SimpliSafe gains a clear view of paid ad performance with AI-driven attribution

SimpliSafe is an American home security company known for its DIY wireless security systems. It offers an array of products including alarm systems, indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells, and smart locks.

In their marketing efforts, SimpliSafe places a strong emphasis on home security and alarm systems, prioritizing these products due to their higher cost and significant value to consumers.

In April 2023, SegmentStream partnered with SimpliSafe’s UK subsidiary, aimed to refine digital marketing measurement and optimize advertising across paid channels within the UK market.

Goals and challenges:

The company’s primary focus was on enhancing the evaluation of upper-funnel activities such as Paid Social, Discovery, YouTube, and Performance Max to achieve a more efficient marketing mix.

This initiative was vital in addressing specific challenges faced by SimpliSafe:

• Unify cross-channel marketing & sales data: SimpliSafe’s marketing involved diverse data sources, including GA4 for user behavior and costs from platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Microsoft Ads, and Awin (Affiliates). Integrating these was vital to getting a unified view of marketing performance, crucial for accurate conversion attribution and budget allocation.
• Evaluate upper-funnel activities: Given the lengthy decision-making process associated with high-cost items like home security systems, evaluating the effectiveness of upper-funnel marketing became a challenge. SimpliSafe needed to understand the true influence of these activities on consumer decisions, especially those not resulting in immediate conversions.
• Future-proof ROI measurement beyond cookie-based attribution: In response to evolving privacy regulations and tracking restrictions like GDPR and Intelligent Tracking Prevention, along with the fallout of iOS 17 and private browsing modes, SimpliSafe aimed to transition to a more advanced, cookieless approach for marketing analytics. This shift was crucial for maintaining accurate tracking and analysis in a privacy-focused digital landscape.
• Find the most optimal marketing mix: The goal was not just to gather data but to gain actionable insights for better budget allocation decisions. SimpliSafe wanted to improve its overall return on ad spend by identifying the most effective marketing mix, guided by data-driven insights.

The SegmentStream overview:

SegmentStream is an AI-powered analytics and marketing mix optimization platform that blends a customer’s first-party data, such as sales and user behavior, with third-party advertising data (ad impressions, clicks, costs).

The platform uses proprietary machine-learning models to measure the revenue contribution of each marketing channel and campaign, helping marketers gain a comprehensive picture of their marketing effectiveness. It stands out in its ability to provide:

• Unified marketing reporting: SegmentStream provides an easy-to-use interface to analyse cross-channel marketing performance in one place and measure ROAS, CPA and other KPIs on a fully automated basis.

  

• Advanced attribution modelling: SegmentStream provides a cookieless marketing attribution approach by moving away from deterministic user tracking. Instead, SegmentStream leverages advanced machine learning models to analyze data from advertising platforms, including clicks and impressions, as well as user behavior on websites. This holistic approach provides a much clearer picture of the channel’s and campaign’s incrementality and enables measurement of the true ROAS of digital advertising.
  
  For upper-funnel campaigns like social media and video, SegmentStream offers view-through attribution, measuring the impact of visual-focused campaigns on the overall results, thereby allowing a fair evaluation of each funnel stage.
• Data-driven marketing mix optimization: The platform goes beyond standard reporting by offering actionable insights and recommendations for budget allocation across paid channels and campaigns, aiding marketers in maximizing their return on ad spend.

Impact and results:

The collaboration led to significant improvements in SimpliSafe’s digital marketing strategy and a better understanding of marketing investments.

• Increased marketing agility: The automated and integrated reporting system facilitated quick and informed decision-making, enhancing the overall responsiveness of SimpliSafe’s marketing efforts.
• Data-driven budget allocation: With deeper insights provided by SegmentStream, SimpliSafe could strategically allocate its marketing budget, leading to more efficient use of resources and improved campaign performance.
• Accurate top-of-funnel ROAS measurement: The team gained a clearer view of the value and performance of various marketing channels, particularly in the upper funnel.

A few examples:

Paid Social

SimpliSafe dedicated a significant portion of its media budget to Paid Social, but traditional metrics showed a misleadingly 6x higher CPA compared to Generic Paid Search. This could have led to a reduced investment in Paid Social.

However, SegmentStream’s Post-Click + Post-View attribution, considering broader engagement data, revealed Paid Social’s true value. They discovered that although Paid Social users don’t often convert immediately, this channel significantly contributes to the overall conversion count. In reality, its CPA is more cost-efficient than in Generic Paid Search.

Generic Paid Search

For different product campaigns, LNDC metrics indicated low ROAS for items like Doorbells and Cameras. However, SegmentStream’s AI-driven attribution uncovered a higher ROAS, as these campaigns often led to purchases of high-value security systems. This insight led SimpliSafe to maintain these campaigns for their cross-selling benefits.

Client Testimonial:

“What impresses us is how seamlessly it connects with our ad platforms, giving us a clear view of our spending and data. The team behind SegmentStream is remarkable too - they’re proactive, talented, and committed to solving our issues and constantly improving the platform. The Optimization feature they’ve added recently is a game-changer for us, significantly enhancing how we approach our budget allocation.”

— Will Brooks, Head of Ecommerce, SimpliSafe UK