Holli Beckman

On Multi-Source Lead Attribution

By Geneva Ives on Apr 10, 2018 in Marketing

Property marketers use lead attribution to determine where leads are coming from so they know what is working, what isn’t and where to spend their marketing dollars most effectively. But single source lead attribution models only credit the first or last source with the lease.

“We know that 50% of renters visit five or more websites before they even set foot inside your leasing office. But we only give one source credit for the lease?” says Holli Beckman, vice president of marketing and leasing operations at WC Smith. “If 100% of attribution is going to the first touch, then you are indicating that none of the other sources have any value.”

So how do we fix it? How do we more accurately assign value to all the touchpoints that prospects interact with on their buyer journey?

The answer is multi-source lead attribution. It’s a relatively new model in multifamily, and it’s a topic Beckman is passionate about (check out her article “Why the Multifamily Industry Is Missing the Boat on Multi-Source Lead Attribution”). So is the development team at Yardi. We’re constantly evolving RentCafe CRM to accommodate new data points and provide deeper insight into prospect activities and marketing sources. That’s why we invited Beckman to join us at the Yardi Marketing Forum in Beverly Hills this week to share her insights as we preview new lead attribution tools designed to increase accuracy and ROI for property marketers.

Before the forum, we had a chance to catch up with Beckman and ask her a few questions related to her session and trends she is seeing right now.

What limits property marketers’ ability to deliver leads?

Beckman: A true understanding of customer behavior. For so long we’ve only reported on one step of the customer journey. Our access to data about the journey is limited. If we don’t interpret and use the data available to us, we’ll never be able to market correctly.

Is there one lead attribution model everyone should be using?

Beckman: No. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about using the right model to answer your question. If brand awareness is your goal, you’re going to want to use the first touch model to see what delivers the best results. But if you are developing a targeted lead generation campaign, you’re going to need a different model that identifies actions taken further down the funnel.

Being able to see your data from different angles and apply it is the key to making sure you’re taking the right next step as a property marketer.

How does social media fit into property marketing?

Beckman: Social media can impact property marketing at both the top and bottom of the funnel. For one thing, today’s renters are researchers. That’s why there are so many touchpoints before they decide to schedule an appointment or apply online. From a research perspective, people are reading property reviews on Facebook and even passively absorbing their friends’ Instagram stories about the places they live. Social media is constantly influencing buyer’s decisions.

After a prospective renter has started checking out rental listings and visiting a few property websites, social media can play another important role thanks to remarketing. Have you ever put something in your shopping cart and abandoned it? Or repeatedly looked at a really neat kitchen gadget online? And then suddenly it seems like it’s following you everywhere, including showing up in your Facebook feed with a coupon code offer? That’s remarketing, and property marketers can use to it too whether they choose a DIY approach or enlist the help of specialists. You can automatically target prospects who have shown an interest in your properties but didn’t close, nudging them further along the funnel or securing the lease.

What is one quick tip you would give to fellow marketers who are looking to try new things?

Beckman: Subscribe to Think with Google. You’ll get digestible articles with the latest marketing data, insights and inspiration from Google. It’s fascinating what comes up. Like did you know that mobile searches for the “best” salt have surged 375% in in the past two years? As marketers, we need to be thinking about what our consumers are searching for, how that affects our content and how it impacts our SEO.

Ready to start remarketing? The search engine marketing experts of RentCafe Reach can help! For more tips from our “Lead Attribution in a Multichannel World” panel at the Yardi Marketing Forum and other insights from guest speakers like Beckman, check out the #yardimktgforum social stream.