“How Did You Hear About Us?” Question Variations for Optimized Attribution
Realtime attribution data is crucial for any DTC brand that wants to
understand where to put their next dollar. The "How Did You Hear About
Us?" (HYDHAU) post-purchase survey question is a magnificent start
toward such aims, offering a second opinion and safety net for
attribution
. But of course, asking the question with varying degrees of nuance can
aid different KPIs and measurement models.
Let’s explore four variations of the "How Did You Hear About Us?"
question below, and consider how each can be used in their own unique
way to gather attribution data for immediate optimization in your media
mix.
Four Variations of "How Did You Hear About Us?"
The "How Did You Hear About Us?" question can be asked in various ways,
each providing unique insights into customer behavior and attribution.
Here are the four variations we'll be discussing:
- "How Did You Hear About Us?"
- "When Did You First Hear About Us?"
- "Where Do You Encounter Our Brand Most Often?"
- "What Led You to Our Store Today?"
How Each Variation Can Be Used for Attribution Information
When it comes to attribution, each of the four variations of the "How
Did You Hear About Us?" question can provide unique insights.
Here's a deeper dive into each question and how you can use them:
"How did you hear about us?"
This is a standard question that can help fill attribution gaps and
identify new channels that are driving traffic to your business. Using
Fairing's follow-up feature, you can pinpoint attribution at the
influencer or campaign level, allowing you to make data-driven decisions
on allocating marketing resources.
"When did you first hear about us?"
This question is especially useful for understanding the purchase
consideration window. If customers heard about your brand weeks ago,
it's less likely that platform-reported ROAS numbers will be accurate
and may be underreported. This question can provide clarity to data that
may have been misleading, such as that from Google Analytics' Time Lag
report.
"Where do you encounter our brand most often?"
This question can help you identify the channels that give your brand
the most presence, regardless of first or last-touch reporting. By
combining this question with a brand lift study, you can get a more
complete picture of your brand's effectiveness across all channels and
improve future brand campaigns.
"What led you to our store today?"
This question can provide insights into last-touch attribution by
prioritizing recency. It's especially useful for legacy brands where the
time between brand discovery and purchase is long, making the standard
"How Did You Hear About Us?" question less effective. By asking what led
the customer to your store today, you can better understand the most
recent and relevant touchpoints that led to the purchase.
Best Practices for Using "How Did You Hear About Us?" Questions
It's important to follow best practices when using these questions to
ensure the accuracy of the data you're collecting.
Here are some tips:
- Ask the question at the right time: You have to ask the question
at the right time, usually immediately after a purchase.
- Phrase the question appropriately: The wording of the question
can impact the accuracy of the response. Keep it simple and
straightforward, and avoid leading or biased language. You can use
our integrated Question
Bank
to instantly add questions from our collection of zero-party data
gems crafted by methodologists from leading DTC brands, or you can
customize the questions you ask to bring them on brand.
- Use follow-up questions: Follow-up
questions
can help to clarify the initial response and provide more detailed
information. For example, if a customer says they heard about your
business through TikTok, you could ask which influencer
specifically.
- Use the data to inform marketing decisions: Once you have
collected the data, use it to make data-driven decisions about your
marketing strategy. For example, if you find that a particular
channel is driving a high percentage of new customers, you may want
to allocate more resources to that channel.
Conclusion
Gathering attribution information is crucial for understanding customer
behavior and improving marketing strategies. By using "How Did You Hear
About Us?" questions, businesses can gain unique insights into their
customer journey and make data-driven decisions.
Each variation of the question serves a specific purpose and can provide
valuable information. "How did you hear about us?" can fill attribution
gaps and discover new channels, "When did you first hear about us?" can
help with accurate reporting, "Where do you encounter our brand most
often?" can give an overall picture of brand presence, and "What led you
to our store today?" can provide last-touch attribution insights.
If you're looking for an easy way to get started with surveys, then
check out our post-purchase survey app .
With our integrated Question Bank, you can have your survey live and
start collecting customer insights in less than five minutes.