What is a Conversion Attribution?

Ruben Buijs

Founder & Digital Consultant

Written on Aug 1, 2023

3 minutes

Lead generation

Conversion attribution is a crucial concept in lead generation that helps businesses understand and evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. It refers to the process of assigning credit or determining the value of each marketing touchpoint that contributes to a conversion. By analyzing conversion attribution, businesses can gain insights into which marketing channels and campaigns are driving the most conversions, enabling them to optimize their strategies and allocate resources more effectively.

Examples

To better understand conversion attribution, let's consider a few examples:

  1. First touch attribution: A potential customer discovers a brand through a social media ad and later makes a purchase. In this case, the credit for the conversion is given solely to the initial touchpoint—the social media ad.

  2. Last touch attribution: A customer receives an email newsletter and clicks on a link that takes them to the website where they make a purchase. Here, the conversion credit is attributed to the last touchpoint—the email newsletter.

  3. Multi-touch attribution: A customer comes across a brand through an online search, then engages with social media ads, receives emails, and ultimately converts after clicking on a display ad. In this scenario, each touchpoint receives a certain percentage of credit based on a predetermined attribution model.

Importance

Conversion attribution is crucial for several reasons:

  1. Optimizing marketing campaigns: By understanding which marketing touchpoints are driving conversions, businesses can allocate their resources more effectively. They can focus their efforts on the channels and campaigns that are most successful, leading to higher conversion rates and return on investment.

  2. Improving customer journey: Conversion attribution helps businesses gain insights into the customer journey. By analyzing the different touchpoints that lead to conversions, they can identify potential roadblocks or gaps in the funnel and optimize the customer experience accordingly.

  3. Budget allocation: Effective conversion attribution allows businesses to allocate their marketing budget more efficiently. By knowing which channels are driving conversions, they can invest more in those channels and reduce spending on less effective ones.

How to Use Conversion Attribution

To effectively use conversion attribution, follow these steps:

  1. Define your conversion goals: Clearly define what actions or behaviors constitute a conversion for your business. It could be a purchase, a form submission, a newsletter sign-up, or any other desired action.

  2. Choose an attribution model: There are various attribution models to choose from, such as first touch, last touch, linear, time decay, or position-based. Select the model that best aligns with your business goals and customer journey.

  3. Implement tracking: Set up tracking mechanisms to capture data on user interactions across different touchpoints. Use tools like Google Analytics or marketing automation platforms to gather data and attribute conversions to specific touchpoints.

  4. Analyze and optimize: Regularly analyze your conversion attribution data. Identify trends, patterns, and high-performing touchpoints. Optimize your marketing campaigns based on these insights to improve overall conversion rates.

Useful Tips

Here are some useful tips to enhance your conversion attribution strategy:

  • Experiment with different attribution models: Test different attribution models to see which one best suits your business and provides the most accurate insights.

  • Consider multi-channel funnels: Analyze the customer journey across multiple touchpoints, rather than attributing conversions to single interactions. This will give you a more holistic view of the customer's path to conversion.

  • Leverage data visualization tools: Use data visualization tools to present your conversion attribution data in a clear and understandable format. Visual representations can help you quickly identify trends and patterns.

  • Regularly review and update your strategy: Conversion attribution is an ongoing process. Regularly review and update your attribution strategy based on changes in your marketing channels, customer behavior, and business goals.

FAQ

Conversion attribution is the process of determining which marketing channels or touchpoints are responsible for driving conversions or sales.
Conversion attribution is important as it helps businesses understand the impact and effectiveness of their marketing efforts, allowing them to allocate resources and optimize campaigns accordingly.
There are various types of conversion attribution models, such as last-click attribution, first-click attribution, linear attribution, time decay attribution, and position-based attribution.
Last-click attribution gives credit for a conversion to the last marketing channel or touchpoint that a customer interacted with before making a purchase or completing a desired action.
First-click attribution attributes a conversion to the first marketing channel or touchpoint that initially brought a customer to a website or campaign.
Linear attribution evenly distributes credit for a conversion across all marketing channels or touchpoints that a customer interacted with during their journey.
Time decay attribution gives more credit to the marketing channels or touchpoints that a customer interacted with closer to the time of conversion, recognizing their higher influence.
Position-based attribution assigns the most credit to the first and last marketing channels or touchpoints a customer interacted with, while distributing the remaining credit among the touchpoints in between.
Some challenges of conversion attribution include accurately tracking and attributing conversions across multiple devices, dealing with complex customer journeys, and determining the appropriate attribution model for a business.
To improve conversion attribution, businesses can implement advanced tracking technologies, use multi-touch attribution models, analyze customer data and behavior, and conduct A/B testing to measure the impact of different attribution models.

Article by

Ruben Buijs

Ruben, the founder of Boei, leverages over a decade of consultancy experience at Ernst & Young to optimize lead generation. Boei specializes in converting website visitors into qualified leads. Outside of work, Ruben is passionate about crossfit and enjoys gaming occasionally.

Table of contents

  1. Examples
  2. Importance
  3. How to Use Conversion Attribution
  4. Useful Tips
  5. Related Terms

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