Attribution Model
Definition
A framework for determining how credit for sales and conversions is assigned to different marketing touchpoints (e.g., first-click, last-click, or multi-touch).
Example Use Case
A B2B software company tracks whether a lead first clicked a Google Ad or an organic blog post before signing up for a demo.
An attribution model decides which marketing touchpoint gets credit for a conversion. That choice is not neutral: it determines which channels look effective, and therefore where budget goes next.
Single-touch models are simple and misleading in opposite directions. Last-click credits whatever the customer saw immediately before converting, which overstates branded search and retargeting. First-click credits discovery, which overstates awareness channels. Neither reflects a journey where several touchpoints contributed.
Multi-touch models spread credit across the path, and data-driven approaches weight touchpoints by observed contribution. None is objectively correct, because the underlying data is incomplete: offline conversations, word of mouth, and cross-device journeys are often invisible. The practical approach is to choose a model deliberately, state which one you are using, and compare trends rather than treating the output as ground truth.
