Attribution Models

Assess your traffic sources with more efficient and fair approaches with attribution models.

Attribution Modelling Consultancy

An attribution model is a model that you could assess and evaluate your traffic sources with a more efficient and equitable manner by means of spreading the value from a conversion to the previous steps instead of saving it only on the last step.

What is User Journey?

A user journey is the entire experience of a user from the period before the purchase and to the period after the purchase. All the traffic sources and experiences a user may encounter during the journey may be evaluated under this scope.

Attribution Model Traffic Source Positions

First Traffic Source (First):  This is the first traffic source a user encounters during the user journey.

Middle Traffic Sources (Middle): All the traffic sources between the first traffic source (First) and the pre-traffic source (Assist) are called the “middle traffic sources”. Unlike the positions on the other attribution model, the “middle traffic sources” may contain more than one traffic source.

The pre-traffic source (Assist) is the traffic source before the last traffic source a user will encounter during the user journey.

Last Traffic Source (Last): This is the last traffic source a user encounters during the user journey. It is assigned to the respective positions at the conversion path as follows.

  • Last Traffic Source (Last)
  • First Traffic Source (First)
  • Pre-Traffic Source (Assist)
  • Middle Traffic Sources (Middle)

What are the Attribution Models?

The attribution models are in general evaluated under the following main categories.

Last Click Attribution Model: The last-click attribution model is the model through which the traffic source that the user clicks the last during the user journey gets all the conversion value. The previous traffic sources do not get any share from the conversion value. The last-click attribution model is ideal for an e-commerce company with a small cart amount and a short period between the click and the sale or for a brand with a less number of traffic sources that a user might encounter during the user journey. This model, for example, could be considered for a company that sells iPhone covers.

Last Click Non-Direct Attribution Model: The last click non-direct attribution model is the one that is used when the traffic is viewed on Acquisition > All Traffic Sources > Source / Tool at Google Analytics. For this model, in case a user starts a new session by means of writing down the URL of the respective web site after clicking a traffic source during the user journey, i.e. if the user directly visits the web site, then the conversion value acquired in this manner is assigned to the previous traffic source. As an example for the last click non-direct attribution model, let’s assume that a user first visits the respective web site from a Google / CPC traffic source, then from a Facebook / CPC traffic source and, then from a direct / none traffic source. In this case, although the last traffic source is the direct / none, the last click non-direct attribution model assigns all the conversion values to the Facebook / CPC traffic source.

What is the Linear Attribution Model?

The linear attribution model is an attribution model that assigns the respective conversion value at a percentage of 25%, 25%, 25%, and 25% to the first traffic source (first), the middle traffic sources (middle), the pre-traffic source (assist) and the last traffic source (last) positions respectively.

What is the Time Decay Attribution Model?

A time decay attribution model is an attribution model, where a higher conversion value is assigned to a traffic source closer to the conversion at a conversion path in terms of time, and a lower conversion value is assigned to a traffic source that is farther to the conversion at a conversion path in terms of time.

How to Decide on the Right Attribution Model?

The decision on which attribution model will be used varies depending at which stage a brand is in terms of the digital marketing strategy of the brand, the marketing budget of the brand and, the business life cycle of the brand. For example, if the brand decides to reduce the marketing budget, an attribution model, where higher points are assigned to the last traffic source, should be used. If the decision time for the product sold by the brand is a longer period of time, then the linear attribution model or the time decay attribution model should be used.

Boosmart Digital Marketing Agency offers professional services and consultancy to the brands in the field of attribution models. Please take a look at the following sources to get detailed information about the attribution models;

Google Attribution Models

If you need help with the Attribution Models, please feel free to contact us and let’s decide together what we can do for you.