Multi-Touch Attribution: Definition, Model Types, Example & More

 In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, understanding the journey your customers take before making a purchase is crucial. This will allow businesses to allocate their marketing resources effectively and optimize their return on investment (ROI). Fortunately, Multi-Touch Attribution is here to provide a comprehensive view of a business’ marketing efforts throughout the customer journey online. In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into the topic of Multi-Touch Attribution. 

So, What is Multi-Touch Attribution?

Multi-touch attribution, essentially speaking, is a digital marketing strategy that takes into account all the touchpoints along the customer journey. It also gives credit to each of those interactions based on the influence they have on the final conversion. 

To better understand this concept, let’s look at a multi touch attribution example. A customer intended to buy a new pair of headphones. After looking around the internet, he saw an Instagram ad for Sony headphones and clicked on it. Having not made a decision to buy, he then was retargeted by an ad on Facebook. The customer proceeded to click on the link to the landing page. Once there, he went to the review section of the headphone product page and scanned the page. In the end, he finally decided to purchase after reading a 5 star review. 

In this case, the multi-touch attribution model will take into account all of these interactions. This unlike the first-click attribution model, in which the first Instagram ad will get full credit for conversion. Or the last-click attribution model, where the 5 star customer review will get the credit.