What Are Attribution Models?
Attribution Models are basically how you assign credit to an action or conversion that leads to a purchase. The five main types are: First interaction, Last interaction, Linear, Time Decay, and Position Based. These are all different methods of how you can award credit to a specific point in your marketing campaign that lead to a purchase. For example, if you used first interaction, you would credit the first spot in which a consumer noticed and clicked your ad, website, etc.
Functions of Different Types of Attribution Models
Each of the 5 main types of attribution models award credit in different ways. First and Last interactions are the easiest to remember because they are simple and the location is in the name. For first, you credit the first interaction the consumer had, for last, you credit the last interaction the consumer had. Next, with the linear model, you simply award the purchase credit equally across all the channels your company has. Furthermore, with the Time Decay model, you reward the closer interactions to the time of purchase with credit whilst the initial interactions receive less credit. Finally, with the Position Based model, you assign credit for the purchase to specific areas within the consumers interaction cycle.
Which Attribution Model is The Best?
The straight up answer is – There isn’t one best fit model. Each attribution model carries its own set of important data. As a marketer, it depends on the type of information you seek to gain or care about. For example, if you care about which interaction lead straight to the actual purchase, then you would choose Last interaction or maybe Time Decay to reward credit to the last action (or few actions) that lead to the purchase. When deciding which Attribution Model to use, it is important that a digital marketer first figures out which information they value and want to track.
