Who gets the credit? A marketer’s guide to click attribution

When someone clicks on your ad and eventually converts, who gets the credit? The first ad they saw? The last one? Or the murky grey area in between? 🤷

Enter click attribution, one of the most powerful tools in a marketers analytics toolkit.

It tells you which touchpoints in a customer's journey are driving results, so you can double down on what's working and stop wasting your budget on what's not 💵

But not all attribution models see the journey the same way - some give full credit to the first click, whilst others reward that final nudge that took them from ad click to customer.

In this guide, we'll break it all down:

What is click attribution?

Think of it like solving a mystery 🕵️

Your customer converted, but who helped make it happen?

Was it the blog post that first grabbed attention, the Google ad that brought them back or maybe the email that sealed the deal?

Click attribution helps you assign credit to the right steps along the way, so you can understand exactly what's driving conversions, and make smarter marketing decisions ✅

Here's an example scenario:

Someone clicks on your Facebook ad, visits your website, leaves, then comes back a week or two later via a Google search and makes that all important purchase.

Depending on your chosen attribution model, the Facebook Ad, the Google search, or both might get the credit (or a split of it).

That's why your choice of model matters.

The types of click attribution models

Once you understand what attribution is, the next step is choosing how to assign the credit.

That's where attribution models come in.

Each model looks at the customers journey a little differently, some focus on the first click, others the last, and some spread the credit across every touchpoint. The model you choose helps to shape how you interpret success, so it's worth knowing what your options are.

Lets walk through some of the most popular ones 👇

First-touch attribution

The first-touch model gives 100% of the credit to the very first interaction a customer has with your brand, irrespective of what happens after. For instance, if a customer clicks on an ad, or reads a blog post before making a purchase, that first touchpoint gets all the credit 💯

This model is great for businesses focused on building brand awareness or capturing new leads.

🔥 Perfect for measuring the impact of campaigns and identifying what drives initial interest.

💡 Our tip is to use this model to evaluate which campaigns or platforms are working hardest at attracting brand new visitors, turning cold audiences to warm leads. Once you've done this, review options to optimize and double-down when possible.

Last-touch attribution

This one does exactly what it says on the tin and gives full credit to the final touchpoint before a conversion. If a customer clicked an ad just before purchasing, thats where the credit is associated 🔚

This model is great for businesses that are focused on converting leads to customers quickly and efficiently.

🔥 Perfect for measuring the effectiveness of closing channels, like retatgeting or direct response ads (such as subscribing to a marketing list, making a reservation or signing up for a free trial).

💡 Our tip is to use this model to highlight which of your final touchpoints are the ones consistently driving conversions and treat them like the unsung hero they are - it's a great one for putting additional spend in an area you know is performing well to maximize on performance 💪

Linear attribution

The linear model splits credit equally across all touchpoints that occur in a customer journey. If a customer interacts with multiple ads, emails, or social media posts before converting, each one gets an equal share of the credit ⚖️

This is useful for businesses that have longer sales cycles or a more technical sell, where each touchpoint plays its part in pushing the customer closer to conversion over time.

🔥 Perfect for paying homage to every part of the customer journey and understanding the collective value of your channels.

💡 Our tip is to use this model when you're running multi-channel campaigns and want a balanced view of what's helped to contribute to a conversion along the way.

Time-decay attribution

Time-decay attribution is all about assigning more credit to the touchpoints closer to the conversion. If a customer interacted with an ad a month ago and another last week, the recent interaction gets more credit, because lets face it, the latest ad probably tipped the scales in your favour 📆

This model works well for remarketing campaigns, where the goal is to convert users who have already expressed interest.

🔥 Perfect for evaluating the impact and performance of your retargeting activities and other bottom-of-the-funnel activities like email sequences (also known as an email drip campaign).

💡 Our tip is to use this model for fast moving funnels as it helps you to zero in one the last-minute nudges that actially drive success. Use it to help fine-tune those final interactions to make them count.

Position-based attribution

The position-based model gives more credit to the first and last touchpoints in the customers journey, with the interactions in the middle receiving a much smaller slice of the pie 🥧

This approach is really helpful for businesses that want to balance the importance of generating awareness with the impact of driving conversions.

🔥 Perfect for mixing brand awareness with conversion tactics in customer journeys that have multiple steps.

💡 Our tip ix to use this model to help you highlight what brings people in and what gets them over the line.

How to choose the right attribution model

There's no one-size-fits-all answer, as it ultimately depends on your business goals, campaign types, and how you interact with your customers as they move through the funnel.

Here's our quick cheatsheet:

• 📣 Go for first-touch is you're testing new channels or building brand awareness
• 🏁 Choose last-touch if you're really interested in what's driving final conversions
• 🔄 Try out linear for full-funnel insights across more complex customer journeys
• ⏲️ Use time-decay when timing plays a big role in conversions
• 🔀 Pick position-based for a mix of brand building and performance

🔥 Pro tip: It's OK to use different models for different goals. Smart marketers often compare different models performance to get a clearer picture.

How analytics tools can help

Tracking all this manually? No thanks 😅

That's where marketing analytics platforms (like Hitprobe 👋) come in.

With the right tools, you can:

✅ Automatically assign attribution to your traffic

✅ See which clicks are from real people, not bots

✅ Tie conversions back to specific campaigns, keywords and PPC platforms

✅ Get the insights you need to optimize your budget and boost that all important ROI

Attribution is powerful, but only if the data is accurate. That's why combining attribution with fraud detection and clean data is a must.

The takeaway

Click attribution helps you understand what's actually driving results, not just what looks good on the surface. The right model can reveal hidden strengths, underperforming weaknesses, guide you on smarter spend, and turn guesswork into a more refined strategy.

Know your customer journey. Pick your model. Let the data show you the way 🚀