Attribution Models

Attribution models are used to attribute credit for conversions (sales, leads, etc.) to different touchpoints or interactions that a customer has with a business. There are several different attribution models that can be used to attribute website traffic:

1. Last-click attribution: This model attributes 100% of the credit for a conversion to the last touchpoint that a customer had before converting. This model is simple and easy to understand, but it can be unfair to earlier touchpoints that may have played a significant role in the customer’s decision to convert.
2. First-click attribution: This model attributes 100% of the credit for a conversion to the first touchpoint that a customer had before converting. This model can give a good idea of the initial source of the customer, but it may not consider the customer’s behaviour before converting.
3. Linear attribution: This model gives equal credit to all touchpoints that a customer had before converting. This model can be a good way to give credit to all interactions that a customer had before converting, but it may not reflect the true impact of each touchpoint.
4. Time decay attribution: This model gives more credit to touchpoints that occurred closer in time to the conversion. This model can be a good way to reflect the importance of recent touchpoints in the customer’s decision to convert, but it may not give enough credit to touchpoints that occurred earlier in the customer’s journey.
5. Position-based attribution: This model gives the majority of credit to the first and last touchpoints and a smaller portion of the credit to the middle touchpoints. This model can provide a good balance between giving credit to the initial and final touchpoints while also giving some credit to middle touchpoints, however, it may not give enough credit to the middle touchpoints that played a significant role in the customer’s decision to convert.
6. Data-driven attribution: This model uses machine learning algorithms to analyse customer behaviour and determine the true impact of each touchpoint on the conversion. This model can be the most accurate way to attribute conversions, but it can be complex to set up and requires a large amount of data to be effective.

Ultimately, the choice of attribution model depends on the business’s goals and the type of data available. It’s worth noting that no single model is perfect, and it’s always a good idea to experiment with different models to determine which one works best for your business.

At BlackBull Partners, we use the last-click attribution model for referral traffic. It’s important to understand that with this model, attribution can sometimes work in your favour and other times against you. Usually, there are several touchpoints during the decision-making process, but we have decided that the largest attribution weighting should be applied to the final click before signup.