Smurfit Westrock: Transforming marketing attribution for better insights and cost efficiency

Understanding how marketing efforts influence buyer behavior is critical in today’s complex B2B landscape. For Smurfit Westrock, a global packaging leader, the challenge lay in accurately tracking marketing performance and justifying budget allocations.

Historical decisions and anecdotal feedback drove marketing investments, leaving significant gaps in data-driven decision-making. This article covers how Sojourn’s tailored marketing attribution solution transformed their approach.

The challenge: Bridging the attribution gap

Smurfit Westrock faced several hurdles in their marketing attribution journey. A significant issue was the inability to validate the impact of marketing campaigns on revenue generation. Without robust tools and processes, the marketing team struggled to connect specific campaigns and channels to tangible business outcomes. This lack of visibility made it difficult to allocate budgets effectively or prioritize initiatives.

Additionally, siloed and inefficient systems exacerbated the problem. Salesforce, for instance, was underutilized, with poor contact role usage against opportunities.

Meanwhile, Eloqua’s Contact-Level Reporting (CLR) introduced blind spots in data, further limiting insights into channel performance. These systemic issues resulted in marketing strategies that relied heavily on anecdotal evidence rather than data-driven insights.

To make matters even more challenging, the sales and marketing teams were not operating in harmony. The large, decentralized sales organization functioned independently - limiting marketing’s ability to influence outcomes and optimize strategies.

The absence of actionable insights compounded the difficulty, leaving key metrics like channel ROI and campaign influence unmeasured and unoptimized.

Our solution: A tailored marketing attribution framework

To address these challenges, Sojourn developed and implemented a comprehensive marketing attribution solution tailored specifically to Smurfit Westrock’s needs.

The first step was integrating data from multiple sources, including website tracking, offline events, marketing automation identity resolution, and CRM order data. This integration created a unified attribution database that provided a more complete view of the buying journey and marketing performance.

Custom channel definitions were established to ensure accurate tracking and reporting. UTM parameters had been optimized for some time and now were categorized to align with Smurfit Westrock’s unique requirements. This customization allowed for greater precision in measuring the performance of individual channels and subchannels.

In addition to these technical solutions, Sojourn introduced advanced analytics and delivered a monthly service to analyze marketing performance across various buying stages for each division. These insights informed strategic recommendations, enabling Smurfit Westrock to focus on high-impact areas and implement a roadmap for continuous improvement.

Visualization was a critical component of the solution, with dashboards built in Looker Studio. These dashboards provided an accessible way for teams to interpret data, identify performance gaps, and take targeted action.

Key results and outcomes

The impact of this tailored solution was significant:

• Identified marketing gaps by division: Insights revealed opportunities to improve channel performance, target buying group members earlier in their journeys, and refine segmentation strategies.

  
  

• Cost savings: Smurfit Westrock realized savings of $250,000 in FY24. This was achieved by implementing a customized attribution solution rather than investing in a productized tool, which would have required additional implementation costs and a dedicated data analyst.

  
  

• Enhanced buyer journey understanding: The solution provided a deeper understanding of the buyer journey, allowing Smurfit Westrock to align marketing strategies with revenue goals more effectively.

  
  

• Actionable dashboards: The introduction of accessible dashboards empowered various marketing teams to collaborate more closely, fostering a shared understanding of performance metrics and strategic priorities.

Insights for continuous improvement

Throughout the project, several key learnings emerged. One critical insight was the importance of evolving attribution reporting to address blind spots and meet changing business needs. Regular engagement with stakeholders was essential in ensuring that the solution remained relevant and actionable.

Another lesson was the necessity of pairing attribution solutions with ongoing analytics support. Attribution alone cannot drive results; it must be complemented by expert analysis to translate data into strategic actions. Cultural and understanding challenges also had to be addressed. Establishing a shared understanding of key metrics, such as the distinction between lead-level and touchpoint reporting, required consistent communication and education.

The project also highlighted the value of visualization in gaining stakeholder buy-in. Visual representations of the buyer journey proved instrumental in helping both strategic and operational stakeholders understand and support the attribution solution. For detail-oriented team members, an architecture diagram and glossary were essential tools for clarity and alignment.

Future enhancements: A path forward

While the solution delivered significant improvements, opportunities for further refinement remain. Funnel optimization dashboards could provide deeper insights into conversion rates, equipping sales and marketing teams with tools to collaborate on improving performance. Advanced forecasting tools could help predict the impact of customer journey gaps on future pipeline and revenue metrics.

Updating end-market dashboards to track engagement and audience growth is another potential enhancement. These updates would ensure that the solution continues to evolve alongside Smurfit Westrock’s needs, delivering sustained value over time.

A collaborative success story

This Smurfit Westrock case exemplifies the transformative power of a tailored marketing attribution solution. By addressing specific challenges and integrating data across systems, Sojourn enabled the company to transition from anecdotal decision-making to a data-driven strategy. The cost savings, improved insights, and enhanced collaboration between divisional marketing teams underscore the solution’s effectiveness.

For businesses looking to optimize their marketing efforts and align strategies with measurable outcomes, a customized attribution framework is a game-changer. Smurfit Westrock’s success story serves as a compelling example of what’s possible with the right approach to marketing attribution.