Today, the average purchase journey involves 56 touchpoints across different platforms. This proliferation of channels introduces a new layer of complexity and complicates creative alignment, because disjointed campaigns arouse distrust and frustration among consumers.
If marketers can’t identify which channel combinations are working or, more importantly, which aren’t, it becomes nearly impossible to effectively prioritize ad spend. With the right attribution In this model, marketers can centralize metrics to visualize the entire customer journey, prioritize budgets to maximize ad spend, and make data-driven recommendations to executives. These tools help centralize and standardize data and ensure it is clean, deduplicated, and ready for further analysis.
Choosing the right attribution model can be complicated. Here are the most common types, along with their advantages and disadvantages.
Full path model
This model is the most comprehensive and technical because it provides the most comprehensive tracking of a customer’s journey, recording every marketing interaction they encounter from the first point of contact to the final conversion. It takes into account all marketing efforts, such as display ads, social media interactions, email campaigns, and even post-purchase engagements, making it highly effective for in-depth analysis of what’s working and what doesn’t work.
It provides a detailed end-to-end view of the customer journey, allowing marketers to accurately attribute revenue to specific marketing efforts. It also helps optimize budget allocation by highlighting the most influential touchpoints in the customer journey and supports strategic decision-making by revealing how different channels work together to influence conversions.
However, it requires significant resources, including advanced analytics tools and trained personnel to manage and interpret the data, and can be time-consuming to set up and maintain.
Linear attribution
This model assigns equal value to all touchpoints in the customer journey. For example, if a customer finds you on Facebook, then signs up for your newsletter, and finally clicks on an email link before making a purchase, each touchpoint will receive equal credit for the conversion.
It is relatively easy to implement and understand, making it a practical option for teams with limited resources or those just beginning to explore multi-touch attribution. Giving equal credit to all touchpoints in the customer journey emphasizes the value of each interaction. The downside, however, is that it lacks nuanced information, as it doesn’t account for the varying influence that different interactions can have on the final conversion.
Time decay model
Unlike the linear model, where each interaction gets equal credit, the time decay model assigns varying credit to all marketing touchpoints in the customer journey. It weighs them based on how close they are to final conversion.
For example, if a customer first encounters your brand through an email, but then clicks a button on your website, the email will receive minimal credit, while clicking on the website will receive the most, reflecting its more significant influence at the point of purchase.
Giving more credit to subsequent touchpoints emphasizes nurturing leads and building relationships over time. This model is most useful for businesses with extensive sales processes, where multiple touchpoints are needed to guide the customer toward a decision.
The disadvantages of this model are that it is less effective for short sales cycles because it underestimates critical first touchpoints. It can also provide limited insight into the effectiveness of top-of-funnel activities, which are critical to initial brand awareness and interest.
W-shaped model
The W-shaped model follows a very specific pattern: 90% of the credit is distributed equally between the first, third and last marketing touchpoint. These three stages: visit, prospecting and sale are considered the most critical of the customer journey. The remaining 10% is distributed between the second and fourth points of contact, hence the W shape.
Highlighting the visit, prospecting and sales stages highlights the most influential moments that drive conversions. This model is well suited to businesses with multi-stage sales processes, where specific interactions are crucial to moving customers through the funnel. This benefits marketers who want to highlight critical stages of the customer journey without neglecting the value of intermediate interactions. Although its biggest flaw is that it neglects touchpoints outside of these stages, it does highlight key interactions in the funnel.
However, by adhering to a defined model, it may overlook various influences on other touchpoints that contribute to the overall customer experience. Its rigid structure may only adapt to certain customer journeys, particularly those with non-linear or more complex journeys.
U-shaped model
Like the W-shaped model, a U-shaped model gives 80% of the credit to the first and last interaction, typically the initial visit and final conversion. The remaining 20% is distributed among intermediate touchpoints, reflecting their supporting role in guiding the customer through the purchasing journey.
This model is ideal for businesses that want to focus on the most influential touchpoints (attracting customers and driving conversions) without completely ignoring the value of middle touchpoints. It simplifies attribution by focusing on the most critical steps, making it easier to understand and implement, and prioritizes initial engagement and final conversion, making it ideal for strategies heavily focused on these areas.
But giving less credit to intermediate touchpoints might underestimate the role of support activities between the first and last steps. This model is less effective for businesses with longer or complex sales cycles where intermediate touchpoints have a significant impact on final conversion.
Custom models
Attribution models can be tailored to a business’s specific needs, incorporating elements of standard models rather than creating something entirely new, allowing precise control over the distribution of credit for conversions and between the points of contact. However, developing and maintaining custom models can be time-consuming and expensive. A more practical approach is to use predefined attribution models and adjust them as necessary.
Transforming knowledge into action
As privacy regulations tighten and third-party cookies slowly fading, understanding customer behavior at every touchpoint becomes more critical than ever. But multi-touch attribution is not a one-size-fits-all solution; it is a dynamic process that requires continuous analysis and adjustments. Marketers must be willing to switch between different models and ask critical questions to ensure their strategies remain effective.
Marketers who regularly adjust their attribution models and ask the right questions will be better equipped to turn their insights into actionable strategies. In doing so, they can optimize their campaigns, make data-driven decisions, and ultimately achieve meaningful results in an ever-changing advertising ecosystem.
