What Is Marketing Attribution?

Marketing attribution is the process of identifying and assigning value to the various touchpoints or interactions that contribute to a conversion. As a marketer, it can help you better understand the customer journey and answer important questions like: 

• Which channels and campaigns are most effective
• How customers interact with different marketing touchpoints
• Where to allocate resources for maximum impact

I'll outline the idea in this fictional scenario:

So what ultimately led the user to make a purchase? Was it the Facebook ad? The email subscription? Browsing the site? The follow-up email with the discount code? A good understanding of marketing attribution models and best practices can help you determine that. 

The Importance of Marketing Attribution

Simple execution of marketing tactics just isn’t cutting it anymore. Marketers need to have a rhyme and reason behind all of their efforts, and they need to be able to back them up with strong performance data. That’s why marketing attribution is so critical. 

With the right attribution models and reports, you’ll have an easier time:

• Making data-driven decisions. You may think you have great intuition, but guesswork has no place in the modern world of marketing. Marketing attribution provides data-backed insights that empower you to make informed decisions based on actual performance.
• Optimizing marketing efforts. By understanding the effectiveness of different marketing channels and touchpoints, attribution allows you to optimize campaigns and delegate resources strategically, improving overall marketing efficiency and ROI.
• Allocating budgets. Attribution will help you spend strategically and allocate your budget effectively by identifying the channels that generate the most value.
• Enhancing personalization. When you understand the customer journey better, you can create more personalized and targeted campaigns that resonate with your audience.

Common Types of Marketing Attribution Models

So now you might be thinking, “This all sounds nice, but how do I actually do it?” The answer is marketing attribution modeling. 

Marketing attribution models are frameworks or methodologies that help complete the task of marketing attribution, so they assign the credit/value to various touchpoints along the customer journey. 

Let’s look at eight of them.

1. First-Touch Attribution

The first-touch attribution model ascribes the entire conversion value to the first touchpoint a customer had with any of your company’s marketing channels. In other terms, it’s the very first interaction in the buyer’s journey. 

First-touch attribution is useful for understanding how customers initially discovered your brand, product, or service. 

For example: Let's return to our meal delivery kit scenario. According to the first-touch attribution model, we'd give all the credit to the Facebook ad, which was the very first touchpoint. Easy-peasy!

2. Last-Touch Attribution

Doing a full 180°, the last-touch attribution model ascribes the entire conversion value to the final touchpoint before a conversion occurs. This model is helpful for identifying the marketing channel that directly influenced the conversion.

For example: You guessed it — a last-touch attribution model would ascribe the conversion credit solely to the discount code, which was the last touchpoint.

3. Multi-Touch Attribution

A multi-touch attribution model assigns credit to all the marketing touchpoints that a customer interacts with before making a purchase. It can help you understand how they all work together. 

There are a variety of different models for multi-touch attribution, with U-shaped and W-shaped models being the most common.

4. U-Shaped Multi-Touch Attribution

The U-shaped attribution model gives the most credit to the first and last touchpoints of the customer journey. However, it still considers the middle touchpoints and gives them a bit of credit as well. 

For example: In the meal delivery kit scenario, a U-shaped multi-touch attribution model would give most conversion credit to the Facebook ad and discount code (first and last touchpoints), but also some to the email submission form, menu items they browse on the website, and the follow-up marketing email.

5. W-Shaped Multi-Touch Attribution

The W-shaped attribution model gives equal credit to the first, last, and middle touchpoints in the customer journey. Any touchpoints between those three interactions are given equal but less credit. 

For example: In the meal delivery kit scenario, a W-shaped multi-touch attribution model would give the most conversion credit to the Facebook ad, any touchpoints while the user browsed other menu items, and the discount code. It would also give some credit to the email submission form and follow-up marketing email.

6. Multi-Channel Attribution

Multi-channel is similar to multi-touch attribution but on a wider scale. It takes channels into account, rather than specific touchpoints. So think social media, website, and email, rather than the actual tactics carried out within those.

7. Linear Attribution

The linear attribution model distributes credit equally among all touchpoints along the customer journey, giving each interaction an equal share of the conversion value. It provides a holistic view of the customer journey and is useful for understanding the cumulative impact of all marketing efforts.

For example: In the meal delivery kit scenario, all touchpoints would be given equal conversion credit.

8. Time Decay Attribution

This model gives more weight to touchpoints closer to the conversion and gradually decreases the value assigned to touchpoints further back in time. It recognizes that the influence of touchpoints diminishes over time and is particularly relevant for longer purchase cycles.

For example: In the meal delivery kit scenario, a time-decay attribution model would gradually decrease early touchpoints like the Facebook ad and email submission form and give more credit to the most recent touchpoints like the follow-up marketing email and discount code.

So, Which Marketing Attribution Model Is Right for You?

There are various types of attribution models you can use, and it’s important to remember that no single model is universally superior. They each offer unique perspectives on the customer journey, so the best choice depends on your specific business goals and industry dynamics. 

At Evenbound, we usually experiment with multiple models to see which offers us the information we, and our clients, need.

5 Marketing Attribution Best Practices

It takes a little time to get comfortable with marketing attribution modeling. It’s one thing to read about it and another thing to get your feet wet actually organizing the data and setting up the reports. Here are some tips to help as you get started and as you’re far along in your marketing attribution journey. 

1. Define Clear Goals and Metrics: Start by clearly defining your marketing goals and the metrics you want to track. This will help you choose the most appropriate attribution model and determine what success looks like for your campaigns.
2. Use Cross-Channel Tracking: Implement robust tracking systems that allow you to capture data across different marketing channels and touchpoints. This will enable accurate attribution and provide a comprehensive view of the customer journey.

Based in the EU, or service customers in the EU? Here's what you need to know about GDPR. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a stringent privacy and security law. It was drafted and passed in the European Union, but it affects any organization that wishes to collect data from people who live in the EU. The long and short of it is that if you qualify, your company must get explicit consent from users to collect their personal data, such as demographic or financial information. 

3. Don’t Forget to Customize: Tailor your attribution model to your business needs. Consider using a hybrid model that combines the strengths of multiple models or developing a custom model that reflects your unique customer journey.
4. Experiment and Test: Continuously test and refine your attribution model to ensure it accurately reflects the impact of your marketing efforts. A/B testing different models and analyzing the results can help identify the most effective approach for your business.
5. Integrate with CRM and Analytics Tools: Integrate your attribution data with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and analytics tools to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer behavior and to make data-driven decisions. Which brings us to the next section…

Best Marketing Attribution Tools to Try

When it comes to marketing attribution tools, the Evenbound team has two faves: 

• HubSpot (who would have guessed?? 😉)
• Google Analytics

HubSpot Marketing Attribution

HubSpot’s reporting software is an amazing tool for marketing attribution. It allows you to pull data from sales, marketing, and service together in one place and create custom dashboards that give you the information you’re looking for. 

I may or may not be the first to tell you this, but you can find and pull from a ton of great attribution data within HubSpot’s various hubs. However, HubSpot also allows you to integrate and get data from over 1000 other apps.

Not only are HubSpot’s attribution modeling powers strong, but they’re easy to comprehend. So when you’re sharing findings on the most valuable channels and touchpoints with key stakeholders, you’ll have an easier time getting them up to speed and on board.

Google Analytics Marketing Attribution

Google Analytics is another powerful and popular tool to guide your marketing attribution efforts. However, it’s not quite as robust as HubSpot’s and is best used for top-of-funnel attribution reporting. It’s also a little more finicky from a user experience standpoint. 

To use Google Analytics for marketing attribution, you start by creating an attribution project with as many views as you need. You may also have to set up goals and conversion points for specific channels before the right data can be gathered.

As users turn into leads and leads turn into conversions, it can be a little more difficult to track within the tool because it excludes some forms of traffic (like direct) from attribution reporting.

Need Help Driving Conversions and Growth?

That’s what we’re here for. As a digital marketing agency focused on providing growth-driven solutions through HubSpot, we’re ready to help you convert more leads and better understand where they’re coming from — ultimately helping us create more targeted, sustainable strategies that keep your marketing flywheel spinning. 

Interested? Let’s get started!