Which marketing led to the sale? A plain guide to attribution

You win a customer. Before they signed, they read a post, opened an email, visited your website twice and spoke to you on the phone. Which of those deserves the credit? That question is attribution, and the way you answer it changes what you do next.

Why the last click is not enough

Many tools give all the credit to the last thing the customer did before buying, often a click on an email or an advert. That is easy to count, but it ignores everything that happened earlier. The post that first made them aware of you gets nothing. If you only ever fund what gets the final click, you can slowly starve the things that start the conversation.

Three simple ways to share the credit

You do not need a statistician. Most small teams can use one of these three views, and compare them.

• First touch: all the credit goes to the first thing that brought the person to you. This shows what opens the door.
• Last touch: all the credit goes to the last thing before the sale. This shows what closes it.
• Shared: every touch on the way gets an equal share. This is a fair starting view when you are not sure.

None of them is the truth. Each is a different question. Looking at all three side by side often tells you more than choosing one.

What you need to record

Attribution only works if you keep a note of the touches. At a minimum:

• which emails each person received and opened
• which posts or pages brought them to your website
• the calls and meetings you had with them
• the date the deal was won and its value

If a deal has no recorded touches, say so rather than guessing. An honest “we do not know” is more useful than a tidy answer you cannot back up.

What to do with the answer

Look at your last ten or twenty won deals, not just one. Ask three questions:

1. What most often opened the door?
2. What did most winning customers have in common in the weeks before they said yes?
3. Which activity takes a lot of time but rarely appears in a won deal?

Then change one thing. Do a little more of what opens doors, a little less of what never shows up, and look again next month. Small, steady changes are easier to learn from than a big reorganisation.

Keep it modest

Attribution will not tell you why someone chose you, and it will not replace asking them. When a customer signs, ask how they heard about you and what helped them decide. Put that next to the numbers. The two together are a much better guide than either alone.