Attribution: An Enlightened Approach to Growing Your Business

By Tinuiti Team

Jun 10 2016

If you’ve never looked at your KPI data from different attribution types, prepare to have your AHA moment! Whether your business goals are to grow orders or subscriptions, generate leads, or to maximize revenue – considering all the steps it took for your customer to convert is key to growing your business.

Chances are that you are using the default last click conversion attribution type to measure the success of your online marketing efforts. If so, you’re only looking at the very last step your customer took to convert. You’re not seeing the whole picture! More likely than not, your customer took many steps and interacted with several touch points before converting. In order to know where to invest online spend as well as where there are opportunities for growth, you should at least be aware of these touch points. Ignoring the first interaction, or the interactions in between that last click that you currently measure all your data in can be detrimental to the long-term success of your business!

Different Attribution Models

Google Analytics has a great resource for comparing different attribution models: The Model Comparison Tool. The tool allows you to compare up to three attribution models at a time. Different attribution models already in analytics include:

Last Interaction – all credit goes to the last interaction before a user converts
Last Non-Direct Click – all credit goes to the last non-direct interaction before a user converts
Last AdWords Click- all credit goes to the last Google AdWords ad that a user clicks on prior to converting
First Interaction – all credit goes to the first interaction
Linear – gives equal credit to each touchpoint in the conversion path
Time Decay – gives credit to all channels in the conversion path, but assigns more credit to the touch points closest to time of conversion and less credit to the initial touch points.
Position Based – splits the credit between the first and last interaction
You are also able to create custom attribution models.

Understand Which Channels or Campaigns Attribute to Your Customers Converting

Your current attribution model may not give credit to campaign types or channels that assist in driving conversions. It’s common to see users engage with a brand several times and across numerous digital channels before finally completing a conversion goal (such as a sale, a member sign-up, or form submission). For example, a user may have first interacted with your brand by clicking on a search ad, returned to your site through a remarketing ad, then converted via email marketing. Multi-Channel Funnels reports can help you assess how your customers engage with your brand. The Top Conversion Paths report in GA Multi-Channel Funnels displays the different paths users took leading up to a conversion. This report gives insight into the different channels and campaigns that ultimately drive your business.

Now you can take a more enlightened and holistic approach to analyzing your data! Play around with the different attribution models, and note your top conversion paths. Perhaps there was a test you’ve run in the past deemed unsuccessful because you saw a low volume of last click conversions – reevaluate the results and you may be surprised. Grasp opportunities that you’ve never considered before, and use your attribution knowledge for a more educated approach to maximizing your business goals!