Marketing attribution

What is marketing attribution?

Marketing attribution is assigning credit for pipeline and revenue to the marketing touches that produced them. Google Analytics describes an attribution model as a rule, a set of rules, or a data-driven algorithm that decides how credit is shared across the touchpoints on a buyer's path. Common models give all credit to the first touch, all to the last touch, or spread it across several.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

Attribution shapes where the next marketing dollar goes, so the model a team picks sets strategy. Google notes that credit typically goes to the last ad a customer clicked, which ignores everything that came before it. In business-to-business sales, and in commercial services in particular, many touches happen offline, at trade events, on site walks or through referrals, and never reach the analytics tool. A revenue leader should treat attribution as an estimate, know which model is in use, and check its conclusions against what sellers hear from buyers.

A pest control company's last-touch report credits paid search with 70% of new commercial agreements. When sellers ask new customers how they first heard of the company, half name a referral from a property manager or a trade association event. Paid search was mostly capturing buyers who already knew the name and searched for it.