May 1, 2020 •Cole Geitner
With so many attribution models to choose from, it can be hard to know which one is best for your business. But the honest answer is, there isn't necessarily a "best" model. In reality, your business should be consulting multiple models side-by-side. You just need to know what they're telling you.
Why Use Different Attribution Models?
Let’s face it, your business is complicated. Because of that, there is no single solution to get the whole story when it comes to marketing attribution. By analyzing different attribution models side-by-side, you can ensure you are making the best decision for your business.
Which Attribution Model does Google Ads Use?
Google Ads defaults to Last Click Attribution. As a reminder, Last Click Attribution gives all conversion credit to whichever touchpoint was last in the consumer’s journey.
Even though Google Ads defaults to Last Click Attribution, you can change the default to multiple other attribution types. The hard part is, which one should your business use? How do you know if you are using the right one? Let’s inquire into those questions in the next section.
So, Which attribution Model Should You Use?
The answer to which attribution model you should use depends on what question you are trying to answer. Let’s go through a couple of real-life scenarios:
First Click Attribution
Like previously mentioned, last click attribution is great to understand which channel is most efficient at closing the sale and converting to revenue. But, what if you want to know which channel is most efficient at bringing customers into the pipeline? First Click Attribution will be a great option for your business. Like the name alludes to, if your marketing team is trying to understand how to increase your total sales pipeline at the most efficient rate, then First Click is for you!
Position Based Attribution
So, what if you care about Last Click and First click attribution? Position Based attribution is a multi touch attribution model that gives 40% credit to the first touch, 40% credit to the last touch, and the remaining 20% credit to all other touchpoints in between. This is the attribution model for you if you want to know both what channel is most efficient at bringing customers into the pipeline and what channel is most effective at closing the sale.
Time Decay Attribution
First Click and Last Click Attribution are both single touch models. In other words, it gives all credit to a single visit, not partial credit over multiple channels. If you want a common model that uses a multi touch attribution model, Time Decay is a great option. This is the most commonly used multi touch attribution model in Google Ads. Basically, the more recent the marketing touch was to the conversion, the more credit it’s going to get.
However, it still gives partial to every marketing touch as long as it fits in the attribution window set in the Ad platform of choice. This helps level the playing field if your business doesn’t care which marketing touch was first or last.
How can You See all Attribution Models and Compare Them?
Ad platforms can make it very difficult to compare attribution models side-by-side. When they are able to do it, you will often see inconsistent results if you are looking from one place to another.
There are a lot of reasons why I love working at DemandJump, but one of my favorites is how easily we show all of the major attribution models side-by-side. Not only that, but we also layer on our own algorithmic multi touch attribution model next to all the other major options to show you the reality of your marketing performance.
By having each model side-by-side, you are able to easily answer all of the scenarios touched on in this article without changing any settings in your ad account. You will never feel like you are wasting marketing budget again with our attribution models. DemandJump’s platform gives you every tool you need to be an informed, smart marketer.
Click here to see the platform in action. Demo the attribution solution that makes sure your teams get the whole story.
