An Ultimate Guide to Perfecting Your Marketing Attribution Reporting

The success of your attribution reporting depends on how well your team can line up marketing goals with crisp reporting. First, that means your company needs to pick the right attribution model to accomplish your goals. 

Wondering what models are available? Here are some popular attribution models:

First Touch

In first-touch attribution models, you weigh the credit fully on that first-touch interaction. This is especially useful for companies that are trying to discover which content is pulling in leads. Because it shows you what channels and content is capturing the most attention, first-touch models can reveal which areas are producing leads and which efforts are worth ditching. 

Last Touch

In last-touch attribution models, all of the credit goes to the last touchpoint your prospect hits before they are converted. Implementing the last-touch model is a great way to shed light on what is inspiring customers to act. This model is especially helpful for companies that are churning out plenty of leads but having a tough time turning those leads into conversions. Because you can pinpoint that last contact point, last-touch models make it easy to see which strategies and channels are pushing contacts along, and which ones are failing to convert.

50/50

To set up a 50/50 attribution model, you’ll want to divide credit evenly between your first touchpoint and the last touchpoint that comes before lead creation. Essentially, this model weighs your attention-grabbing step and action step evenly. That makes it easier to gauge your marketing efforts on a broader scale. 

Time Decay

Time decay models divvy credit up among all of your touchpoints along the customer journey or your conversion path. As the name suggests, this model gives more weight to those touchpoints closest to a sale. This is a good model if you have a solid lead generation engine but are having a tough time pushing leads down the funnel. When it comes to the Buyer’s Journey, a time decay model is built to identify prospects in the consideration and conversion stages.

Linear

In a linear model, you divvy credit up evenly along all of your touchpoints. This is a handy model when you want to set goals and boost transparency. It reveals the channels or interactions that contribute to a sale that may otherwise be overlooked. 

U-Shaped

In a u-shaped model, 80 percent of credit is divided equally between your first touch and lead creation. The rest of your credit goes to all of those touchpoints that fall between those two milestones. This model is best for measuring lead generation attribution.

W-Shaped

When your attribution reporting is w-shaped, you divide credit evenly between three touchpoints: first touch, lead creation, and qualified lead. Because it’s stretched evenly across milestones, this model illuminates the broader story of your campaigns.

How should you choose the right attribution model for your company?

When it comes to picking the right marketing attribution reporting method for your company, there isn’t a cookie-cutter solution. In some cases, you may want to mix and match several models based on your buyer personas and the Buyer’s Journey. 

Above all else, your attribution model should fit your goals, capitalize on your current marketing strengths, and fill in any reporting gaps. Here are some questions to help you pick out the right attribution model for your business: 

• What is the biggest weakness in our current marketing attribution program?
• What are our biggest strengths?
• Which resources have sparked the most leads?
• Which channels are leading to the most sales?
• What areas of our funnel need extra attention?

By digging into your current strengths, weaknesses, and goals, you’ll be able to line your needs up with the model or models that reveal everything you need to fuel the best marketing attribution reporting. 

Today’s marketers have a massive selection of tools at their disposal. Unfortunately, each marketing platform comes with its own set of best practices, features, and benefits. If you want to get the most out of your attribution campaign, you need to know how to use the platforms your company has on hand. Here’s a quick guide to marketing attribution in popular marketing programs:

Google and Paid Media

When it comes to paid ads, clear attribution reporting plays a key role. By mastering your attribution efforts in programs like Google Ads, YouTube, and Facebook, you can prove ROI and see where your investments are paying off. Here’s an overview of attribution reporting on these different paid platforms.

In today’s marketing world, your customers will certainly be interacting online. After all, more than four billion people are now actively surfing the web. However, many companies still have offline marketing interactions that you’ll want to track and credit. 

The key is striking the right balance between reporting on all of your offline and online marketing interactions. The first step is understanding each piece of your marketing puzzle and how both online and offline reporting fits into your company’s goals.

Again, the data should guide your efforts. In order to get the most out of your marketing attribution reporting and boost marketing and sales alignment, make sure your company is fully covered. Start by identifying all of your online and offline marketing and sales sources. From there, examine your marketing goals, choose the right attribution model to boost your efforts, and bridge the gap between online and offline reporting. 

Once your marketing team has a steady stream of attribution reporting flowing in across online and offline sources, you’ll have what you need to capture more leads, prove ROI, and drive more sales. 

The more time your team spends perfecting your attribution reporting, the easier it will be to capture leads, convert them, and drive more sales. The best attribution reporting plan will help you align the vision of your whole team. By refining your marketing attribution plan, you’ll lay the groundwork for a more unified company, build out more wide-sweeping support, and pave a clear path toward your team’s marketing goals.

When you unlock clean, efficient attribution reporting, you’ll be able to:

• Prove marketing ROI
• Pull in more buy-in and resources from stakeholders
• Patch the holes in your marketing funnel
• Capitalize on the strengths of your current marketing strategy
• Drive more leads to your site
• Boost conversion rates

Ready to kick off masterful marketing attribution reporting? Start now by determining your company’s abilities and needs. Take our Marketo Attribution Reporting Readiness Assessment or our Hubspot Attribution Reporting Readiness Assessment to get started.