Marketing attribution is the concept of digitally assigning credit to specific marketing efforts that drive conversions for a business, helping them optimise resource allocation. Proper attribution helps businesses understand which channels, campaigns or initiatives are the most effective in driving conversion, providing key insights to optimise marketing spend and improve strategy for better ROI.
This blog explores marketing attribution, different types of attribution models, and a simple framework for their use cases in various businesses.
Types of attribution models
Attribution models can be categorised into single-touch and multi-touch:
- Single-touch models: All credit for the conversion is given to one channel only.
- First-touch: The first interaction the customer had with your brand gets all the credit for the conversion.
- Use case: Ideal for businesses with long sales cycles or those focused on top-of-funnel awareness.
- Last-touch: The last interaction before conversion gets all the credit.
- Use case: Suitable for businesses that focus on the final conversion action or have short sales cycles.
- First-touch: The first interaction the customer had with your brand gets all the credit for the conversion.
- Multi-touch models: The credit of the conversion is distributed among the contributing channels.
- Linear: Distributes credit equally across all touchpoints.
- Use case: Good for businesses wanting a balanced view of every channel’s contribution.
- Time decay: Gives more credit to touchpoints that are closer in time to the conversion.
- Use case: Useful for businesses where recent interactions are more influential.
- Position-based (U-shaped): Typically gives 40% credit to the first touch, 40% to the last touch, and the remaining 20% is evenly split among the middle interactions.
- Use case: Works well for businesses where both initial awareness and final conversion interactions are critical.
- Custom model: Allows businesses to assign weights based on their specific needs and insights.
- Use case: Custom models are ideal for businesses with complex customer journeys or specific goals.
- Linear: Distributes credit equally across all touchpoints.
I recommend starting with simpler attribution models, such as first-touch or last-touch, to gain initial insights. From there, you can gradually evolve to more complex attribution models at your own pace. This approach allows you to extract valuable insights at each stage without overwhelming your resources or team. As your data capabilities and analytical expertise grow, adopting more advanced models becomes a natural progression, helping you refine your understanding of how marketing and sales touchpoints contribute to overall success.
By following this approach, businesses can maximise the value of their attribution analysis over time, from initial insights to a comprehensive, data-driven strategy.
Proposed rules of thumb for choosing the right model
Selecting the right attribution model depends on the nature of your business, your sales cycle, and your specific marketing goals. Each model has its strengths and weaknesses, making it more or less suitable for different scenarios. Here are some rules of thumb to guide you when choosing an attribution model:
- New businesses or those with large brand-building campaigns might focus on first-touch attribution to understand which channels are driving initial brand awareness.
- Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands with short buying cycles might rely on last-touch attribution for a quick understanding of conversion-driving channels.
- E-commerce with many digital touchpoints might benefit from multi-touch attribution like linear or time decay models, offering insights into the full customer journey.
- Lead generation businesses, where the journey is complex, often find position-based attribution useful to value both initial touchpoints and those close to conversion.
| Attribution model | Use case scenario | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| First-touch | Brand awareness, new customer acquisition | Focus on top-of-funnel activities |
| Last-touch | Direct response campaigns, short sales cycles | Focus on bottom-of-funnel activities |
| Linear | Long sales cycles, multiple touchpoints | All touchpoints are equally important |
| Time decay | Awareness + conversion focus | Balance between initial and final touchpoints |
| Position-based | Large data sets, sophisticated analytics | Use data to identify patterns in customer behavior |
| Data-driven | Unique business needs, specific goals | Tailor the model to your own conversion insights |
Conclusion
Marketing attribution is a critical tool for optimising marketing strategies, as it provides a deeper understanding of how each channel contributes to conversions. By implementing different attribution models, businesses can gain insights into their customers’ journeys and make data-driven decisions. With the provided use case guide above, you can start exploring which attribution models better suit your business needs.
Whether you are a startup looking to understand your initial touchpoints or an established brand optimising across multiple channels, there’s an attribution model that can help you make better marketing decisions. In future posts, I will provide a step-by-step guide on how to create these attribution models, including detailed data requirements along with sample codes. Stay tuned!