For all the hand-wringing about attribution, marketers must be getting better at it. Almost 100% are effectively using the science to achieve their marketing goals, and 49% are very successful — best-in-class — according to Measuring Marketing Attribution, a new study by Ascend2. 

They also see attribution as critical — only 3% say it is not. And 81% say it’s very important, vs. 16% who feel it is somewhat important.

But over half say you have to have an attribution strategy before you can attribute — and you have to have the technology in place.

In another sign of improvement, 83% report they are effective at measuring channels to attribute sales, 33% say they are exceptionally effective, and 50% say they are moderately effective. Only 16% say they are inadequate, and 1% say they don’t bother with it.

Among all the channels, none is easier to analyze than email. Some 44% say email is easy, and 29% feel it is difficult to measure.

Why is this important? Because “digital marketing channels that are easier to analyze for attribution…are much more likely to be included in a successful marketing attribution strategy,” the study notes.

Tied for second when it comes to ease are paid search and display advertising, with 41% apiece. Only 23% describe paid search as a problem, making it the best in that area.

The most difficult activity to measure — cited by 52% — is content marketing.

Drilling down, social media marketing is rated as easy by 40%, followed by content marketing 932%), search engine optimization (31%) and video marketing (24%). Social media is second in terms of difficulty, cited by 41%.

The respondents list their main priorities as:

• Defining an attribution strategy — 56%
  
• Analyzing campaigns by channel — 49%
  
• Attributing ROI to marketing — 47% 
  
• Aligning marketing with sales — 41%
  
• Obtaining budget and staff—29%
  
• Consolidating data sources — 25%
  
• Applying attribution technology — 24%

Their biggest obstacles? They are: 

Applying attribution technology — 44% 

Consolidating data sources — 39% 

Analyzing campaigns by channel — 38%

Attributing ROI to marketing — 38% 

Aligning marketing with sales — 36% 

Obtaining budget and staff — 34% 

Defining an attribution strategy — 33% 

How do firms pursue attribution? Only 19% rely on in-house resources to analyze digital marketing channels. In contrast, 24% outsource it and 57% use a combintion of both. 

Ascend2 and Research Partners suveyed 226 marketing influencers.