Assigning credit for a conversion across the touchpoints that led to it.
Attribution is how you decide which marketing touchpoints get credit for a conversion when a customer interacts with several before converting. Because most journeys involve multiple channels, the model you choose changes which channels look effective and where you invest next.
Common models include last-click (all credit to the final touch), first-click, linear (equal across touches), time-decay (more to recent touches), and data-driven (algorithmically distributed). There is no single correct model; each answers a different question and carries different blind spots.
Attribution decides your budget. Last-click, still a common default, systematically under-credits awareness and upper-funnel channels like content and paid social, which rarely get the final click, and over-credits brand search and retargeting that simply catch already-decided buyers.
Trusting a single model as truth, ignoring the growing gap caused by privacy changes and cookie loss, and forgetting that a lot of demand (word of mouth, offline, dark social) is never tracked at all. Modern measurement pairs attribution with incrementality testing.
Common questions
Straight answers on how this fits your marketing and build.
None is universally best. Last-click is simple but under-credits early touches; data-driven is fairer but needs volume. The pragmatic approach is to understand each model’s bias and validate spend decisions with incrementality tests.
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