline touchpoint from the Campaign to avoid double counting. Offline touchpoints should be representative of the “attendance” to the Event or Webinar only.
- Some Offline Channels like Content Syndication are more straightforward in that every Campaign Member has the same ‘responded’ status that represents they did indeed respond to the campaign, in this case, download content on a third-party site and therefore should receive an offline touchpoint
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When using the Custom Campaign Sync method in the Marketo Measure App, be sure the ‘Touchpoint Date’ field is based on the date field from either the Campaign or Campaign Member that is most indicative of when the touchpoint interaction actually occurred
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Use the ‘Bulk Update Touchpoint Date’ button if you need to override the ‘Touchpoint Date’ for any of the offline touchpoints sourced from a CRM Campaign. ‘Touchpoint Date’ must be as accurate as possible to ensure that the touchpoint holds the most accurate possible ‘Touchpoint Position’ and thus, the proper amount of attribution credit
Best Practice for Maintenance best-practice-for-maintenance
Once initially set up, your Offline Channel setup continues to create offline touchpoints accordingly. As a best practice, we recommend that you review your Offline setup at least twice a year. This guarantees clean and accurate Buyer touchpoint data.
Also, if you make any changes to your Campaign management or processes, you need to make sure you are updating your Marketo Measure Offline Channel mapping and/or sync process.
Changes that might trigger your team to make updates to the Offline Channel setup in Marketo Measure might include:
- CRM Campaign ‘Types’ created or edited
- Campaign Member ‘Status’ created or edited
- If using the CRM Campaign Sync method via the ‘Enable Buyer Touchpoints’ field, make sure that this field is reviewed and updated for every CRM Campaign that is created. If this field is neglected, there will not be any related offline touchpoint data
- If you come across any offline touchpoints from a CRM Campaign that look to be online touchpoints (Marketing Channel = NULL), make sure the related CRM Campaign is reviewed and the sync disabled
If your team has recently experienced any of the above, Marketo Measure recommends that you review your Offline Channel mapping and Offline Campaigns to make the appropriate changes and ensure they are synced properly.