How someone buys isn’t always the full story

After a decade of working with small business owners and marketing execs, I’ve seen a growing obsession with ROI.

Here’s why this doesn’t always work (and why I am very pro hummingbirds 😏)

Let’s say I post about the new Allbirds I got on my Instagram as a hummingbird and my old coworker Megan saves the post on Instagram. When Megan’s mom asks her what she wants for her birthday a few months later, Megan goes to her Instagram Collection where she’s saved products she likes. She tells her mom she wants the Allbirds Tree Runners, size 7, in Lilac. Her mom types that into Google, hits she Shopping Ad and buys the shoes.

Allbirds now has an attribution of a sale from Google!

Allbirds (maybe): “MORE MONEY INTO GOOGLE!!!!”

Google is part of the story, but not really.

I’m actually the one responsible for the purchase, but Google is making all the money! 😂

Don’t get so focused on numbers & attributions that you forget real humans & existing customers are likely the ones responsible for the conversion, not the ad.