Attribution
Attribution is the practice of assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touchpoints that preceded it, using a chosen rule such as last-click, first-click, or a multi-touch model.
Because customers usually touch several channels before converting, attribution decides which of those touches gets credit. Last-click gives it all to the final touch; first-click to the initial one; multi-touch models spread it across the journey. Each rule tells a different story from the same data.
Attribution assigns credit; it does not measure cause. A channel can receive attribution credit for conversions that would have happened anyway, which is why attribution and incrementality often disagree and why controlled tests matter for big budget decisions.
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