Digital Lexicon Hub

A defined method for assigning credit for a conversion or outcome across marketing interactions and channels.

The attribution model decides which channels and campaigns get credit for revenue, so changing it can shift budget between search, social and display even when total results stay the same.

A B2B team compares last-click and data-driven attribution in Google Analytics for 90 days, sees that webinar ads receive three times more credit under data-driven attribution, and raises their budget by 15% while monitoring pipeline.

Attribution models assign credit; they do not measure incremental impact. Tracking gaps from consent choices, cross-device journeys and offline touchpoints bias results, so models are best validated with lift tests or marketing mix modeling.

Rule-based models apply fixed weights: last click gives all credit to the final interaction, first click to the first, linear splits it evenly, time decay favors recent touches and position-based weights the first and last. Data-driven models compare converting and non-converting paths to estimate each touchpoint's contribution. Results also depend on lookback windows and which interactions are eligible.