the results
- $1M cost efficiencies on search optimisation
The Datalicious attribution model tracked all paid and unpaid channels, and the results suggested News Corp could improve ROI by reducing spend on branded search (SEM). A hypothesis was put forward for measurement – that if SEM spend was reduced, organic search (SEO) traffic would increase and the reduced spend would not impact online subscriptions.
This strategy was put to the test on key mastheads over three months. Proving the hypothesis with correctly attributed data allowed News Corp to implement changes that resulted in cost savings of over $1M without a loss of subscriptions.
- $700K cost efficiencies testing landing page v subscription page
Datalicious and News Corp also identified an opportunity to increase subscriptions and decrease cost per action (CPA) by changing the strategy for landing pages from search traffic. Datalicious ran a 50/50 test which directed 50% of the traffic to the homepage of mastheads and the remaining to the subscription page. The results were a 30% lift in subscriptions and a 20% reduction in CPA across mastheads. This change resulted in annual savings of over $700K.
- Budgeted CPA reduced by 26% on key mastheads
Datalicious generated quarterly forecasts for media performance, with an accompanying report on the results, including recommended media optimisations. The recommendations produced were at a channel level as well as at a more granular strategy level. The results of these media optimisations were the reduction of budgeted cost per acquisition across all mastheads by a range of 8% to 26%.
- Increase in media accountability using full-path attribution
Working with the Digital Acquisition team, Datalicious uncovered the real value of mailers as a channel. Two mastheads, The Herald Sun and The Australian, only credited email with 0.2% of sales using a last-click attribution model. In moving to the full path to purchase model, Datalicious was able to correct this figure to 14% of sales, significantly increasing the value of the email program, which enabled the News Corp team to increase investment in this activity.
- In summary, Datalicious:
- Delivered over $1.7M tangible cost efficiencies due to media optimisations
- Reduced budgeted cost per acquisition by 8%-26% on key mastheads
- Increased media accountability by changing the success metric from Media Attribution (post impression/post-click) to attributed CPA
- Provided insights for new acquisition initiatives based on cross-device insights
- Delivered an annual project ROI of 385%.
Note: monthly pro-rata figures extrapolated to build an annual result.
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