Choosing the Right Attribution Model for Your Business
A guide to selecting an attribution model, from first touch to multi-touch U-shaped, W-shaped, time decay, custom, and even distribution approaches.
The Right Attribution Model for Your Business
Attribution involves assigning credit to campaigns that influence a buyer’s journey from their initial interaction with marketing materials through opportunity creation. The specific model an organization chooses determines how this credit gets distributed.
According to research cited in the article, “only 9% of US marketing professionals rate their company’s understanding of attribution as ‘Excellent’,” indicating widespread confusion about attribution methodology across the industry.
What Campaigns Are Being Done?
Organizations should first assess their current marketing activities. Those relying solely on outbound sales efforts like emails and calls don’t require multi-touch attribution. However, companies running multiple campaigns across paid media, webinars, and content need models that credit multiple touchpoints.
Multi-touch attribution highlights each interaction throughout the buyer’s journey, enabling teams to identify which campaign sequences lead to closed deals and optimize budget allocation accordingly.
Starting with First Touch Attribution
For organizations without existing attribution reporting, the first touch model provides a foundational starting point. This approach assigns all credit from an opportunity to the buyer’s initial marketing interaction, offering leadership basic insight into lead generation effectiveness.
Multi-Touch Attribution Models
Different models prioritize different journey stages. Organizations should consider which inflection points matter most to leadership before implementation.
The First Touch & The Last Touch
U-Shaped models credit both the first and last touchpoints most heavily, benefiting both demand generation and sales teams. Marketing typically represents the first interaction while sales outreach precedes opportunity creation.
The First, Last, and Middle Touch
W-Shaped models add emphasis to a middle touchpoint, such as the campaign triggering the shift from prospect to Marketing Qualified Lead status.
Emphasis on The Last Touch
Last Touch models award all credit exclusively to the final interaction, heavily favoring sales while providing limited marketing insights.
Time Decay models favor the last touch most but distribute decreasing credit backward through the customer journey.
Custom Attribution Model
Advanced organizations can create custom models assigning specific credit percentages to different journey stages based on their unique business priorities.
Even Distribution Model
When inflection points lack clear priority, the even model assigns equal credit to all buyer interactions, still enabling teams to understand ideal customer journeys.
Why Attribution is Essential
Without attribution reporting, teams lack visibility into campaign effectiveness. Organizations cannot identify underperforming initiatives for discontinuation or determine which efforts merit increased budget allocation. Implementing at least basic first touch attribution—or investing in professional help for comprehensive multi-touch tracking—proves more cost-effective than continuing to fund ineffective campaigns blindly.