Attribution Model
Attribution Model
Definition:
In digital marketing, attribution refers to the process of assigning credit or value to specific touchpoints or marketing channels that have contributed to a desired outcome, such as a conversion or a sale.
An attribution model is used to identify which marketing efforts or channels have been most effective in driving conversions or achieving business goals, and to understand the customer journey that led to those outcomes. Effective attribution requires the ability to track user interactions across multiple devices and channels, and to identify the specific touchpoints that influenced a customer’s decision to convert. An attribution model can help marketers optimize their campaigns and allocate their budgets more effectively by identifying the most impactful channels and touchpoints in the customer journey.
From September 2023, Google are sunsetting First-click, linear, time-decay and position-based attribution models. Google points out that less than 3% of conversions in Google Ads using these models. This will mean the Cross-channel data-driven, last click and Ads preferred models will remain.
Attribution Models and Google Analytics 4:
Google Analytics 4 provides several attribution models that allow you to assign credit to different touchpoints in a user’s journey. GA4 uses a default attribution model – cross channel data driven. However, the following are the different attribution models in GA4, along with their advantages and disadvantages:
Cross-channel data-driven:
- This attribution model uses machine learning to analyse conversion paths and assign credit to the touchpoints that are most likely to have contributed to the conversion. The advantage of this model is that it is the most accurate because it is based on actual data. However, it requires a large volume of conversion data to work effectively.
Last click:
- This attribution model assigns all credit for a conversion to the last touchpoint that the user interacted with before converting. The advantage of this model is that it is simple and easy to understand. However, it may not accurately reflect the user’s journey and can undervalue other touchpoints.
First click:
- This attribution model assigns all credit for a conversion to the first touchpoint that the user interacted with. The advantage of this model is that it can help you understand how users are discovering your site. However, it may undervalue touchpoints that occur later in the journey.
Linear:
- This model assigns equal credit to each touchpoint in the user’s journey. The advantage of this model is that it gives equal weight to all touchpoints, which can be helpful in understanding the overall impact of your marketing efforts.
Position-based:
- This attribution model assigns the majority of the credit to the first and last touchpoints, with the remaining credit divided equally among the touchpoints in the middle. The advantage of this model is that it gives more credit to the touchpoints that are most likely to have the biggest impact on the user’s journey. However, it may undervalue touchpoints in the middle of the journey that still have some impact.
Time decay:
- This attribution model assigns more credit to touchpoints that occur closer in time to the conversion. The advantage of this model is that it reflects the idea that touchpoints closer to the conversion are more likely to have had a bigger impact on the user’s decision. However, it may undervalue touchpoints that occurred earlier in the journey.
Ads preferred:
- This model assigns all credit for a conversion to the ad (e.g. Google Ads) that the user clicked on immediately before converting. The advantage of this model is that it can help you understand the impact of your ad campaigns. However, it may not accurately reflect the user’s entire journey and can undervalue other touchpoints.
When you change the attribution model in the GA4 console, this will not change some standard reports. In Aquisition reports – First user default channel will always use first click as the source because it only measures first-time users. Session Default Channel uses the cross-channel last click. Any report which mentions “sessions” will use cross-channel last click.
Overall, it’s important to choose an attribution model that aligns with your business goals and the specific questions you’re trying to answer. Keep in mind that no single attributtion model is perfect, and it’s often helpful to use multiple models to get a more complete picture of your user’s journey.
