“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:

1. "How Did You Hear About Us?"
2. "When Did You First Hear About Us?"
3. "Where Do You Encounter Our Brand Most Often?"
4. "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:

1. Ask the question at the right time: You have to ask the question at the right time, usually immediately after a purchase.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.