glossary
Attribution
The practice of assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touches that influenced it, using models from first-touch to multi-touch.
By The Marketinque TeamReviewed June 2026
Attribution tries to answer marketing’s oldest question — what actually caused this sale? — by assigning conversion credit across the touches that preceded it. Single-touch models give all credit to one moment: first touch rewards demand creation, last touch rewards capture. Multi-touch models split credit across the journey by position or by algorithm.
No model is neutral; each one is an argument about what matters. Last-touch systematically over-credits branded search and retargeting because they harvest decisions made elsewhere — often in the dark funnel, where podcasts, communities, and word of mouth leave no click to credit.
Mature teams triangulate instead of trusting one number: a multi-touch model for direction, self-reported attribution ("How did you hear about us?") for the invisible half, and incrementality tests for the channels that get real budget. Treat attribution as a compass, not a courtroom — the metrics guide shows where it fits in the measurement stack alongside ROAS and pipeline.
worked example
A buyer reads three blog posts over a month, hears the product on a podcast, then clicks a branded search ad and buys. First-touch credits the blog, last-touch credits the ad, and a position-based model splits 40/20/40 — while the podcast, which closed the deal, gets zero in all three.
Related terms
Sources
- McKinsey & Company, The consumer decision journey (2009)
- Chris Walker, Demand creation, demand capture & the dark social funnel (Refine Labs)
Compiled by The Marketinque Team to our editorial standards.