What is Marketing Attribution And why is it more critical than ever to have a clear attribution strategy
- September 19, 2025
- Posted by: Josef Bresler
- Category: Results Optimization
Simply stated, marketing attribution is a way for marketers to associate the results of their efforts with positive outcomes, like acquiring leads, generating revenue, driving sign-ups, and getting users to complete online purchases.
Why is marketing attribution important?
The reason why marketing attribution is an important topic for marketers to understand is so that they can be more efficient with how they spend their time and budget. If marketers are able to know what’s working and what’s not working, then they can more effectively manage their marketing mix.
How does marketing attribution work?
Typically, marketing-generated leads will run through a series of interactions or touch points with your company before they are ready to speak to Sales or to buy (this series of touch point is known as the “buyer’s journey”). A marketing attribution model attempts to assign “points” or a “value” to each interaction (prior to a purchase or conversion “event”). Marketers also attempt to organize these touch points into a logical sequence so that they can tell not only what’s working, but also in what sequence, so they can better support the buyer’s journey.
What questions can a marketing attribution model answer?
Typically, a marketer will use a marketing attribution model to answer these types of questions:
- What was the last activity the lead engaged-in before submitting a web form (lead acquisition)?
- How many touches does it take to get the lead to be “warmed-up” enough to talk to Sales (usually flagged as an MQL (marketing qualified lead) in your CRM system)?
- What was the last activity that the lead engaged-in before buying a company’s product (usually called a closed-won deal)?
- Should all marketing activities (touchpoints) be weighted equally?
With this type of attribution information, Demand Generation Managers, Revenue Marketers, and Growth Marketers can make decisions about how to sequence their activities, how to optimize their budgets, and how to shorten the buyer’s journey for conversion.
What types of marketing attribution models are available?
Single-touch Attribution Models - Pros and Cons
Single-touch attribution models are those that only take into account one marketing activity touch point.
- Pro: simplest model to understand and use – typically first touch (the first time a lead is captured) or last touch (when the lead converts to a close-won deal)
- Con: leaves-out the bigger picture of how other marketing activities impact the buyer’s journey, potentially undervaluing or ignoring multiple marketing touchpoints. Single touch can also inaccurately attribute success of a channel. For example, when last touch is applied to a channel that was used for acquisition, then the acquisition channel doesn’t get the credit
Multi-touch Attribution Models - Pros and Cons
Multi-touch attribution models are those that take into account all or many marketing activity touches leading-up to getting the lead to convert.
- Pro: Assigns value to multiple marketing touch points, acknowledging that most leads need multiple touches to become Sales-ready or to convert to an opportunity or closed deal (depending on how far in the journey you measure)
- Con: Can be more complex to implement and to understand, and sometimes can be considered as a “black box” which can create a lack of trust with some Marketers or Salespeople
What are the most common types of multi-touch attribution models?
Within the realm of multi-touch attribution models, there are several different types of models that can be used to assign credit to your marketing activities. These are the most common marketing attribution models you may encounter:
- Linear attribution model: This attribution model assigns equal credit to all marketing touchpoints across the customer journey
- Time-decay attribution model: This attribution model assigns more credit to touchpoints that occur closer to the conversion than to touchpoints that are further away from the conversion (i.e. the value “decays” over time)
- U-shaped attribution model (sometimes also called “position-based” attribution model): This model assigns more credit to the first and last touchpoints in the customer journey, but still takes into account touchpoints in the middle of the journey (the model usually values mid-journey touches evenly but lower than those at the start and end of the journey)
- W-shaped attribution model: This model assigns more credit to the first touch, last touch, and the middle touch in the buyer’s journey, either without assigning values to other touches, or assigns much lower values to other touches
- Custom attribution models can also be setup, but typically what’s different is how the company calculates the percentage of credit that is assigned to a particular marketing touch or channel activity (for example, by assigning a higher weighting or higher value to a particular tactic, like events or webinars)
How should you choose the right marketing attribution model?
The best marketing attribution model for your company will depend on your specific needs and goals, along with the narrative you’re trying to tell. If you are looking for a simple and easy-to-implement model, then a single-touchpoint model may be a good option, but you should be aware of and agree with your marketers why you are choosing that model, and what the bias will be (for example, using a last touch attribution model when your marketing plans are very events-heavy may inappropriately lead team members to believe that events are the only activity that are converting, causing budget to be reallocated accordingly).
However, if you are looking for a more accurate model that can help you optimize your marketing budget, along with the team’s time, and efforts, then a multi-touchpoint model may be a better choice, since it will give marketers a more complete picture of the impact of their activities on moving leads through the funnel.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing a marketing attribution model:
- The complexity of your marketing campaigns: If you have a complex marketing campaign with many potential touchpoints, then you should consider a more sophisticated attribution model
- Your budget: Some attribution models are more expensive to implement and maintain than others, and may require additional tracking and reporting software to be purchased and setup, or even teams of people to manage the tools or build and maintain the models
- The availability of your marketing data (tracking): You will need to capture and access data about your marketing touchpoints throughout the buyer’s journey to use a marketing attribution model. If you don’t have the proper tracking and storage of the data, then a sophisticated attribution model will not benefit your efforts
Conclusion
Marketing attribution is a valuable tool for marketers to assess which channels have the greatest impact on moving leads through the buyer’s journey. By understanding which marketing channels are most effective in driving conversions, marketers can allocate their budgets and direct their teams toward the activities that have the highest likelihood of producing results.
Given that there are many different marketing attribution models available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, marketers will need to assess what type of model will best meet their specific needs and goals. Typically this decision is driven by Marketing Operations or Revenue Operations, in partnership with Marketing and Sales leadership. Attribution information will also have visibility to the Board of Directors as marketing reports results, so choose wisely when selecting an atribution model, because it will be difficult and messy to have to change it later (or to explain the change).
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