How Multi-touch Attribution Works in Marketing

Feeling lost while trying to understand how multi-touch attribution works in the marketing maze and uncertain about which efforts truly drive results? You’re not alone; many marketers face the same dilemma. Connecting marketing spend to tangible outcomes is challenging, but multi-touch attribution provides a clear solution.

Multi-touch attribution connects various marketing touchpoints. It reveals the true impact of your digital marketing campaigns by linking them to different advertising interactions.

Table Of Contents:

• Understanding Multi-Touch Attribution
  • The Challenge of the Multi-Screen World
  • Data-Driven Approach in Marketing
• Different Models of Multi-Touch Attribution
  • Linear Attribution
  • Time Decay Attribution
  • U-Shaped Attribution
  • W-Shaped Attribution
  • Custom Attribution Models
• Benefits of Multi-Touch Attribution
  • Enhanced Understanding of the Customer Journey
  • Optimizing Marketing Spend
  • Improved Marketing ROI
• Implementing Multi-Touch Attribution: Tools & Techniques
  • Combining the Data
  • Visualizing the Data
  • Attribution Software for Streamlining your Campaign Efforts
• Multi-Touch Attribution Beyond Digital
• Multi-Touch Attribution for Non-Profits
• Conclusion

Understanding Multi-Touch Attribution

Imagine the customer journey as a soccer game. A single player rarely carries the ball from one end to the other, scoring unassisted.

Instead, multiple players pass the ball, each contributing to the final goal. Multi-touch attribution operates similarly, crediting each “player” (or marketing touchpoint) that influences a customer’s decision.

However, determining the precise level of influence has traditionally presented a significant challenge for marketers. Multi-touch attribution models seek to solve the challenge.

The Challenge of the Multi-Screen World

The complexity increases with customers using multiple devices. 90% of multiple device owners switch between screens to complete a task, according to Google.

This is because users are engaging across various platforms. This fragmentation complicates tracking efforts.

How can marketers maintain a comprehensive view of these touchpoints? Data becomes essential.

Data-Driven Approach in Marketing

Modern digital marketing empowers us to use data and results as guides. You can actively monitor the outcomes you aim to achieve.

Platforms continuously update, offering new methods to analyze performance. Data driven marketing provides valuable insight.

Despite this, gaining a holistic view can be difficult. Multi-touch attribution steps in to address this, but its implementation requires careful consideration, such as marketing attribution modeling.

Different Models of Multi-Touch Attribution

There are several multi-touch attribution models. Below are the primary models you should understand.

Familiarizing ourselves with each one enables us to choose the approach best for the company. Different marketing attribution software might perform these models differently.

Linear Attribution

The linear model resembles splitting a dinner bill equally. Each touchpoint receives equal credit for the conversion.

While simple, it doesn’t highlight which touchpoints had the greatest impact. But it is an improvement as it starts assigning credit to each interaction in the user’s journey.

Time Decay Attribution

This model assigns greater credit to interactions closer to the conversion. It acknowledges that the final touchpoints often exert a stronger influence, as noted by marketing expert, Avinash Kaushik.

It provides a broader perspective and identifies the most effective tactics. This approach clarifies which strategies directly lead to conversions.

U-Shaped Attribution

Here, the first and last touchpoints receive the most weight (40% credit each). The remaining 20% is distributed among the intermediate touchpoints.

This model emphasizes “openers” and “closers.” However, it may undervalue the middle stages of the customer journey.

W-Shaped Attribution

The W-shaped model gives more credit to the first, middle, and last touchpoints. This method acknowledges the intricate nature of customer interactions.

It identifies critical moments of customer engagement. This allows for focused optimization of these touchpoints.

Custom Attribution Models

If none of these models align with your circumstances, a custom model can be made. This task presents difficulties, potentially exceeding initial expectations.

It demands thorough knowledge of customer journeys and previous performance data. The calculations can be complex, venturing into data science territory.

Benefits of Multi-Touch Attribution

Why the emphasis on a broader perspective? Multi-touch models provide marketers with the most comprehensive view of what drives marketing performance.

Identifying lead and customer origins, understanding conversion points, and attributing value to all touchpoints offer clear advantages. It can also have last touch attribution.

Let’s examine this from a top-down perspective.

Enhanced Understanding of the Customer Journey

Multi-touch attribution illuminates the complete customer narrative. This starts from initial contact all the way through a purchase.

By pinpointing the channels and campaigns that contribute to conversions, marketers can make better choices. These strategic decisions result in better budget allocation, focusing on top performers and minimizing wasteful spending.

Optimizing Marketing Spend

It exposes where spending is most and least effective. With clearer answers, you can apply these strategies.

These changes lead to improved conversion rates. Cross channel attribution also becomes easier to track.

Martech Today reports that investment in multi-touch attribution solutions is rising. Companies are leveraging its power to guide future budget allocations.

Improved Marketing ROI

Better data also improves customer engagement quality. It creates better connections at the right moments.

Connected attribution provides a clear perspective of what happened, allowing marketing efforts to be prioritized. This helps reduce sales cycles, enabling prospects to quickly find the information they are searching for.

Implementing Multi-Touch Attribution: Tools & Techniques

Understanding the models is one thing, but implementation might seem overwhelming. The complexity of the customer journey, with multiple devices and evolving privacy policies, adds to the challenge.

Many years ago, John Wanamaker stated that he knew half of his advertising spend was wasted; the problem was not knowing which half. Collecting all the touchpoint data can seem complicated.

However, we now have the ability to track these interactions and attribute performance data. There are methods to address data collection, allowing proper cross channel attribution:

• JavaScript: Implement code on your pages to capture user activity data. Some common code snippets include:

• page tracks views.
• track records actions.
• identify associates traits.

• UTMs: These snippets, appended to URLs, provide information on visitor origin. This can be the traffic source and campaign details.
• APIs: Integrations with your CRM or advertising platforms offer customer identification methods.

Combining the Data

How do you merge this data? Start with a centralized storage location.

Secure repositories can consolidate marketing insights, simplifying analysis. Consider data hygiene to keep things flowing smoothly.

For instance, webhooks were beneficial for organizing this part for Prezly’s co-founder, Gijs Nelissen. However, be mindful of potential engineering constraints.

It’s vital to account for each customer stakeholder. As well as, factoring in the full duration of buying cycles.

In these scenarios, structure the data to accommodate B2B contexts, or B2B attribution.

Visualizing the Data

At this stage, we need something actionable, not just impressive software. Avoid the “shiny object syndrome”.

It needs to answer the following critical marketing questions: Who is coming to the site, What did they see, and When did it happen?

Proper execution of these steps unlocks a clear conversion path for website traffic. Now we see true sales attribution, fairly crediting each interaction with complete user information.

Attribution Software for Streamlining your Campaign Efforts

There are numerous effective options available. A multi-touch attribution tool, like Wicked Reports helps pinpoint successful strategies and identify areas of failure.

Undertaking this independently requires strong technical skills, similar to those of Gijs Nelissen. A detailed tutorial for a from-scratch approach is available from Rittman Analytics.

This becomes helpful in digital marketing attribution.

Multi-Touch Attribution Beyond Digital

Multi-touch attribution commonly monitors actions like:

• Page views
• Ad clicks

It then assigns credit to those actions. That is why multi-touch software tools are crucial.

This is becoming increasingly important as privacy regulations evolve, removing data leakage from third-parties. An effective solution is critical for attribution.

Multi-touch complements Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM). The combined insights give a much clearer picture.

Harvard Business Review found that calibrating MMM with other data insights improved models by 15%.

Multi-Touch Attribution for Non-Profits

Non-profits should pay attention as well. Applying a multi-touch attribution strategy to nonprofits provides information to enhance efforts and improve outreach.

Tracking these journeys empowers non-profits to allocate resources effectively. This is a benefit to achieving the mission.

Conclusion

Attribution used to be a simple “if-then” equation. It is now considerably more sophisticated.

Multi-touch attribution provides a comprehensive view of the customer journey, encompassing multiple touchpoints. Though seemingly complex, a step-by-step approach offers significant advantages.

Even more refined models are expected in the future, but this strategy is already successful. Begin leveraging the power of multi-touch attribution insights immediately.