We recently sat down with San Sareen, Regional Vice President (EMEA) at impact.com, to hear about channel convergence and the collapsing marketing funnel.
According to Sareen, while the industry is moving away from working within silos, the primary convergence barrier for brands is a lack of data points and metrics — something powered by technology. Once that gap is plugged, Sareen said, strategy is the next priority.
The collapsing funnel
At the same time, Sareen said the funnel is “collapsing.” But what does this mean for creators?
“From a funnel standpoint, I think we're now heading towards a space where even the funnel is collapsing. So, from a standpoint of last click being almost obsolete, AI coming in, moving from a click-based attribution system to a signals-based attribution system. Creators can and will be across all parts of this collapsed new funnel,” Sareen noted.
This was something raised in Sareen’s panel on full funnel influence at IPX, where one panellist noted that the first moment of influence and the last moment of conversion are becoming “further apart.” Here, for example, while a booking may have happened, it's challenging to get insight into the whole story, including what inspired the booking in the first place.
Creator segmentation
Indeed, in our conversation with Sareen, the VP said that creators are now integrated into all stages of the customer journey, from inspiration and introducing new products to reinforcing interest and driving conversions.
On the panel, speakers also emphasised the need for better creator segmentation, moving away from the expectation that one type of creator delivers every outcome and instead adopting a tiered, ecosystem-based approach — one where there are different types of creators for different stages of the funnel.
Creator compensation
And against this backdrop, monetisation and compensation models for creators are evolving beyond simple fixed fees or standard CPC/CPA models.
Brands are moving toward “hybrid” compensation models that account for the diverse value partners provide in a clickless world.
This includes rewarding partners for various performance signals, such as driving impressions, bringing in new customers, or contributing to long-term customer lifetime value (LTV).
And according to Sareen, when it comes to the convergence piece, brands owning first-party relationships with all partner types across diverse audience demographics will become increasingly important.
Watch the full interview below.
