Marketing Attribution
Determining which marketing touchpoints contribute to conversions and how to credit them.
Also known as: Attribution modeling, Multi-touch attribution, Marketing measurement
Category: Concepts
Tags: marketing, analytics, metrics, businesses, strategies
Explanation
Marketing attribution assigns credit for conversions across the customer journey touchpoints—ads, content, emails, referrals, and more. Attribution models include: first-touch (credit first interaction), last-touch (credit final interaction), linear (equal credit to all), time-decay (more credit to recent touches), and data-driven (algorithmic weighting). Attribution is challenging because: customers use multiple devices, journeys are non-linear, some touchpoints assist without converting, and privacy changes limit tracking. Understanding attribution helps allocate budget effectively—without it, you might over-invest in last-touch channels while undervaluing awareness-building activities. For creators, even simple attribution (asking 'how did you find us?') reveals which channels actually drive sales.
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