What Is Attribution Modeling?
Determining which marketing touchpoints receive credit for conversions, from simple last-click models to complex multi-touch attribution.
Attribution Modeling Explained
Attribution modeling answers the question: "Which marketing efforts are actually driving sales?" When a customer interacts with your brand across multiple channels before buying, attribution determines which channels get credit.
The simplest models are last-click (credit goes to the final touchpoint) and first-click (credit goes to the first). These are easy to implement but misleading. A customer might discover you through SEO, engage with a social post, and convert through an email. Last-click gives all credit to email and zero to SEO and social.
Multi-touch attribution distributes credit across all touchpoints. Linear attribution splits credit equally. Time-decay gives more credit to recent touchpoints. Data-driven models use algorithms to assign credit based on actual conversion patterns.
The shift to privacy-first browsing (iOS restrictions, cookie deprecation) has made attribution harder. Many companies are moving toward incrementality testing and marketing mix modeling as alternatives to click-level tracking.
Why Attribution Modeling Matters
Without attribution, you cannot allocate marketing budget effectively. You might cut spending on the channel that introduces customers and double down on the channel that merely closes them. Incorrect attribution leads to incorrect budget decisions.
Common Mistakes
- 1
Relying solely on last-click attribution, which overvalues bottom-funnel channels
- 2
Expecting perfect attribution accuracy. All models are approximations.
- 3
Ignoring offline touchpoints like events, phone calls, and word-of-mouth
Related Terms
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The total cost to acquire one new customer, calculated by dividing all sales and marketing spend by the number of new customers acquired.
Performance Marketing
Results-driven marketing where advertisers pay for specific measurable actions like clicks, leads, or sales rather than impressions.
Full-Funnel Marketing
A marketing strategy that addresses every stage of the buyer journey: awareness, consideration, decision, and retention, rather than optimizing only one stage.
How Attainment Helps
Related Services
Frequently Asked Questions
Which attribution model is best?
There is no single best model. Last-click works for simple funnels. Multi-touch is better for complex B2B sales cycles. Data-driven models are most accurate but require significant data volume. Start with multi-touch and evolve as your data matures.
How has iOS privacy affected attribution?
iOS 14.5+ requires user opt-in for tracking, which broke many attribution models. Roughly 80% of iOS users opt out. This reduces visibility into cross-device and cross-channel journeys. Companies are shifting to server-side tracking and marketing mix modeling.
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