The specific rule set used to assign credit for a conversion across multiple marketing touchpoints a customer interacted with before converting — common models include first-touch (all credit to the first interaction), last-touch (all credit to the final interaction before conversion), and multi-touch (credit distributed across several touchpoints according to a defined weighting).
Why it matters
Different attribution models can tell dramatically different stories from the exact same underlying customer journey data — a channel that looks like the clear winner under last-touch attribution might look far less important under a multi-touch model, which is why the choice of model itself is a meaningful strategic decision, not just a technical setting.
In a sentence
"Under last-touch attribution, branded search looked like our best channel, but a multi-touch model showed the awareness campaign earlier in the journey deserved real credit too."
Related terms
- Often confused with: Attribution, the general practice (Part One, Category 3) — attribution is the overall practice of assigning credit for conversions; an attribution model is the specific methodology used to do it, and several distinct models exist).