Cohorts
Applying economics fundamentals to acquisition marketing
Multiple-touchpoint marketing strategies will often incorporate various marketing mediums that don't naturally fit into "touchpoint" attribution models. These mediums often generate considerably profitable campaigns, at what often seems like very little incremental marketing spend. To accurately measure your cohort profitability, your attribution model must consider both the revenue and cost implications of these support channels.
Attribution is rarely straightforward. While some of your sources have direct-response tracking, other sources will rely heavily on methods of matchback attribution. A robust methodology will define attribution in order of likelihood that a particular conversion originated with a specific campaign. Moving "down" the scale of likelihood is synonymous with attribution decay.
Defining your cohort profitability thresholds is a good start to optimizing your marketing campaigns. Once you've nailed your cohort-based LTV analysis, you'll be faced with a series of questions around how to distribute marketing budget. My methodology for budget allocation is to continuously scrutinize all acquisition efforts.
