Marketing Attribution: Understanding Last-Touch and Multi-Touch Models
Marketing attribution is the process of identifying and assigning credit to marketing touchpoints that influence a customer’s journey toward conversion.
It helps businesses understand which channels, campaigns, or interactions drive value, optimize strategies and investment, and make data-driven decisions to maximize return on marketing investment.
Last-Touch Attribution
Most organizations rely on traditional last-touch attribution, a simple model that assigns 100% credit to the last engagement or touchpoint in a customer’s journey.
The most recent touchpoint is playing the critical part in driving the conversion.
However, last-touch routinely undervalues awareness-building channels and biases the investment toward end-of-funnel tactics/touchpoints, which can distort strategy and reduce overall pipeline growth.
A more comprehensive approach, such as multi-touch attribution, may be necessary to accurately assess the impact of various marketing touchpoints.
Author's Summary
Understanding marketing attribution is crucial for businesses to optimize their strategies and investment.